Who have I helped with play therapy?
Children who have experienced bereavement, family breakdown or divorce
Children who have witnessed domestic violence or been involved in any form of abuse
Children who display emotional, social or behavioural difficulties in the classroom and at home
Children in care/foster homes who may have attachment issues
What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is simply counseling for children. Play is used because it is a child’s natural means of expression and communication and is the way they explore and make sense of their world. Often, conventional talking therapies are inappropriate for children who struggle to put their feelings into words.
Play therapy gives children the opportunity to explore and understand difficult feelings in a safe and trusting environment. It can increase their self-esteem and confidence by enabling them to understand aspects of their past experiences. The therapy provides them with better resilience for encountering future difficulties and encourages a more hopeful view of their world.
What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is simply counseling for children. Play is used because it is a child’s natural means of expression and communication and is the way they explore and make sense of their world. Often, conventional talking therapies are inappropriate for children who struggle to put their feelings into words.
Play therapy gives children the opportunity to explore and understand difficult feelings in a safe and trusting environment. It can increase their self-esteem and confidence by enabling them to understand aspects of their past experiences. The therapy provides them with better resilience for encountering future difficulties and encourages a more hopeful view of their world.
What Happens in The Room
In the therapy room, the child is presented with a safe environment in which they can choose to play or not with a range of therapeutic tools, art media and toys – such as sand, drawing and painting, clay, music, puppets, role-play and dressing up. They are given the space to explore with as few limits as possible and as little adult direction as is necessary. Play therapy is often messy, noisy and unpredictable! The therapist will communicate with the child through their chosen metaphors to help them talk about their unconscious and conscious feelings and emotions. The therapist will help them to devise strategies to cope with the difficulties that they face and those life challenges that they may not be able to change. Each session will last 45 minutes and will occur at the same time and place each week so that the child begins to feel safe in a world which may be chaotic.
