We have recently updated our quiz to give parents a better idea of how Play Therapy can help parents and children bring resolution to challenges they face in their daily lives. Play Therapy is suitable for children ages 3 to 16 years old.
If you find, yourself questioning how Play Therapy is going to help your child and
you have no clue about what to expect. How will your child "playing" with a therapist really help what your child is struggling with? Then read this blog here!
We are committed to addressing, preventing, and healing challenges your child may face. And therapy is a journey. The first step is often finding the right type of therapy for your child and the second step, which is the key to getting a successful outcome in therapy is to build a relationship with your child's therapist. We encourage parents to get in touch with us for a complimentary zoom session to learn more about Play Therapy and talk about concerns you have about your child.
As we progress, we encourage parents to share their family history as it provides important information about the genetic aspects of their child’s strengths and challenges. More importantly, it gives us a rare insight into each parent’s relationships with the important adults during their own development as we are all shaped by relationships and experiences throughout our lives.
Therapy is here to help you and your child to live better. The quality of the relationship with our parents or other significant adults in our lives directly influences how we relate to our children. Whether we like it or not, we can sometimes hear the voice of our parents in our heads as we deal with our own children. At times we are reminded of our unresolved past trauma because relating to our children can become a re-enactment of the early experiences we had with our parents. Trust the journey and be patient.
How effective is Play Therapy?
I often get asked just how effective Play Therapy is by parents. Over the course of my career of working with children, I see first-hand how children are often unable to verbalize what they are experiencing and the strong emotions that they have in the same way that they can express themselves through play. Becoming a trained Play Therapist has taught me how to "speak their language", the language of play and it has given me access into a child’s world, one which is often left silent. I explain to parents that "the play" serves only as a bridge to therapy. I often stress that play therapy is not about having some toys in a therapy room or encouraging children to draw or play with blocks as they talk with a counselor or psychologist.
In the video below, I share an example of a case I had, how in practice Play Therapy works.
As you do your own research on Play Therapy you will find that there are no predetermined interventions during the play therapy sessions that seek to change the child's behaviour. Instead, what we do as play therapists is consistently offer a safe relationship and an environment in which your child is free to be self-directive. I mainly focus on the relationship I have with your child rather than the initial problem as this allows your child to tell me through "play" the anxieties, fears, or other complex emotions that are feeling or experiencing.
This is why Play therapy fills a wide gap in therapy services for young children. It is effective with tangible results that have allowed children to make massive strides in their emotional and behavioural development.
If you would like to speak to a qualified Play therapist to learn how your child could benefit from play therapy, click here to schedule a complimentary consultation today or take our quiz!
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