Play Therapy

The goal of play therapy is to decrease behavioral and emotional difficulties that interfere significantly with a child's normal functioning. 

Play therapy provides a safe way for children to express their thoughts and feelings through a authentic, self-guided, healing process.

Children can't express themselves in the same ways that teens and adults do. In order to communicate their feelings, children are offered  opportunities for dramatic play, art play, fantasy play and sand play.

 In order to help children express their thoughts and feelings, therapists use play in a safe and nonjudgmental environment to help children recreate emotional experiences they are struggling with internally. Through this process, a child’s play evolves until they gain a better understanding of the situation and can process their past experiences.  Play therapy can also help improve verbal expression, impulse control, anxiety and frustration, and increase their capacity to trust and relate to others.

Benefits of Play Therapy:

• Safe and non-threatening space for children
• Developmentally appropriate for each child
• Constructive expression of thoughts and feelings
• Decision-making and acceptance of personal responsibility
• Development of problem-solving, coping and social skills
• Supports emotional healing and growth
• Encouragement of self-efficacy, positive self-esteem and creativity