Cambridge Play Therapy - Emma Baxter

Play Therapy helps children understand their feelings when they get upset, confused or experience traumatic events. It is the process between the child and the therapist in which the child explores at their own pace and those issues, whether past or present, conscious or unconscious, that are affecting their own life.

Rather than having to explain what is troubling them, the child uses play to communicate at their own level and to their own agenda, without feeling interrogated or threatened. In play, they can begin to work through their feelings and develop an understanding of self, and the world around them.

The role of the play therapist

The play therapist leads the child by means of carefully selected techniques to become aware of and to express their own emotions and thoughts. The play therapist provides a warm, safe and secure environment in which the child is free to explore all or nothing of the things around them, and the child leads the session. The play therapist is fully trained to observe and then deal with any sudden expression of emotion, and can contain and hold such feelings for the child until they are ready to explore this further.

Through play therapy and the guidance and skills of the therapist, the child is led to an awareness of what he or she is feeling, and opportunity is given for expression of those feelings. Throughout the play therapy, the child is supported and encouraged to learn more about themselves.