Child Centred Play Therapy

Child-centred play therapy is a dynamic process of relating to children on their own terms in developmentally appropriate ways that allows children to express themselves through their natural medium of communication and play." Landreth 2012 3rd ed. "Toys are the children's words and play is their language" and the way children use

toys is most often a function of their personal needs. The toys made available for play are specially selected to facilitate the child's ability to explore and express themselves and their inner world of emotions.

Central and crucial to CCPT is the therapeutic relationship between the child and the therapist who is deeply accepting, empathic and sensitive toward the child. Play Therapists come from a professional background and receive extensive training to use play therapeutically and to work in an ethically sound way. A qualified Play Therapist is

trained to assess and work with the child who might otherwise be avoidant in more directive and task focused therapy approaches.

Therapists are registered with their  rofessional body and receive regular external clinical supervision. The values of 'do good and no harm' are pre-eminent, with a strong belief in the capacity of the child as their own agent for change and growth. This is  supported within a structured environment where limits are few but clear and secure. The

limits set anchor the child in the world of reality. Within this optimum environment the child can then experience self-expression in play to the fullest and be freed to make meaning out of their experiences, and

importantly their world.

CCPT can offer the child the means to develop resolutions to deep and profound specific issues whilst at the same time developing their emotional and social skills in more generic and transferable ways and

outcomes. "CCPT is the most thoroughly researched theoretical model in the field of play therapy and the results are unequivocal."

*Landreth, 2010, 3rd ed. CCPT empowers the child to change internally through their own process of deriving meaning from their

experiences. "Providing the child this opportunity is the purpose and role of CCPT." Cochrane et all, 2010. There are many experiences in childhood in which children feel they have little or no control. Play is children's way of working out balance

and control in theirs lives, for, as children play, they are in control of the happenings in play....they live out at the moment of the play the past experiences and associated feelings.... The major function of play in play therapy experiences is the changing of what may be unmanageable in reality to manageable situations through symbolic

representation, which provides children with opportunities for learning to cope... In play activity, children experience being in control of the experience and move toward an inner resolution and then are better able to cope with or adjust to the problem." Landreth, 2012.

Play therapy utilizes play, children's natural medium of expression, to help them express their feelings more easily through toys instead of words. Child Centred Play Therapy, a deeply respectful, evidence based form of counselling and psychotherapy for children from 4-10 years old. The number of sessions are responsive to the needs of each child, but generally no less than 12 and often more than 20.

Each session is up to 45 minutes long, though in the early stages some children shorten this. The therapeutic process begins with an initial interview with the primary caregiver. Informed Consents are signed and you will be invited to complete a Child Focused Questionnaire. These assist the therapist form a working hypothesis and help when we review how things are going. Feedback sessions take place after every 4th - 6th session throughout the process.