Meet Maggie

Therapy for adults and parents, in person or online across California. Child-centered play therapy for ADHD and anxiety, in person in East Sacramento.

Change begins with acceptance — of exactly who you are. From there, growth happens through small, committed steps in the direction that matters most to you.

Maggie Miller is an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor whose graduate training is in early childhood and family clinical counseling — the study of how people are shaped by their earliest relationships. She joined Brilla to work across the whole family: adults in therapy of their own, parents in parent sessions, and children in the playroom.

Adult therapy: an hour that doesn't rush you

Much of Maggie's adult work has been grief work. Her clients came to her stuck in the grieving process, and the therapy was allowing grief to be present and naming the emotions underneath it — the ones they had been struggling to process. That method shapes all of her adult sessions: name what's there first, then move, at a pace you set.

Before becoming a therapist, Maggie taught yoga and meditation, and she brings mindfulness principles into session. It's what lets her stay grounded while sitting with hard feelings, and it's why sessions with her move slowly on purpose.

She'll tell you herself that she does her best work with clients who are invested in the process and take an active role in their own change. If that's you, she'll match it.

Child-centered play therapy for ADHD & anxiety: sessions that don't feel like therapy

Play therapy is real therapy conducted in a child's preferred language. In child-centered work the child leads: Maggie follows the play and tracks it to what's bothering them, and the child works through it at their own pace.

Her favorite intervention is sand tray. She works from Floortime/DIR principles, an approach developed for neurodivergent children, and she loves to act — she's found that playing out challenging situations, hammed up and made fun, supports neurodivergent kids' emotional and social growth.

Parenting a child with ADHD: help with the hard conversations

Maggie's early clinical experience was home-based: years of sessions with parents of children ages 0–3, in their own living rooms. She has seen family life as it happens, not as families present it, and she doesn't judge what she sees.

She's also trained in Child Parent Psychotherapy, a treatment for early childhood trauma that works through the parent-child relationship — including speaking frankly and truthfully with children about hard things that have happened. When there's a loss, a divorce, a diagnosis, or a scary event your child needs words for, she can help you find them.

In Brilla's family-based model, parent sessions are where behavior change happens: understanding how your child's brain works and building the accommodations that reduce struggles at the source. Maggie works the child's playroom hours and yours.

In the room with Maggie

In her words: "I love entering the world of my clients and witnessing the organic growth that emerges when a client is provided with a compassionate, reflective space." Her favorite moments in the room are when a client of any age comes into a new understanding of themselves. What she admires in people with ADHD, again in her words: "the deeply authentic perspectives that individuals with ADHD view the world through."

Play therapy questions parents ask us

Does play therapy help with ADHD?

Yes: for the part of ADHD that hurts the most. Play therapy is where a child works through what ADHD costs them: the hits to self-esteem, the anxiety, the low moods, the feeling of being different from every other kid in the class. In the playroom there is no demand to sit still and explain themselves. Kids work through those feelings the way kids naturally do: through play.

The behavior changes — fewer meltdowns, smoother mornings, less friction at school — come from the parent side of our family-based model: understanding how your child's brain works and building the accommodations that reduce ADHD struggles at the source. Maggie works both sides of that equation. She also draws on Floortime/DIR, an approach developed specifically for neurodivergent children.

What is child-centered play therapy?

Play therapy where the child leads. Instead of steering sessions toward an adult's agenda, the therapist follows the child's play, puts words to what's happening inside it, and lets the child work through what they're carrying at their own pace. Play is how children process — their native language for the things they can't yet say.

Can play therapy help with anxiety?

Yes. Anxious kids often can't name what's scaring them, but they can build it in a sand tray, act it out, or hand it to a character. Play gives the worry a shape outside the child, something to look at and practice against safely.

Do you offer in-person ADHD therapy in Sacramento?

Yes. Play therapy happens in person at our East Sacramento office at 924 57th St. It's hands-on by design and doesn't translate to a screen. Maggie also sees teens, parents, and adults by telehealth anywhere in California.

What ages does Maggie see?

Early childhood (0–5) through teens, plus the parents raising them and adults in therapy for themselves. Her clinical training began in early childhood (0–5) mental health, and it shapes how she works with every age.

Specialties: Play therapy for ADHD & anxiety • Early childhood (0–5) • Children & teens (6–18) • Parent & family support • Adults • Grief & loss • Attachment & childhood trauma

Approach: Child-centered play therapy • Sand tray • Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) • Floortime/DIR • Acceptance-based, values-driven therapy • Mindfulness • Neurodiversity-affirming care

Maggie Miller is registered as an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC #23108) in the State of California. Her registration can be verified through the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). https://search.dca.ca.gov/

Maggie works with clients at Brilla under the clinical supervision of Lauren Dibble, LMFT #123427.

Maggie is accepting new clients of all ages: play therapy in person at our East Sacramento office; teen, parent, and adult sessions in person or online across California.