Why play therapy?

“But it’s just play.”

Play therapy is NOT just play.

We know that young children communicate through play. There are very few experiences that place the child in the “driver seat.” Pretend play allows children to assume the control they so rarely experience living in a world run by adults. 

This freeing environment allows the child to explore and express their emotional state—what it ACTUALLY feels like to be them. This experience is then able to help the child discover and practice alternative ways of coping with their worries, as well as the opportunity to work THROUGH these most challenging feelings.

A child is heard and seen in the play room, which in turn can create the improvements in behavior at home and/or school, increased socialization, and/or a reduction in overwhelming anxiety. The child is offered a reparative experience to the internal struggle they may be battling.

It allows the child to put together all the pieces for a happier and healthier self.

Although the focus is not on behavior,  by providing these new experiences through RELATIONSHIP the behaviors we often seek to address begin to improve.