What is Play Therapy?   Psychotherapy helps children understand the world around them by receiving emotional support from a therapist, learning about feelings, dealing with problems, and trying out new solutions. At Counseling West, we provide a safe, comfortable and healing environment for children who are experiencing difficulties with their emotions and behaviors. They can benefit from learning how to communicate their feelings in healthy ways through psychotherapy. Adults may use language as a way to exchange thoughts and feelings but playing, drawing, building and pretending are the symbolic materials that children use to represent the shifts in their world.   In our work with children, we use a combination of play therapy techniques, which may include Sandplay, story-telling, psycho-education, and parent-child sessions. Our counselors receive special training in play therapy and are skilled at observing themes that generally lie under expressions of shyness, anger, depression, excessive worry, withdrawn behavior, and other symptoms of anxiety and emotional stress.

Just as a child takes pleasure in reading a story over and over, so the child replays the challenging themes in his/her life until, with the support and expertise of the therapist, resolution and behavioral improvement may be achieved. Play therapy can be a helpful treatment for children experiencing a range of issues including:   Acting out Anti-social behavior Anxiety and fears Depression Divorce Loss of a family member, friend or pet Low self-esteem Problems with peers Tantrums-temper issues Social isolation

Intake process:   The initial intake session takes place with the therapist and the parents only. The child does not attend this session. At this time a thorough history is taken and parents may discuss any concerns regarding their child. This may be a longer session than future sessions with the child. The fee for this initial parent intake session is: $35.   The sliding scale fee for subsequent sessions is determined after a financial screening and is based on total household income.   Parents and therapist will stay in touch through periodic sessions with the child’s therapist and will typically be included in some of the child’s sessions.   For an appointment or for more information please call us at:  818 990-9898