Are you experiencing difficult times with your child? Have you lost the joy of parenting? Are your children/youth experiencing any of the following challenges:
Sibling rivalry
Oppositional behavior
Anxiety
Trauma (present or historical)
Attachment and bonding issues
Sleep problems
Power struggles
Art and play therapy integrates tools to allow for the expression of internal and environmental challenges, communication or stress when words seem to be unable to express the emotion.
Play opens a window in which children reveals their inner life and provides an opportunity for children to express feelings and deal with frustrations and difficulties which may otherwise be suppressed.
Play and Art Therapy provide a means to express difficult emotions and experiences.
Neuroscience research suggests that children, youth and adults are more able to communicate inner experiences and challenges through art and play such as drawing, painting, clay, sandtray work and puppets.
An effective therapist can learn a great deal about a child/youth and underlying challenging by using tools common to young people and can structure and modify interventions using tools of art and play, at times assuming a non-directive observant role and at other times, being an active participant.
Play and art therapy theories allow for the integration of analytical psychology, attachment theory, cognitive -behavioral therapy, narrative and humanistic theory.
Play Therapy- Let Your Endorphin’s Out To Play:
When you participate in pleasurable activities like smiling, laughing, exercising or playing, your brain does an amazing thing and releases a little chemical message known as an endorphin. These endorphins are feel-good messages that have the power to actually remove physical and emotional pain. They travel down the spine, and then throughout your body, sending a feeling of well being as they go. So do not forget to take time to play each day – it really is important. Do not forget to take time to play – it really is important. (see Squidoo Parenting).