Play Therapy

Play Therapy is a Child centred approach based upon several psychological theories. Research shows that it is highly effective in facilitating positive change and growth, with a recent study conducted by Play Therapy UK suggesting 71% of children referred showing positive change.

Play is an essential part of a child’s social, emotional, cognitive, physical, and creative development. It is their first language and their main way to understand the world. Play therapy allows the child to make sense of their world and work through upsetting or painful feelings and situations which they do not have the language to express.

Although people of all ages can benefit from play therapy, it is typically used with children between the ages of 3 and 12. Play therapy may be helpful in a variety of circumstances, such as:

• Problem behaviours in school such as bullying
• Aggressive or angry behaviour
• Anxiety, depression, grief
• Family issues, like divorce, separation, or death of a close family member
• Natural disasters or traumatic events
• Domestic violence, abuse, or neglect

Will it benefit my child?

Any child can benefit from Play Therapy. It helps children make sense of their world, reach their full potential, build resilience, and develop emotional intelligence and regulation.

Some of the potential benefits of play therapy are:

• Build Resilience
• Develop coping strategies and problem-solving skills
• Boost Self-esteem and Self-respect
• Build empathy and respect for others
• Relieve Anxiety and excessive worry.
• learn to express feelings and regulate emotions
• Develop social skills
• Build stronger family relationships
• Neurodiversity

When kids struggle to regulate their emotions and thoughts, their behaviour can just look like acting out to adults in their lives. But what they’re searching for is a sense of control and understanding to what is happening in their world, being child led, play therapy can fulfil this need in a safe way

Booking Play Therapy for your Child – To get started you can fill in a Booking Form by clicking the link below. This will allow us to get an idea of your availability and set the Initial Consultation.

Parent Consultation – The Play therapist will first meet with the Parents on their own to discuss what is going on for the child, to go through Consent and contracting, set goals and expectations and answer any questions.

Play Therapy sessions – At the beginning of the first session, The Play Therapist will meet with the parents and the child together, to discuss confidentiality and what to expect in a child friendly way and to gain the consent of the child. Once the Child is happy to start, the parents can then wait in the waiting room.

Sessions generally take place on a weekly basis for 40 minutes.  We always start off with 12 sessions. Research shows that somewhere between 12 – 30 sessions see the best positive long-term outcome.

Review Meetings – Progress is discussed at Parent Review meetings where the therapist can check in with the Parents and discuss how things are going at home or school and collaboratively decide on how things should continue or begin to work towards ending the therapy.

*Please note consent from all legal guardians is required*