What is Play Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy?

 

Play Therapy is an evidenced-based therapeutic model that has been proven to be the preferred method to work with children 3-12. Play Therapy is an effective and powerful way to help children overcome problems and difficulties they experience in their lives.

Can you imagine a child engaging in a therapeutic session, where they sit across a therapist and talk about their struggles, just like adults do in therapy? Children under 12 are not quite able to talk and sort through issues verbally as their brain hasn't yet fully developed for this. Instead, a Play Therapist is trained in using healing strategies of play to communicate with and treat children, since play is their natural language. In other words, a Play Therapist uses therapeutic techniques in disguise, through play, to address the child's current symptoms/behaviors that brought them to therapy, given them the necessary skills to cope with their stressors.

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For older children and teens, play-based activities and expressive/creative arts can help them open up more comfortably. I often a use other methods, such as art and sandplay as a modality for them to process traumatic and stressful events in a safer way. Since trauma and other negative memories and life events are often stored in our right brain, having a right-brain based activity like art and sandplay works to help them self-regulate their different states of the nervous system (sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous system), and integrate their experiences.

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Children and teens today face many stressors that can be challenging and sometimes overwhelming for them. Through Play and Expressive Arts, your child can fully express themselves in a non-judgmental and safe environment, and be on the path of healing. All that, while having fun!

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