Many children experience adversity in their lives events which can have a negative effect on their physical and emotional well-being and leave them feeling sad, angry, anxious, guilty or confused. However, it is often the case that children aren’t at a stage where they are ready to verbalise their thoughts and feelings, especially in relation to challenging situations.
Child-Centered Play Therapy is a theory-based approach to child counselling that helps children heal and grow by encouraging them to express themselves along with any troubling thoughts or feeling they are experiencing. In play therapy, toys become the children’s words and play their natural language.
Play is a natural way of enabling children to reenact the stressful life events they have faced. Play has a significant part in promoting children’s cognitive and motor development. In addition, it empowers children to solve their emotional conflicts. In the Child-Centered Play Therapy process, the therapist adopts an approach based on acceptance and empathy which forms the basis of a secure relationship with the child. By creating this environment, the child is provided with the opportunity to express their world and work through deeper emotional wounds, fears and experiences.
Play Therapy is suitable for children aged 3 -12 and can help with a wide variety of difficulties including those listed below
When children participate in the therapy process, it is expected that parents, too, will become active members in our work together. Parents should be engaged in the process, demonstrate a willingness to be involved in the sessions and be responsive to feedback. Engaging a child in play therapy is about allowing them to open up and connect and providing them with the space in which to do so. Throughout this process, new parenting skills are learned and developed.