Play Therapy (ages 3-12)

Play therapy is the most developmentally appropriate form of therapy for children. Play is the natural language of children; toys and games are their words. Just like adults talk out their feelings, children play out their feelings. Play and imagination help create emotional safety for children, permitting them to work through their problems without fear, from a safe psychological distance. When playing, children express thoughts and feelings that might otherwise remain hidden. In play therapy, the therapist provides selected play materials and facilitates the development of a safe relationship for the child to fully express and explore self (feelings, thoughts, experiences, & behaviors) as well as learn to manage their emotions, behaviors, and life situations. Play therapy provides children a safe and dynamic way to explore their world, process and organize their experiences, communicate their feelings, resolve conflicts, and heal.

“Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood,

for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.”   --Friedrich Froebel