Therapeutic Play for Children + Teens
If you’ve found it exhausting to keep up with your child’s behaviours, and your methods haven’t been catalyzing change, play therapy sessions can be the thing that gets the entire family back on track.
Is your child or adolescent in the realm of any of the following?
A bullying target or perpetrator
Prone to separation anxiety
Having tantrums and emotional or physical outbursts
Suffering post-traumatic stress and acting worried or fearful
Falling behind in school
Finding it difficult to socialize
Play therapy can help a child work through the stresses caused by these events or deeper issues. And, it can improve the relationships they have with their family and friends. This is done using specific therapeutic activities (play, music, crafts, games) in a supportive and fun environment. Your child will enjoy several of these play sessions at my office, while you’ll complete at-home exercises to make sure progress and healing is happening.
But I get it. You may have already been to the school counsellor.
You’ve read blogs and forums.
You may have already asked the doctor about mental development problems.
And you may have exhausted the support you’ve had from government offerings or social services.
Or maybe your child is ‘just on the edge’ and doesn’t qualify for these programs.
Yet you know they are needed to get your family’s relationships back on track.
How do I know if Therapeutic Play is the right fit for us?
Sometimes, you may feel that talking nicely to your child or preteen is not enough. And neither is strict discipline or punishment. And the middle ground of ‘talking kindly but firmly’ also produces no results.
We’ve all been there as parents; we can feel like ‘nothing works.’ We can also feel guilty that it was something we did to trigger these behaviours.
You are not alone in what you are experiencing with your child or teen.
extreme and unreasonable fears
emotional outbursts
physically harmful actions
persistent retreats into loneliness
refusal to speak or respond in social situations
It can all be helped.