Creative Play Therapy and Life Story Work
Following a referral you will be contacted within a week to discuss my availability and the intervention required.
Child referrals are assessed upon the needs of the child through discussion of current behaviours/issues, history, and SDQ scores.
Please contact me for further information.
Creative Play Therapy sessions are reviewed throughout the duration of the intervention to assess whether more sessions are needed, and when the child is ready to end their therapy intervention.
High need children – minimum of 1 school year of sessions contracted to begin.
Medium need children – minimum of 2 terms of sessions contracted to begin.
Group sessions – minimum of 10 sessions contracted to begin.
This is due to allowing sufficient time to build a positive trusting relationship with the therapist. Too few sessions can potentially cause more difficulty for children if they don’t have time to fully process their feelings and experiences.
Life Story Work usually requires around 6-8 sessions depending on the life story. If a life story book is required please allow around 6 weeks for completion.
A life story book can be created alongside life story work or can be requested as an independent piece of work (without meeting or working with the child).
This is dependent on whether the referral is for Creative Play Therapy or Life Story Work and if there are any room and travel costs.
Discounts are given for more than one session contracted in one school. Half day (2 sessions) and full day (4 sessions).
Cost of a completed, printed colour Life Story Book – Dependent on individual cases, please contact me for more information.
Children – Usually in the child’s school, but sometimes other settings can be arranged if this is unsuitable.
Older young people/Adults – A safe, confidential room local to the client. These can cause an additional cost but I attempt to keep this to a minimum for the client.
Play Work is often a support program for children during after school/holiday time which provides fun activities with peers and adults which can help build their social skills etc.
Creative play therapy (if done by a qualified play therapist) is a recognised therapeutic intervention which can support children to heal themselves, gain self-esteem and self-understanding, and learn to manage and cope with any difficult past experiences which may be impacting their current behaviour and emotional expression. It can also support children with emotional regulation difficulties or physical difficulties find new ways to safely express themselves, in a safe non-judgemental environment.
Therapeutic intervention is most beneficial to children when completed by a qualified, experienced practitioner. A qualified creative play therapist (with PTUK) has experienced all the tools they offer to children themselves, understand how they work, and understand the therapeutic value of them. A qualified play therapist is also someone who has been trained to know how to respond to, and how to hold and accept, a child’s difficult and often upsetting feelings in order to build their trust, self-esteem, and offer a non-judgmental, therapeutic response. Offering children a safe, creative therapeutic environment with a qualified play therapist can support them in making positive new neural pathways in their brains which can improve their responses, their emotional regulation, and their ability to make safe, healthy relationships as they grow up. A qualified play therapist (with PTUK) is also regulated by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social care, and abide by clear ethical guidelines and have to re-register every year to continue their membership. Having a qualified play therapist complete creative play therapy with children is safer, and guarantees a high quality service with your child’s best interests at heart.
Supervision
Costs per hour from September 2022 –
| Trainee in Therapeutic Play Skills or trainee Play Therapist | £50 |
| Certified/Accredited Play Therapist | £60 |
| Other Qualified Professional | £60 |
Group supervision is dependent on the length and size of group, please contact me for more information.
In a confidential space at my home in the Radstock area. I am able to come to other settings for an additional cost.