Services we offer
Play Therapy
Child-Centred Play Therapy (3-11 years old)
Child-Centred Play Therapy is a non-directive and evidence-based form of counselling/psychotherapy for children experiencing a range of emotional, behavioural, psychological and social difficulties. Play Therapy aims to bring about positive changes for children such as improved self-esteem, confidence and healthier ways of coping and communicating.
Play Therapy is a way of being with a child that creates a relationship of safety and trust. Within this therapeutic relationship, children can express, explore and make sense of difficult life experiences.
Interplay Family Therapy
Interplay is a non-directive approach of play therapy in which parents/primary caregivers are central to the child’s therapeutic process. Working with the dyad of primary caregiver and child, Interplay aims to reorganise and reconnect parent and child’s nervous systems, and heal past experiences within a secure attachment relationship.
Filial Therapy
Filial Therapy is a psycho-education intervention that focuses on strengthening the parent-child relationship. With a combination of play therapy and family therapy, parents learn core therapeutic skills to conduct weekly special play time sessions with their child. Once parents commence sessions at home, the therapist continues to provide support through supervision and coaching in follow-up sessions. Typically, children love having “special play time” with their parents, and parents find the time together in play so special and meaningful they look forward to the sessions.
Is Play Therapy different to play?
Play Therapy is different to children’s everyday play. Play therapists complete intensive training and use a specialised set of skills to develop a therapeutic relationship in which children can thrive. Play Therapy draws on well-researched theories including child development, neuroscience, trauma and attachment (bonding) theory.
At BlueSkies Counselling, we deliver Play Therapy with structure yet flexibility. We believe in the importance of tailoring Play Therapy to suit the family’s unique needs and relationship dynamics.
Who can benefit from Play Therapy?
Play therapy is particularly appropriate for children aged between two and eleven, as it responds to children’s developmental and communication needs. Talking therapies may be developmentally inappropriate for children, as children often find it difficult to talk about their feelings and traumatic events. Play Therapy allows children to use play, their natural form of communication, to work through, grow and heal from painful experiences. Children practice newly developed coping strategies in the playroom and gradually transfer these skills to their everyday lives.
Research has found Play Therapy to be effective interventions for a range of issues including:
Abuse and Neglect
Adoption, Fostering and Out of Home Care issues
Aggressive, Oppositional and Acting out behaviours
Attachment and Bonding issues
Chronic Illness and Hospitalisation
Excessive anger, fear, sadness, worry and shyness
Family Changes
Grief & Loss
Peer Relationships
Prenatal and Birth Trauma
School Difficulties
Selective Mutism
Self Esteem & Identity Issues
Separation anxiety
Sibling Rivalry
Sleeping and Eating difficulties
Social Adjustment
Toileting
Trauma
(Information sourced from Australian Play Therapists Association and Interplay Play Therapy Australia websites).