What are the opening hours?

Monday 1pm - 5pm Tuesday 8am - 5pm Wednesday 8am - 5pm Thursday 8am - 5pm Friday 8am - 5pm

The Mindfulness Studio

Home
United States
Dothan, AL
The Mindfulness Studio

Dothan-based counselor specializing in play therapy for kids facing behavioral issues, autism, ADHD, anger, defiance, trauma, anxiety, and more.

Support also available for parenting challenges and skill-building.

10/26/2026

You sit in the waiting room every week.

You hand over the co-pay.

You watch your child walk through that door.

And somewhere in the back of your mind, a question lives that you haven't said out loud yet…

𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨?

Most parents don't ask. They want to know. They just worry it'll sound impatient. Or distrustful. Or like they're rushing something that shouldn't be rushed.

So the question sits there. Week after week.

Here's the script we'd love for you to use in your next parent consultation:

🌿 "Can you tell me what progress looks like for my child?"

That one sentence opens the door.

It's a fair question. It's a caring question. It's a parent asking to understand the map their child is on… so they can walk alongside it.

Progress in play therapy rarely looks like a straight line. Sometimes it looks like a child who used to freeze is now stomping instead. A child who used to hide is now testing a limit out loud. A child who used to hold it all in is now falling apart in your arms after school.

Those can be signs of real growth. And you shouldn't have to guess.

Parent consultation is part of the work. It's where we translate what's happening in the playroom into something you can see, name, and support at home.

If that question has been living in the back of your mind… bring it to the next consult. 💛

The Mindfulness Studio, Dothan, AL

10/23/2026

Resilience doesn't arrive in a single session.

It accumulates the way a child slowly learns to name a feeling they once could only throw across the room.

A block gets stacked. Knocked down. Stacked again, a little steadier this time.

A child who used to freeze at the door starts lingering a beat longer before they leave.

A meltdown that used to last an hour begins to soften at forty minutes… then thirty… then twenty.

None of it looks like much on any given Tuesday.

Growth in the playroom rarely announces itself. It moves at the pace of a child feeling safe enough to try something new, and then safe enough to try it again.

What looks like slow progress often turns out to be the deepest kind… the kind that holds when the room gets loud, when a sibling grabs the toy, when the school day falls apart.

The skills a child builds in the playroom travel with them. Into classrooms. Into car rides. Into bedtime routines at home.

What grows slowly, holds longest.

That's the quiet work of Child-Centered Play Therapy, and we're honored to do it at The Mindfulness Studio. 🌿

10/16/2026

A child picks up a toy soldier and buries it in the sand.

A parent watching through the window thinks: he's just playing.

The therapist watching from inside the room notices which soldier he chose, and which ones he left behind. How deep he buried it. Whether he covered it quickly or slowly, and whether he looked up first. Whether this is the third session in a row that something has gone under the sand.

Most parents assume play is the warm-up. The soft opening before the real work of therapy begins, the part where a child gets comfortable enough to finally talk.

In Child-Centered Play Therapy, the play is the work.

Play is how children say the things they don't yet have words for. Which toys they reach for. How they position figures in relation to each other. The themes that repeat week after week. The small shift in their shoulders when a certain scene comes up.

That's the language. And our job is to read it carefully.

We track what we see, reflect what might be underneath, and let the child keep telling the story in the way that feels safe to them.

If we waited for the talking to start, we'd miss most of what a child is already saying. 🌿

10/13/2026

He throws the toy right as you're heading out the door.

She bites at daycare drop-off, and later, when you ask what scared her… she can't say.

Every Sunday night, the bedtime meltdown arrives on schedule. Monday morning brings a stomachache that "isn't about anything."

There's a name for this space, and most parents never get told about it. We call it the expression gap… the distance between what a child feels and what a child can actually say.

The feeling shows up first. The words come much later, if they come at all.

From a CCPT perspective, this isn't misbehavior. It's the earliest, most honest language children have. The body communicates what the brain cannot yet put into words.

So when the behavior looks confusing, or sudden, or "out of nowhere"… it usually isn't. It's a child telling you something real in the only language available to them.

Our job in the playroom is to listen for what's underneath. To meet the behavior with steadiness instead of correction. To give the feeling a safer place to land while the words are still catching up.

If your family is sitting in that gap right now, we'd love to help you make sense of it. 🌿

The Mindfulness Studio, Dothan, AL

10/09/2026

Same time every morning.

Shoes off. Backpack on the floor. Tears before the car even starts.

Most parents, reasonably, want to stop the meltdown.

A play therapist checks what the meltdown is trying to say first.

Because the meltdown is a signal. Something underneath needs attention.

A child who falls apart every morning before school might be carrying separation anxiety they can't name. Or sensory overwhelm from the noise of the cafeteria. Or a fear of failing in front of a teacher. Or something unresolved from home that didn't get to finish yesterday.

The behavior on the outside is loud.

The reason underneath is quiet.

When we treat the meltdown directly, without checking what's driving it, we usually get short-term compliance and long-term escalation. The pressure doesn't go away. It finds a new way out.

So before asking "how do we stop this?"…

we ask, "what is this child's nervous system trying to protect them from?"

That question changes what comes next.

Defiance, outbursts, the morning meltdown that has your whole family bracing before breakfast… these are things we work with every day at The Mindfulness Studio. We treat them as communication to be understood. 🌿

10/07/2026

A child sat in the waiting room for twenty minutes before their first session, arms crossed, absolutely certain they were going to have to "talk about their feelings."

They left an hour later asking when they could come back.

Most first sessions carry some version of that same worry… for kids and for parents. So here are four things families often wish they'd known before walking in.

🧩 Play IS the therapy.

It isn't a warm-up to the "real" work. The blocks, the sand, the little figures lined up on the shelf… that's the language your child already speaks. In Child-Centered Play Therapy, play is how they process, not how they pass the time.

🌱 Progress looks quiet at first.

You may not see a dramatic shift in week one. What's happening early on is trust… a child learning that this room is safe, this adult is steady, and their feelings won't be rushed or fixed. The visible changes come after that foundation is laid.

🤍 Your child leads the pace.

We don't hand them a worksheet or a topic. We follow. A child who needs to build the same tower five weeks in a row is doing something meaningful, even when it looks like repetition. Trusting their pace is part of what makes CCPT work.

💛 Parents are part of the process.

You aren't dropping your child off and hoping for the best. Parent check-ins, guidance, and collaboration are woven in… because what happens at home matters just as much as what happens in the playroom.

If your family has a first session coming up, we hope this softens some of the unknown.

We'd rather you walk in curious than anxious. 🌿

The Mindfulness Studio | Dothan, AL

10/05/2026

A parent once asked us: "Is play therapy just… letting kids play?"

Honestly, it's one of the best questions a parent can ask. The answer tells you a lot about how a provider actually works.

Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is a specific, evidence-based modality with a clear framework behind it. The way a therapist talks about their work will show you whether that framework is really there.

If you're in the middle of choosing a therapist for your child, here are three questions worth asking. Nothing tricky. Just conversation starters.

🌿 What does a typical session look like?

Listen for specifics. The toys, the room, your child's role, the therapist's role. A CCPT-trained provider can walk you through what tracking and empathy sound like, why the child leads the play, and what the therapist is doing while it "looks like play."

🌿 How do you involve parents?

You are not on the outside of this work. Ask how they'll keep you looped in, how often you'll meet, and what they'll share (and protect) from the playroom. The answer should feel like partnership.

🌿 How will I know it's working?

Growth in play therapy rarely looks like a straight line. Ask what shifts they watch for at home, at school, and in the playroom. A good therapist can name what progress actually looks like for your child's specific challenges.

Choosing a therapist for your child is one of the most meaningful decisions a family makes.

You're allowed to ask questions. You're allowed to take your time. You're allowed to keep looking until something feels right for your family.

If you're in Dothan or the Wiregrass and want to talk through whether CCPT might be a fit for your child, we'd love to hear from you. 💛

The Mindfulness Studio | Dothan, AL

10/01/2026

A parent wrote "a little anxious" on the intake form.

What they didn't write down was the meltdown every morning. The refusal to sleep alone. The way their child shook in the car before school.

They didn't want to seem like they were overreacting. We understand that.

So here's a small note, from us to you: you can be honest about the whole thing.

The parts that feel embarrassing. The parts that feel extreme. The parts you've been quietly carrying because you weren't sure they counted as "bad enough" to mention.

They count.

The morning that felt like a crisis counts. The behavior you've been managing on your own counts. The thing you can't quite describe but know in your gut feels off… that counts too.

With the full picture, we can meet your child where they actually are. With half of it, we're working with half of the story.

You're paying attention. That's what your child needs from you 🤍

The Mindfulness Studio | Dothan, AL

09/28/2026

You waited until things got really bad before you called.

Not because you wanted to.

Because somewhere along the way, you learned that's what you're supposed to do.

There are rules parents follow that no one ever wrote down.

Wait until the behavior is really serious.

Your child has to be able to talk about their feelings for therapy to work.

You have to explain everything to the therapist yourself.

A few sessions should fix it.

Asking for help means you failed somewhere.

None of these are true. And none of them help.

Here's what we've seen in the playroom instead…

Early support is almost always gentler than late support. The child who comes in when things are "just a little off" doesn't have to unlearn as much.

Play is how children process what words can't reach yet. Your child doesn't need to be verbal, articulate, or "ready to talk" to benefit. They just need to be a child.

Your child's therapist is trained to find the way in. You don't have to hand us a perfect summary of what's wrong. We watch. We listen. We follow.

Meaningful change takes the time it takes. Some children settle in three months. Some need a year. Neither one is failing.

And asking for help isn't a sign that you've fallen short as a parent. It's one of the most capable, clear-eyed things a parent can do.

If you've been waiting because some quiet rule told you to wait… you're allowed to stop waiting. 🤍

The Mindfulness Studio, Dothan, AL

09/25/2026

A child reaches for a paintbrush.

Sometimes it's a way to make sense of something they can't yet put into words.

She might dip it once and set it down. He might drag it across the paper in the same slow line, over and over. Another child might load it heavy with color, then rinse it clean before touching the page.

None of it is random.

In Child-Centered Play Therapy, the paintbrush belongs to the child. Which color. Which motion. Which moment to stop. Our job is to follow, to notice, to stay close… and to let the picture speak in its own time.

The child leads. The therapist follows. And meaning shows up in the doing.

That first brush a child picks up is a small, quiet choice. For a child who has felt unheard or overwhelmed, choosing anything at all is a kind of beginning.

They don't have to explain it.

They just have to feel safe enough to reach for it. 🎨

The Mindfulness Studio | Dothan, AL

Address

200 Grove Park Lane Suite 100
Dothan, AL
36305

Opening Hours

Monday	1pm - 5pm
Tuesday	8am - 5pm
Wednesday	8am - 5pm
Thursday	8am - 5pm
Friday	8am - 5pm

Website

http://psychologytoday.com/profile/950252, https://headway.co/providers/anthony-coppage, https://dothanmindfulness.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Mindfulness Studio posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.