Dr. Adelstein works with adults seeking to make their lives more personally fulfilling, including individuals struggling with depression, anxiety, grief and loss, difficult life transitions, interpersonal difficulties, and issues related to sexual orientation or gender expression. In her work with clients, she strives to understand and respect each individual’s experience, to help them draw their own meaning and strength from it, and to help guide them in using their discoveries to make positive changes in their lives.

Dr. Adelstein has specialized training and experience working with children and teenagers, as well as their families. She appreciates the challenges facing families attempting to raise emotionally strong, self-aware kids who feel good about themselves and experience success. At PFPA, Dr. Adelstein is known for her warm, down-to-earth style, as well as her effectiveness in facilitating positive changes for the children with whom she works. With young children, Dr. Adelstein often incorporates play therapy into her work. She agrees that “play is the language of childhood”—that children are better able to express more of their thoughts, feelings, motivations, and struggles through play than they are able of expressing through talk.

At times when it is not clear why a child is struggling, a psychological assessment can be very helpful. Dr. Adelstein conducts assessments that help identify the specific strengths of the child, as well as his/her specific challenges. Assessments can include an evaluation of a child’s emotional, social, behavioral, intellectual, and academic functioning. They can also be tailored to help identify strengths and weaknesses in the areas of language, attention, learning and memory, sensory perception, and motor functioning. Dr. Adelstein has training in identifying specific disorders having, or suspected to have, a neurological basis, and first seen in childhood (e.g., Autism; Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder; Tourette Syndrome).