Play Therapy
Play Therapy White Bear Lake, MN / Play Therapy Duluth, MN
Online Play Therapy for all Minnesota
The therapists at North Woods Christian Counseling are committed to delivering competent and sensitive care, meeting each client where they are at in their process of healing. Using a wide variety of toys, puppets, games, art, and other creative tools, we help children work through their emotions and get to the root causes of their distress. The following has been written to explain our approach:
Why Play Therapy?
For many children, traditional talk therapy simply doesn’t work. In light of this, our team utilizes a wide variety of toys, games, puppets, and creative tools like art to make therapy more fun and effective. Play Therapy is a window into a child’s pain, an opportunity to hear a story that words alone cannot tell. For many children, this experience is healing, empowering, and ultimately life-changing. Caregivers seek out play therapy for many reasons. However, common reasons include divorce or separation, illness or death in the family, accident, abuse, neglect, or other life transitions. There are also times when a parent isn’t sure about the cause, but sees a concerning change in their child’s mood or behavior. In order to meet each child’s unique needs, our team is able to provide a variety of directive and non-directive methods of Play Therapy.
Directive Play Therapy, Family Therapy, and Parent Coaching
In Directive Play Therapy our therapists actively use strategies and interventions designed to bring about healing and change. In addition to conducting sessions with children, we also may also incorporate sessions with parents and sometimes entire families. These sessions provide us an opportunity to support caregivers in connecting with their children, following through with consistent consequences, and parenting without anger. We know how hard parents work to love and support their children, and so we strive to provide constructive feedback without judgment or shame. When more intensive trauma work is warranted, either Non-Directive Play Therapy or EMDR Therapy may be helpful.
Non-Directive Play Therapy
Non-Directive Play Therapy is a powerful and effective method for children to heal from their emotional pain. By choosing their own toys and directing the play, children will unconsciously reenact their trauma through movement and metaphor. Many children actually look forward to this type of therapy because in the playroom they have access to a wide variety of toys, puppets, games, and other creative outlets. They also receive undivided attention from a professional who truly cares about them. Over time, the process allows children to feel supported, validated, and empowered. Caregivers are kept in the loop and are given helpful feedback and encouragement along the way.
Play Therapy is an ideal way for children to work through their pain because it is a language they can relate to. No matter how difficult a child’s situation is, there is always hope!
If you have any questions or would like to schedule an appointment, please call us at 651-243-2484 or click on the button below. We will do our best to contact you within 1 business day.
