Play Therapy

Ask a seven-year-old how they feel about their parents' divorce, and they might shrug and say "I don't know." Not because nothing is happening inside them — but because they don't yet have the language, the cognitive development, or the emotional framework to articulate it.

What they do have is play. In play, children express what they can't say. They process what they can't yet understand. They rehearse, they re-enact, they work things out through the sand tray, the puppets, the paintbrush, the dollhouse.

Play therapy is grounded in the understanding that for children, play is not the opposite of therapy — it is therapy.

What happens in a play therapy session

A play therapy room looks very different from a traditional therapy office. There are art materials, sand trays, miniature figures, puppets, games, and a range of toys chosen specifically because they give children different ways to express different things.

The child leads. A play therapist doesn't direct the play or tell the child what it means. They follow, observe, reflect, and create a space where the child feels genuinely safe to express whatever is inside them.

That safety is itself therapeutic. Many of the children who come to play therapy have had experiences that made the world feel unpredictable or unsafe. A consistent, attuned relationship with a therapist who is reliably present and accepting can be profoundly healing.

Children don't need to talk about their problems to process them. They need a safe space and someone who truly sees them.

What play therapy can help with

• Anxiety or excessive worry

• Behavioural difficulties and emotional outbursts

• The impact of trauma, abuse, or neglect

• Grief and loss — including bereavement or family change

• Adjustment to major life events (new sibling, moving, parents separating)

• Social difficulties and low confidence

• Selective mutism

• Children on the autism spectrum or with developmental differences

A note for parents

Parents are an essential part of the process. Your therapist will keep you informed about how your child is progressing (without breaching their child's privacy) and will work with you on ways to support the therapeutic work at home.

Some parents are surprised that they don't get a detailed report of what their child did in the session. This is intentional — the therapeutic space belongs to the child, and that safety is part of what makes it work.

You might also notice changes at home before you can see them clearly — a child who was withdrawn becoming more talkative, or one who was acting out becoming calmer. The work often shows up in life before it shows up in the therapy room.

Curious whether this approach might be right for you? We're happy to talk it through.

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