PLLC
Not accepting new clients until Feb 2024
play therapy for emotional well-being
Welcome
"To play it out is the most natural self-healing process in childhood." ~ Erik Erikson
A warm welcome to you. I am a child and family psychotherapist with over 10 years of experience and founder of 'Play It Out! PLLC'. It is my passion and privilege to work with children to help them heal through emotional and social challenges, and to support their caregivers in becoming their best advocates. I specialize in a healing approach known as 'Play Therapy' which in a applied in a developmentally appropriate way to suit the age and needs of the client. I also enjoy supporting parents during the trying phases of parenting with tools that promote strengthening the parent-child connection as a way of addressing challenges that arise in children and in the parenting process. My experience has seen significant success using these approaches with families. I welcome you to browse this space and contact me if you feel that my approach might be a good fit for your needs. It would be my honor to work with you.
Why "Play It Out?"
“Play Therapy is based upon the fact that play is the child’s natural medium of self expression ... It is an opportunity which is given to the child to ‘play out’ his feelings and problems just as in certain types of adult therapy an individual ‘talks out’ his difficulties.” ~Virginia Axline
Play is a child’s primary language of expression. It is the way in which they subconsciously express their thoughts, emotions and experiences and make meaning meaning of them. ‘Play it out’ is an expression that refers to this natural tendency to ‘play out’ their thoughts, emotions and experiences. The idea is that when a child is able to outwardly express what they holding in their bodies and minds, with a safe and nonjudgmental person, they feel less burdened. And when this happens in a therapeutic environment in the presence of a trained specialist in play therapy, the professional can help them process their play and heal through it. Here, toys become the child's words and play becomes the child’s language, to help children therapeutically work through emotional, behavioral and cognitive difficulties and to develop strengths to manage their world.
For more info about play therapy, check out my FAQ.