PLAY THERAPY

What is Play Therapy?

Vaishali Shah uses Play Therapy at the Harbord Homeopathic Clinic to help children express what is troubling them, as play is the child’s natural medium of self-expression. When children do not have the verbal language to express themselves, or are unable to organise their thoughts and feelings, play therapy gives them an opportunity to “play out” their feelings and problems.

In play therapy, toys are like the child's words and play is the child's language. Using a structured, research based approach that builds on the normal communicative and learning processes of children, Vaishali helps kids to acquire awareness of their feelings, behaviour and strengths when there are emotional or social skills deficits.

Play therapy differs from regular play in that, Vaishali uses it to help children address and resolve their own problems. Using toy animals, a dolls house, dress ups, trucks, dinosaurs and other figurines that kids are familiar with, Vaishali makes it easier for children to learn to communicate with others, express feelings, modify behavior, develop problem-solving skills, and learn a variety of ways of relating to others.

When children come across hurdles/barriers in the process of satisfying their needs, it sets up areas of resistance, friction and tension, leading to behavioural problems like the need to ‘act out’. Even the most troubling problems can be confronted in play therapy and lasting resolutions can be discovered, rehearsed, mastered and adapted into lifelong strategies.

Play therapy helps children between the ages of two and twelve years to:

· Become more responsible for their behaviour.

· Develop more successful strategies, in ADHD and autism.

· Develop respect and acceptance of self and others.

· Learn to experience and express emotion.

· Develop anger management skills.

· Assimilate stressful experiences: grief, divorce, trauma, relocation, hospitalisation.

· Communicate about anxiety and depression.

· Cultivate empathy and respect for thoughts and feelings of others.

· Learn new social skills and relational skills with family.

· Promote social development in physical and learning disabilities.

Consulting Homoeopath, Counsellor and Psychotherapist

Vaishali Shah

How Long Does Play Therapy Take?

Each play therapy session is of 50 minutes duration. Sessions are usually held weekly. The length of play therapy sessions depends on each individual child’s need and the pace they need to resolve their problems. In Vaishali’s experience, when the child is also receiving homeopathic treatment they improve in a comprehensive way.

Vaishali will want to communicate regularly with the child's parents to understand their concerns, and to develop a plan for resolving problems as they are identified, while monitoring the progress of the treatment.