Registered Play Therapist Serving Kids Ages 4-9
Play Therapy for Kids
Kids need to grieve loss too.
When your child experiences a loss or trauma, your instinct, understandably, will be to do whatever you can to lessen your child’s upset. The pain that your child is experiencing can feel overwhelming to you.
Whether it’s the death of someone meaningful to your child (including a pet), loss of a friendship, moving to a new home or any life-changing experience, your child needs to have the time and space to acknowledge and work through the loss. By minimizing or trying to replace what was lost, your child may get the message that it’s not OK to be sad or that it’s more important to be strong.
I encourage you to reframe your child’s loss into an opportunity to learn how to lean into and acknowledge grief and loss. By trying to fix and protect, instead of allowing the space to feel, your child may be set up for a future of unhealthy coping skills.
Specialties
Behavior challenges
Birth of a sibling
Death of someone meaningful (including pets)
Physical or sexual abuse
Loss of friendship
Moving away or changing schools
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Play therapy can help!
Children communicate through play, which is an effective tool that brings up what’s happening internally. Although children may seem to communicate well, in many cases, internal awareness isn’t fully formed. As a result, upset is often communicated through anxious, withdrawing or acting out behaviors.
I connect with my child clients primarily through authentic respect, acceptance and compassion. I incorporate play therapy techniques such as sandtray, expressive arts and a variety of other interactive activities into sessions. As feelings are processed and a sense of safety returns, upsetting experiences integrate and healing begins.
Like adults, your child’s healing will be non-linear, meaning at times, it may feel like one step forward, two steps back. Moving through loss happens in waves and this back and forth motion is normal. Allowing the time and space for your child to grieve will allow your child to feel seen and heard by you, while simultaneously learning healthy coping skills that can last a lifetime. This is priceless.
Does Virtual Therapy Really Work for Kids?
The short answer is, yes! Parents have shared that virtual play therapy sessions work for both logistical and emotional safety reasons. Virtual therapy eliminates the pressure of arriving to sessions on time, while contending with busy schedules and transit delays. Parents and kids have reported that kids can experience deep levels of healing when processing emotions from home, resulting in increased courage and confidence when interacting in the world. Wonderful connection can occur virtually and in my experience, truly as meaningful as face-to-face sessions.
How It Works
Video sessions take place on either of two platforms: Zoom or TherapyNotes (which is within the patient portal you’ll have access to). Many of the same activities that happen in the playroom easily adapt to virtual. For example, the sandtray (an amazing therapeutic tool) can happen using a virtual sandtray or when the child has either a physical tray or bowl filled with sand (or cotton balls!). Kids will naturally incorporate miniatures, such as dolls and action figures or can include household objects.
Kids are creative solution seekers so the possibilities are limitless. Interactive activities such as expressive arts also happen virtually, as well as games, using either a physical or online version or recreated from items at home! Kids also enjoy my virtual playroom - it houses many of these same activities that we would do in-person. Think of it as a computerized version of my in-person playroom.
Gratitude, mindfulness, emotions and self-care scavenger hunts are always therapeutic and a great bonding activity when family joins. Connection and healthy attachment can happen in unexpected and beautiful ways.
Since the pandemic, I’ve worked virtually with kids who I have never met in-person. At some point, I will offer a hybrid of virtual and in-person sessions, but don’t yet have a timeline. In the meantime, I encourage you to reach out!
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Grief is an individual experience. Move through your loss at your own pace.
Whether you’re struggling to grieve your loss, feeling like you’re going through the motions with no relief, or are unsure what moving through a loss looks like, you’re not alone.