Play Therapy

Play Therapy for Children 

What is play therapy?

Play therapy is a form of counselling that uses play to help children deal with emotional, social, and mental difficulties. It is a child friendly way of engaging with children and it provides a way for them to talk about their feelings and experiences. Play therapy utilizes play as a child’s natural medium of communication to help them express their feelings in a safe and more comfortable way.

Why play therapy works?

Because children use play to learn and to grow the best way to help a child in expressing their feelings is through play. When you connect with children through play you offer them time to de-stress, stop power struggles and to feel a greater sense of control.

The benefits of play therapy:

• It improves the child’s ability to make healthy contact with themselves and others
• It gives them an opportunity for awareness
• It gives them the opportunity for healing
• It is beneficial to the development of a healthy emotional and social intelligence
• It helps children to relax and feel safe
• It helps children to make plans – both emotionally and socially
• It motivates a sense of empowerment and mastery

Ages

Play therapy can be used with people of all ages but here at FAMSA Pretoria, we do play therapy with children between the ages of 5 and 18 years old.