Kyoko Sonoda (M.A., LPCC)

Ms. Sonoda is a Certified Public Psychologist in Japan and bilingual in English and Japanese. She is a Licensed Professional Clinical Mental Health Counselor in the state of New Mexico, USA, and is also a USA National Certified Counselor.

Her therapeutic approaches are integrative. She has completed EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) training and various parenting methods, such as “Circle of Security”, “Theraplay”, “Nurturing Parenting”, “Child Parent Relationship Therapy”, “Cooperative Parenting for Divorced Parents”, and “Positive Discipline”. Ms. Sonoda provides play therapy for children and psychotherapy for individual adults, couples, and families in the Yokohama office.

She has experience working with children, adolescents, adult individuals, divorced/separated parents, and families at outpatient mental health clinics and crime survivor support non-profit agencies, all in multi-cultural environments. Her clinical interests include parenting, co-parenting for divorced/separated parents, trauma issues, grief and loss, depression, anxiety, cultural adjustment/acculturation issues, identity issues, behavioral issues, and especially child abuse prevention and early intervention. She provides group parenting or co-parenting training at any approved location by appointment.

Ms. Sonoda obtained her master’s degree in counseling psychology and counselor education from the University of Colorado at Denver in 2004.

Outside of therapy, she enjoys cooking, dancing, and traveling, and likes to go to the sea or take a long bath to relax.

Key Concepts: bilingual, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Circle of Security, Theraplay, Nurturing Parenting, Child Parent Relationship Therapy, Cooperative Parenting for Divorced Parents, Positive Discipline, play therapy, psychotherapy, children, adolescents, adult individuals, divorced/separated parents, multi-cultural, parenting, co-parenting for divorced/separated parents, trauma issues, grief and loss, depression, anxiety, cultural adjustment/acculturation issues, identity issues, behavioral issues, child abuse prevention and early intervention, group parenting training, co-parenting training

o Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): a type of therapy used for individuals who have experienced a traumatic event or situation. EMDR involves the client following the therapist’s hand movements with their eyes. During therapy, focus is placed on the elicited emotions and reactions to the traumatic event or situation. The goal of EMDR is to reduce distress associated with the traumatic experience.

o Circle of Security: an approach to help parents understand and address their child’s needs in order to create a strong parent-child relationship and healthy attachment security.

o Theraplay: a type of therapy similar to play therapy, but focused on building the parent-child relationship through concepts of attachment between a caregiver and child.

o Nurturing Parenting: a type of therapy focused on encouraging “nurturing parenting” styles that introduce parenting techniques to reduce child abuse and child maltreatment, and to foster healthy parent-child relationships. The goal is to enable healthy habits in the child as they reach adulthood through healthy parenting.

o Child Parent Relationship Therapy: a type of group therapy that focuses on strengthening the relationship between parent and child, aiding the parent in understanding and addressing their child’s needs. Parents work with other parents in the group as they support one another.

o Cooperative Parenting for Divorced Parents: a type of therapy aimed towards parents who share a child (or children) and have gone through a divorce. This therapy aims to explain to the parents the effect of the divorce on the child(ren), and to teach them how to cooperatively work with the other parent in order to best care for the child(ren).

o Positive Discipline: an approach that teaches parents and others that work with children how best to interact and teach children in order for the child to develop skills to foster healthy relationships later in life.

o Play therapy: a type of therapy typically used for children who struggle with communicating emotional needs or feelings. The goal is to allow the child to express themselves through play, and for the play therapist to help process what the child may be having difficulty articulating verbally. Play therapy can be either nondirective—during which children are able to freely play, or directive—during which the play therapist may guide or assist play.