Play2change - Creative Arts and Play Therapy

The Plymouth welcome!
Amanda Perry and Hannah Lane would like to welcome you to, Play2change, Therapeutic Services for Children and Families.
We are two play therapist committed in supporting children and families during the most difficult times in their lives.

We would like to introduce you to one of our service provisions that would benefit your establishment and the children within it.

At play2change we use play therapy and creative arts as a way to support children who

• are struggling to reach their full potential socially or academically.
• have nightmares or disturbed sleep.
• have suffered trauma through domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse.
• have experienced drug and alcohol misuse in the family
• have experienced parental ill health, physical and mental
• struggle from anxiety, stress or phobias.
• have suffered loss or bereavement.
• struggle because of separated or divorced parents?
• are withdrawn or continually unhappy.
• find it difficult to make friends.
• quarrel frequently with peers or siblings.
• bullies others or is bullied themselves.
• display inappropriate behaviour.
• have experienced hospitalisation.

Emotional distress, often expressed as behavioural difficulties can take the form of:

• Aggression
• Withdrawal
• Lack of motivation

Many schools engage with play therapy services to help support their pupils' mental health and wellbeing.

The latest estimates from Play Therapy UK (PTUK) show that as many as 23,000 play therapists are needed in the UK, up 19 per cent since the previous Census. This is mainly due to the growth in the population of children aged from four to 12 and also an increase in the number of sessions that an average child requires (from 12 to 15).

It is estimated that around 1,800 primary schools either use teaching staff in a dual role or contract out a therapy service to an individual practitioner or an external charity or organisation. The overriding consideration is the need for a service that is safe, effective, and sustainable.

Session times

• The sessions last between 30-45 and run for 12 weeks - taking place in a safe environment with a variety of provided resources.
• A 12-week report focusing on the sessions.
• A strength and Difficulty Questionnaire completed by the parent at the beginning, 6 weeks and end of the sessions.
• A safe space provided for the sessions to run -based in Plymouth
• A professional practitioner who has an up to date DBS, Public Liability insurance and Data Protection Registered.
• An open and honest way of working

Costs
Each session will cost £30.00 - block bookings of 6 weeks will be a reduced rate of £140.00

Why Play?
Play is the language of children and their behaviour a message. They do not readily have the words to describe their thoughts, feelings and perceptions of their internal and external world.

Play is vital to every child's social, emotional, cognitive, physical, creative and language development. It helps make learning concrete for all children and young people. Since the 1920s, play has been used in psychotherapy to help children express themselves.

How can it help?
Play Therapy helps children in a variety of ways. They receive emotional support and can learn to understand more about their own feelings and thoughts. Sometimes they may re-enact or play out traumatic or difficult life experiences in order to make sense of their past and cope better with their future.

Children may also learn to manage relationships and conflicts in ways that are more appropriate. The outcomes may be general e.g. a reduction in anxiety and raised self-esteem, or more specific such as a change in behaviour and improved relations with family and friends.

• Become more responsible for behaviours and develop more successful strategies.
• Develop new and creative solutions to problems.
• Develop respect and acceptance of self and others.
• Learn to experience and express emotion.
• Cultivate empathy and respect for thoughts and feelings of others.
• Learn new social skills and relational skills with family.
• Develop self-efficacy and thus a better assuredness about their abilities

Philosophers, educators, psychologists, and scientists have documented the importance of play in children's lives for many years. This back dated from Plato, the Greek philosopher, who once said:

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation"