Accepting Private fee paying, Agency- funded or NDIS Self or Plan Managed clients
What is Play Therapy?
Play is a developmentally appropriate form of psychotherapy for children as it uses a child’s natural language of play. Just as an adult may seek counselling to talk through concerns or difficulties in their life, children express themselves and resolve their issues through play. Play Therapy is an evidenced based approach based on our understanding of brain development, attachment and interpersonal neurobiology. Play Therapy is thought of as a 'Bottom Up Approach' as it works with regions of the brain that focus on regulation, attachment, and relationship, as opposed to traditional psychology approaches that have more of a focus on providing the child with strategies using higher order thinking and problem solving, which rely on regions of the brain that are not fully developed in children until around 25 years of age.
In Play Therapy, the therapist conveys the ‘Be With’ attitudes to the child of: “I’m here, I hear you, I understand, I care and I delight in you”. The therapeutic relationship is crucial in Play Therapy as it is through the therapist’s lens of empathy and unconditional positive regard that the child begins to view themself more positively, and their self-esteem and self-understanding grows. The therapist provides co-regulation, which helps to build the child’s capacity to self-regulate and to increase their window of tolerance.
It is in the context of the relationship, that the child feels safe to use the play therapeutically to explore their emotions, to process trauma and to heal. And when children start to feel better about themselves, their behaviours begin to change.
Therapeutic Powers of Play
This diagram, adapted from The Therapeutic Powers of Play: 20 Core Agents of Change (Schaefer & Drewes, 2013) demonstrates the many ways that play can help children move towards greater mental health and wellbeing by facilitating communication, fostering emotional wellness, enhancing social relationships and increasing personal strengths.
Because play is fun, it is often dismissed as being frivolous and not important, however advances in neuroscience have helped us to understand how critical play is for healthy development. The United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child (UNCRC) acknowledge this importance by including play as a right for every child.
"We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing." Charles Schaefer
Who can benefit from Play Therapy?
Play Therapy should be considered if your child is experiencing, or has experienced a range of social, emotional and behavioural difficulties including:
- depression
- anxiety or fearfulness, including selective mutism
- difficulty navigating a neurotypical world due to neurodivergence, such as Autism or ADHD
- developmental delays
- aggression
- low self-esteem
- social withdrawal
- relationship difficulties
- family breakdown
- grief and loss
- trauma
- domestic violence
- bullying
- academic problems, including reading
- emotional dysregulation
- school refusal
- gender dysphoria
- delayed play skills
