Arthur Ellis, the mental health charity, is piloting play therapy with a PTUK-registered Qualified Therapeutic Play Practitioner.
Play therapy is a form of psychotherapy primarily for children, which helps them to express themselves and work through emotional and mental issues using play as a medium. This type of intervention is mainly used with children who may not be able to put how they are feeling into words just yet. The play therapy we are looking to introduce will use all elements of play including art therapy, music therapy, working with sand trays, puppets and arts and crafts. This will, of course, be available alongside our one-to-one mentoring service, workplace wellbeing, and community service, filling the gaps where traditional support falls short.
Our one-to-one talking therapy starts from eight years old, and so we’re really proud to be able to reduce our threshold using play therapy, which can be practiced with children aged four to 12 years. The structure of the therapy is that there are weekly one-to-one session; with one initial check in, where both parent and child are present, then 12 lone sessions to follow.
Due to the equipment required for play therapy, the set- up of a room takes around 30 minutes. During the session, the child will be able to play using art therapy materials, musical therapy instruments, working with sand trays, clay, puppets and arts and crafts – all covered under the session cost. The location is always secure too, particularly in terms of sound to maintain privacy and comfort. This will always be in a ‘safe and neutral space’, such as a school or at a GP’s surgery.
We hope that this introduction helps us to keep striving towards our aim; establishing a mental health service that seamlessly complements public services, offering crucial support to the 250,000 young people who currently don’t have access to mental health care.
