Empowering individuals through healing, growth, and personal development
Everything you need to know about Play Therapy
WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?
Play Therapy provides the child with an opportunity to express their thoughts, emotions and desires, as well as to process their experiences through the medium of play, while using a range of creative tools.
Play therapy is a therapeutic approach that supports children between the ages of 3 and 12 who may be experiencing social, emotional or behavioural challenges. It uses play, creative expression, and age-appropriate therapeutic techniques to help children communicate and express themselves in ways that feel natural to them.
WHY IS IT EFFECTIVE?
Play Therapy is considered to be one of the most effective ways to help children experiencing social, emotional and behavioural challenges.
Play is a natural and meaningful way for children to communicate, explore, and make sense of their experiences. While children may be able to express themselves verbally, they do not always have the words, emotional vocabulary, or developmental capacity to fully communicate what they are thinking and feeling.
Play therapy meets children at their developmental level by using play and creative expression as a therapeutic medium. Through play, children can communicate and explore thoughts, feelings, experiences, and challenges in ways that may feel more natural and accessible to them than talking alone.
WHAT IS THE GOAL OF PLAY THERAPY?
The goal is to help the child learn positive, healthy and effective ways/methods to express themselves and to solve problems. Play Therapy aims to facilitate healing and personal growth to help the child realise their potential, teaching them skills that will help them cope better with their future.
Playing out their thoughts, emotions and experiences helps the child to make sense of them, process them and come to resolutions.
WHAT DO PLAY THERAPY SESSIONS LOOK LIKE?
Play Therapy sessions usually take place weekly with one 35-40 minute session each week on the same day, at the same time and at the same place. This consistency is necessary for the development of a trusting relationship.
During the sessions, children are supported and encouraged to express themselves freely, communicate and exlpore aspects of themselves and their lives symbolically through play, stories and metaphor. The therapist provides a comfortable, safe, non-judgemental and fully accepting space in which the child can communicate at their own level and at their own pace without feeling interrogated or threatened.