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Play-Based Therapy Sessions

Chiswick, West London

Our in-house fully qualified team of Child and Adolescent Therapists, provide one-to-one Play-Based Therapy sessions for children over the age of 3 years from the Centre’s fully equipped playrooms.
All of the Therapists are registered and approved members of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (The BACP) practising within their ethical framework and work in a child-centred way, using play, story-telling, creative work and talk, to help children express their thoughts and feelings in a way that is comfortable and natural for them.

It is the policy of The Children’s Wellness Centre that all Therapists working within our therapy rooms have specific and rigorous training in relation to counselling children via a play-based approach, rather than being an adult counsellor who additionally provides children’s play therapy services. Adult counselling is a completely different style of work, so if you are looking around for a Therapist, please always ensure the person your child is going to see has child-related qualifications.

What is Play-Based Therapy?

Counselling and Play-Based Therapy both have the same aim; to help support children to better cope with their experiences and emotions and bring about positive change, enhancing well-being and resilience.

Sessions for very young children are known as ‘Play-Based Therapy’ and for a child they often view this as a fun playroom full of toys and games that they are able to engage with in a non-directive way; meaning that they have full control over what they choose to play with and express to their Therapist.

Play is a child’s first and natural language and provides a safe and self-guided way for children to express and process their feelings in a way that is most comfortable for them. The toys and art resources selected in the therapy rooms are carefully chosen to engage the child’s interest and to allow facilitation of creative and emotional expression, often without verbalisation. Young children often do not have the verbal skills to express their emotions or anxieties, especially if they do not understand why they may be feeling a certain way. In particular, if your child has experienced trauma before their narrative and language skills were developed (i.e. before the age of 3), they only have visual memories or bodily sensations to remember their experiences; therefore, play and expressive therapies are the key in processing these. Responses from the Therapist aids children in developing a positive attitude to life, respect for themselves, acceptance of their feelings and how to express them responsibly. It helps children to develop self-control and direction, learning creative and resourceful ways to confront problems, whilst making independent, positive choices.

Play-Based Therapy is offered to children in pre-school and primary school; although sometimes older primary school children may prefer to talk more than play and the approach will be a mix of Counselling and Play-Based Therapy – more information about our Counselling Services can be found here.

What we can support with

Our Therapists have worked with many children, as young as 3 and can support children experiencing grief, loss, parental separation, friendship issues and more. Some further common difficulties young children may experience, may include:
– Separation anxiety
– Struggling with nursery/school transitions and changes
– Coping with the arrival of a new sibling
– Excessive tantrums and struggling to manage their emotions
– Coping with a friend from nursery/school leaving
– Coping with the transition of a house move

Please see our Counselling/Play-based Therapy FAQs found here for further information regarding the overall process with children young people.

How does the initial process work?

To make an initial appointment, please make contact via the below form.

1. Dependent on the days your child can attend, you will then be contacted by a Therapist to book in an initial consultation session for your child. This session is not an ‘assessment’, but is more to determine whether your child feels comfortable with this way of work, and whether the Therapist feels they are able to support your child moving forward. It is also very important that a child feels comfortable with the person they are coming to see and this one-off session will allow them an opportunity to see what counselling is all about. The cost of this session is £80.00.

2. The Therapist will speak with you on the phone before the initial consultation session to discuss your reasons for seeking counselling and any background information regarding your child.

3. After this session, the Therapist will contact you with a follow-up email to share how it went and whether they feel this type of Therapy may be of benefit for your child. If you are all in agreement to move forward, we will book your child in for weekly sessions. These are £80, usually payable on a monthly basis. We have no minimum number of sessions required, this is at your discretion, however it is important to note that in order to see positive change, long term work is usually necessary.

Due to high demand for sessions, there may be a small wait until we can see your child, but we will always do our best to offer a session as soon as possible.