Creative Family Counseling is a group practice in Louisville, Kentucky that specializes in working with families that include young children and teens. The practice offers many types of experiential and creative interventions to help young clients engage and participate in therapy in developmentally appropriate ways. Known in town as the “practice with the dogs,” Creative Family Counseling has become somewhat known for offering Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) with Certified Therapy Dogs as one of the creative ways to engage family members of all ages. While AAT has been limited in the last few months due to the Pandemic, the practice’s two Therapy Dogs – Lola and Archer – and one Therapy Pup in training – Nugget – continue to be a source of joy for clients, even if from a distance. Marriage and Family Therapist Associate Leslie Cashion and her Therapy Partner, Nugget sat down for a little checkin to give us an update on Nugget’s certification training as a Therapy Dog as well as some other topics such as working from home.
Leslie: (calling from her office chair) Nugget, c’mere buddy! I know you really want to finish tearing up that new dog stuffy to spread fluff all over the office, but Lacey wants to hear about how life is going as a 1+ yr old Golden Retriever therapy dog in training.
Nugget: (bounding in from the other room, enthusiastically leaping on Leslie’s lap) LACEY! I love Lacey, she’s Lola’s mom and is always ready to pet my soft head or give me amazing treats! Learn More...
Louisville Based Practice Expands Animal Assisted Therapies to Include Equine Assisted Psychotherapy
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SCreative Family Counseling, a child and family counseling practice with locations in Lyndon and Prospect, has long been known to offer Animal-Assisted Therapies. Founder and CEO Lacey Ryan, LMFT and her dog Lola have offered this service as a certified pet therapy team since the practice opened its doors in 2016. Lola’s gentle and powerful work has inspired other clinicians on the Creative Family Counseling team to train and certify their own pets for this work. The practice now has four therapy dogs between the two locations, offering the beautiful and healing service that only animals can offer. Learn More...
A Life of Service: Lola’s Retirement From Animal-Assisted Therapy
/in Animal Assisted Therapy/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SWhile in graduate school earning my degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, I spent a semester working as a student counseling intern at a psychiatric hospital. Also at that hospital worked a Therapy Dog named Brinkley who offered a sweet and calming presence to the patients with whom he worked. Brinkley was the first Therapy Dog I’d met. While I had known of working Service Dogs, I had never met a Therapy Dog and was excited to learn about the difference between the two and something called Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT). Learn More...
“Hello…I’m looking for a Feelings Teacher for my children.”
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SA parent recently called and said she was looking for a “Feelings Teacher” for her two children. I explained that this was not necessarily a title I’d been given before, but that perhaps I could help. While discussing what exactly her goals would be for bringing her children in to see a “Feelings Teacher,” she identified what I would call typical treatment goals for counseling with children: Learn More...
I Have Scheduled My First Appointment…Now What?
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SIs this your first time visiting us at Creative Family Counseling?
Welcome! We find it a privilege to walk alongside clients as they work through challenges. Thank you for choosing to spend that time with us!
If you’re a planner like me, this little article may be helpful to help you prepare for your first session with your Therapist.
Our Intake Coordinator Team schedules your intake with a well-matched Clinician on our Team of expert Therapists. Once you schedule your first appointment with your Therapist, you will receive an email which includes a password to complete your Intake Questionnaire and sign the Consents and Agreements to counseling at our practice. These must be completed prior to coming for your first appointment. If you do not see this email within a few minutes of scheduling your first appointment, please give us a call back and we can check our spelling on our end or try to resend the paperwork. Please complete this paperwork electronically prior to your visit so your Therapist can review it with you during your scheduled appointment time. Should you arrive for your appointment and this paperwork not be complete, your Therapist will utilize your reserved Intake appointment time for the completion of this paperwork. Learn More...
What to Expect: The Next Steps for Your Appointment at Creative Family Counseling After You Submit a Contact Request
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SIs this your first time visiting us at Creative Family Counseling?
Welcome! We find it a privilege to walk alongside clients as they work through challenges. Thank you for choosing to spend that time with us!
If you’re a planner like me, this little article may be helpful to help you prepare for your first session with your Therapist.
To schedule an appointment, you’ve got three options:
1. Browse our website and submit a Contact Submission, selecting the Campus you’d like to go to for your appointments and the primary concern you want to address by selecting the appropriate dropdown menu item. A member of our team will follow up with you within 48 business hours. Learn More...
What is HypnoTherapy?
/in Creative Family Counseling/by LisaMost of us have heard of hypnosis, but what is it? There are so-called examples of hypnosis on television shows, movies and even stage performances. In these “examples” the person receiving the “hypnosis” seems to have no control over their actions or behaviors and sometimes have no memory of their actions! While we could spend the time to explain what these instances are in reality, I can assure you that they are most certainly NOT hypnosis. Learn More...
Creative Family Counseling, A Children’s Therapy Practice in Louisville, Kentucky, Expands with Growth in Both Clientele and Business Following COVID-19 Pandemic
/in Animal Assisted Therapy, Couples Therapy, Creative Family Counseling, EFT, EMDR, Family Life, Individual Therapy, Play Therapy, Spiritually Integrative Counseling, Therapy for Kids, Therapy for Teens/by Creative Family CounselingWhen Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Play Therapist Lacey Ryan opened the doors of Creative Family Counseling in Louisville, Kentucky in 2019, keeping those same doors open through a pandemic was not in her five-year plan. However, that’s exactly where Ryan, the Founding Director of Creative Family Counseling, found herself in the early months of 2020 as COVID-19 started to make its way into the lives of Louisvillians across the city including her staff members’ and patients’. While plenty of businesses were forced to close their doors over the last year and a half, Creative Family Counseling has done the opposite. After a period where Ryan and her team worked together to realign their business approach to meet the new normal that included telehealth and social distancing, the practice continued to offer therapeutic services throughout the pandemic. And now, 18 months later, Creative Family Counseling is preparing to open a second office location in Prospect, Kentucky as the team of therapists and the list of specialties and services offered continues to grow. Learn More...
A Space for Healing: The Perspective of a Play Therapist*
/in Play Therapy/by Andy ThomasAs a Marriage and Family Therapist Associate in practice at Creative Family Counseling in Louisville, KY, I work mostly with kids, teens and their families. The pandemic has changed many aspects of what therapy looks like; I practice via telehealth with many clients, conducting sessions with them via video conferencing. I also meet with younger clients (ages 4-12) in-person at the office while we are masked because meeting via telehealth with that age group is, typically, too challenging for them to engage in in a meaningful way longterm. Learn More...
Finding Gratitude in 2020
/in Family Life/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SThis year has been a rough one, hasn’t it? As we have experienced an unprecedented worldwide pandemic, many of us have felt the ongoing stress, strain, and difficulty of most of the year 2020. With the adjustments to our work, home, and family life have come a myriad of reactions amongst folks, with the overwhelming feelings of isolation, fear, panic, stress, anger, and helplessness being just a few. Learn More...
Nugget’s Knowledge: A Check In with Nugget the Therapy-Dog-in-Training
/in Creative Family Counseling/by Lacey Ryan, LMFT, RPT-SLeslie: (calling from her office chair) Nugget, c’mere buddy! I know you really want to finish tearing up that new dog stuffy to spread fluff all over the office, but Lacey wants to hear about how life is going as a 1+ yr old Golden Retriever therapy dog in training.
Nugget: (bounding in from the other room, enthusiastically leaping on Leslie’s lap) LACEY! I love Lacey, she’s Lola’s mom and is always ready to pet my soft head or give me amazing treats! Learn More...