Healing Through Play and Creativity

 Play therapy is a way of helping children cope with their distress and make sense of their lives using play and the creative arts. Some children either do not want to talk about their problems, or more frequently, cannot because the underlying cause is lodged in the unconscious.

Play Therapy helps children understand painful experiences and upsetting feelings at a conscious or unconscious level. It also gives them a strategy for coping on their own when support may not be available.

Play Therapy is a non-talking therapy to the extent that, on average, children only talk for 8% of the session time. Every child is different. They may have a slight problem which may develop into a more serious one if not treated early with a small number of sessions. Or they may have a number of issues putting the child at risk that require a lengthy period of therapy with the help of a team of mental health specialists, including play therapists.

 In the process of growing up, most children experience difficulty adjusting at some time. Some need more help than others. Unlike adults, many children cannot or do not want to talk about these difficulties. They don’t know the words to describe how they are feeling or what they are thinking.

In play therapy, children use art, music, drama, sand and other play therapy tools as a way of expressing themselves. When adults share their problems they feel better afterwards. The same is true for children. When children are provided with a therapeutic space, (underpinned by Virginia Axline’s principles) by the play therapist – they feel better because their feelings have been released. Children play out their experiences, feelings and needs just as adults talk – by using play.

Sometimes, a child can’t put into words how or why they are feeling the way they do, just like adults often can’t. With the use of play, they don’t need to have a cognitive, conscious understanding – they can explore and express it through play.

 Any child can benefit from Play Therapy. Children with special needs and children with underlying diagnosis. Play Therapy is a useful intervention as it facilitates children in making sense of the world, reaching their potential and developing resilience and emotional intelligence. Lotus Flower Play Therapy caters for adults and children aged 3.5-12 years old.

•  Improved emotional well-being of the child.
• Enables the full potential of the child, e.g. better education results because of improved learning ability and skills.
• Better able to cope in difficult emotional situations. 
• Reduced anti-social behaviour – reduced costs to society. 
• Prevention of psychological problems being carried over to adulthood.