Therapeutic Approach
Play Therapy is a child-led, non-directive process that allows the child to use play as a means of expressing and exploring inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Through play, children can gain insight into their difficulties and anxieties, supporting them in developing self-awareness, emotional understanding, and a sense of relief.
My practice is both child- and attachment-centred, with a strong focus on building safety, trust, and connection within the therapeutic relationship. I work in an integrative and holistic way, combining non-directive and directive Play Therapy approaches to meet each child’s individual needs. This enables the child to take the lead within sessions, choosing from a range of creative mediums to explore themes that are personally meaningful and emotionally relevant.
I work from the TraumaPlay model, providing a structured, developmentally sensitive framework for supporting children who have experienced trauma. This approach integrates attachment theory, regulation, and resilience-building within play, ensuring that each intervention is paced safely and attuned to the child’s needs.
The therapeutic toolkit includes a wide variety of creative and sensory materials, such as art resources, paint, clay, sand, water, Lego, dressing-up items, and musical instruments. Alongside child-led play, I use directive therapeutic approaches where appropriate, including therapeutic stories, creative visualisations, and structured AutPlay activities to support emotional regulation, connection, and social skill development.
I integrate Richard Rose’s Therapeutic Life Story Work within sessions, using titration to introduce elements gradually and at the child’s pace, supporting exploration of identity, history, and experience safely. I also incorporate SandStory Advanced techniques, offering symbolic play in sand trays to support children in expressing and processing complex emotions and experiences.
In addition, as a trained children’s yoga teacher and Level 4 HANDLE® practitioner (using sensory- and movement-based interventions to support neurodevelopmental and regulation needs), I provide body-based, mindful, and therapeutic interventions that support self-regulation, sensory awareness, and emotional containment. Complementing these approaches, I am also a trained Children and Young People’s Counsellor (PTUK), providing developmentally appropriate talking-based interventions to support emotional processing, reflection, and social-emotional development. Together, these approaches create a multi-modal, holistic framework tailored to each child’s individual needs.
All interventions are offered sensitively and at the child’s pace, with the aim of promoting healing, emotional growth, and the development of secure attachments within a safe and consistent therapeutic environment.