Play Therapy  - Currently unavailable.  

        "Play is the child's language and ... toys are the child's words!"                      

                              - Association for Play Therapy

There are several forms of play therapy and my primary approach is the Child-Centered Play Therapy model.  This method provides a child with non-directive play therapy, in which the therapist follows the child’s play through verbal and interactive reflection of the child’s actions and words.  Through this approach a child learns to feel safe to explore his/her feelings about self and others in the world.  It is different from playing with family and friends.  Through this approach the child learns about change, choices, self-responsibility, and self-direction.

The British Association for Play Therapy describes play therapy as:

“Play is vital to every child’s social, emotional, cognitive, physical, creative and language development. It helps make learning concrete for all children and young people including those for whom verbal communication may be difficult.

Play Therapy helps children in a variety of ways. Children receive emotional support and can learn to understand more about their own feelings and thoughts. Sometimes they may re-enact or play out traumatic or difficult life experiences in order to make sense of their past and cope better with their future. Children may also learn to manage relationships and conflicts in more appropriate ways” (BAPT).


 You may learn more about play therapy at the following websites:

Association for Play Therapy  (US)

Video from the Association for Play Therapy

BAPT - British Association for Play Therapy

Garry Landreth, PhD. demonstrating Child-Centered Play Therapy (video)