What is Therapeutic play ?

Therapeutic Play started to be looked at as early as 1762 where children were observed at play.

From this point, the importance of children’s play around supporting emotional and mental wellbeing, has been developed by psychologists and childcare experts to what it has become today.

This type of therapy is now used in hospitals, in the police service, within charities, through local authorities, the NHS and through private practices.

Through Tiny Steps I work and support children aged between 4 and 12 years old.

What I provide for your child is non-directive play, where I have specific types of play equipment available and children are able to freely move between .

My role is to watch, listen and be led by your child , using the skills and techniques I am trained in, to help unlock emotions and feelings your child may be struggling.

The aim is to help your child to develop key resilience skills to help them in their everyday lives.

As this is all about your child, we have an initial telephone conversation around your concerns about your child
From this, we then organise a time to have a ‘show around’ so your child sees what coming to see myself is all about and the resources I have in place.

The sessions are 40 minutes long and your child can have up to 15 sessions on average (though this may be shorter or slightly longer if you and your child any myself feel that it is appropriate.

The work I do with your child is confidential (apart from if there is a safeguarding concern), however your child may want to share the session outcome with you. I can however support you with suggestions to use at home to extend the work we have done through the sessions.

“We chose support for our son via Tiny Steps when our son began to show signs of separation anxiety when lockdown began to lift and we began to return to work. While this was the original reason for our need for support, Kelly has done so much more! 

Her support for our son has helped him learn about his emotions, work through his anxiety (which now rarely presents and is much more manageable when it does) as well as begin to learn more about his social relationships and how to navigate situations. We began the process for Neurodevelopment Assessments for our son, Kelly’s supporting evidence has really helped this move forward! 

Kelly has always communicated with us and we have always felt involved, updated and communicated to. Kelly not only support our son, but also us as parents, always being available to discuss anything that arises and offering advice about what we can do at home! 

While our son was a little sad to see the sessions end, the process of moving him on and helping understand why was amazingly supportive, especially as he struggles with changes. Kelly’s kind and gentle approach meant the transition was very smooth and our son seemed to accept the change almost immediately! 

Thank you so much Kelly!!” 

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Using Play To Heal

Play Therapy

Helps with

  • a bereavement or loss
  • parent separation
  • a new family situation including the introduction of a new partner and family
  • or have witnessed domestic violence
  • a sibling who has behavioural issues
  • a sibling who has additional needs
  • being bullied or is bullying others
  • attachment or bonding difficulties
  • anxiety & or depression
  • poor social skills and or does not know how to play
  • or shown autistic tendencies
  • being shy and withdrawn
Get in touch

Call me to see how I can help you 07710466130