Providers
Dr. Dawn nelson de Ramirez
Dr. Dawn is the founder and director of OC Kids Therapy. Dr. Dawn created OC Kids Therapy with the idea that we should look at the whole child before rushing to diagnose. After years of working in the field, Dr. Dawn found that children were being diagnosed far too quickly. This led to greater anxiety for the parents, frustration for the child and a lot of wasted time and money on misguided treatment.
Having three children of her own she was frustrated with the rush to diagnose and treat disorders that were oftentimes developmentally appropriate behaviors and challenges. Her vision was to create a space for families to treat the whole child and provide them with the tools to succeed.
Kylie Kellas, AMFT
Kylie Kellas is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and certified Parent Educator and Intensive Parent Counselor through the Positive Parenting Program.
As a nanny for seven years, Kylie worked with several families, giving her an inside perspective of the vastly different values, dynamics, expectations, and personalities unique families present. These experiences shaped how Kylie interacts with family units and sparked her love of working with parents and children. Now Kylie provides therapy to parents, children, and teens.
Kylie knows that a parent struggling with mental health issues is not able to be the best parent they can be. She specializes in helping parents manage stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma.
In addition to traditional talk therapy, Kylie provides Intensive Parenting Counseling that follows the framework set by the evidence-based Positive Parenting Program. Intensive Parenting Counseling teaches parents how to set developmentally appropriate expectations for children and how to enforce rules with step-by-step guides.
When working with children and teens, Kylie utilizes play therapy, sandtray therapy, and expressive arts therapy to address and heal issues without the structure and formality of traditional talk therapy.
Kylie holds weekly classes on Positive Parenting Basics and Spotlight Classes that address specific issues like potty training, tantrums, sleep difficultis, chores, homework and more.
Contact Kylie today for a free phone consultation or to set an appointment.