"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play
than in a year of conversation." - Plato

Why Play Therapy?

In play therapy, licensed mental health professionals use the therapeutic powers of play, as a way to enhance and enrich the counseling process. Play, particularly for children, provides a developmentally appropriate way for them to express what might be troubling them. As adults, we tend to talk the problem out with others. Through conversations, we can often find some relief, support, and maybe some insight and understanding, that we can use to enhance our ability to cope with the challenges we are experiencing. Even to have a caring person to listen can help. However, when children are struggling they do not talk out there problems, but rather act them out through difficult or concerning behaviors. If you ask the child what's wrong, you may get little to no information. It may be clear that something is troubling them because you can see it in their behavior. However, they may struggle to find the words to articulate their experience like an adult would. In play therapy, play is used as a means of communication so children can more naturally express to us what is troubling them, and we can more naturally support them, as they sort through those difficulties. Play therapy is also used with adults, as we also struggle at times to find the words to say to clearly or fully express all that we are experiencing. 

How will Play Therapy benefit my child?

Play therapy has been utilized as the primary intervention or as adjunctive therapy for multiple social, emotional, and behavioral disorders, including anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity, autism spectrum, oppositional defiant and conduct disorders, anger management, crisis and trauma, grief and loss, divorce and family dissolution, academic and social developmental, and physical and learning disabilities. Research supports the effectiveness of play therapy with children experiencing a wide variety of social, emotional, behavioral, and learning problems, including children whose problems are related to life stressors, such as divorce, death, relocation, hospitalization, chronic illness, assimilate stressful experiences, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, and natural disasters.

Play therapy helps children:

• Become more responsible for behaviors and develop more successful strategies.
• Develop new and creative solutions to problems.
• Develop respect and acceptance of self and others.
• Learn to experience and express emotion.
• Cultivate empathy and respect for the thoughts and feelings of others.
• Learn new social skills and relational skills with family.
• Develop self-efficacy and thus a better assuredness about their abilities.

Click on the home page to see the Play Therapy Room