Jari's training, research, and experience is focused on the important and unique needs of our youngest and most vulnerable clients - children. She believes in the importance of preventive mental health care, knowing that giving children the means and the space to express their feelings can provide them a lifetime of better coping skills and healthier relationships. Jari's conceptualization of children's struggles is holistic, and grounded in attachment theory. She knows that children's relationships with their important adults shape who they become as they move through life, and so she includes parents in the work she does, helping them to learn new ways of communicating with and supporting their children. 

Jari engages all children warmly and skillfully through play therapy. Play therapy honors the language of children - play - and gives them a voice when they might not otherwise be able to express difficult emotions. It also serves as a vehicle to teach children new ways to resolve their problems and to relate to and understand the people around them.

Jari has special interest and experience in working with children who struggle with anger or anxiety, and those who have experienced trauma and loss. She has conducted research in the role of attachment, coping and acculturative stress in the presence of psychological symptoms of acculturative stress in immigrant students, and has worked with these students on adapting to new school environments. Her background in education also includes work with children with special needs.