How we help
Child therapy at The Counselling Space focuses on supporting the emotional, psychological, and developmental well-being of children. Through a combination of evidence-based approaches, empathy, and a child-centric approach, we help children and their families navigate the complexities of childhood, providing a safe and nurturing space for connection, healing, growth, and confidence building.
Our therapy is individualised for each child in the context of their family, with our range of psychological services tailored to their temperament, neurotype, interests and particular challenges. We know that children learn and flourish through doing, which is why play is so important in this therapeutic journey.
Play Therapy is the evidence-based therapy of choice for children.
It is the medium that most profoundly engages a child with themselves and their world. Through play, they learn new things, come to understand the people around them, develop social and language skills, and learn to process big feelings like grief, anger, and worry.
Children don't always have the words to describe what is happening for them, as this is a fairly advanced skill developed in later life. But they can express things through play, and when life's stressors are becoming overwhelming, they can benefit from play therapy.
(Click on the image of "Andrew" to find out more about this.)
Don't be fooled. Play is serious therapy ......
Play Therapy at The Counselling Space is very different from children’s regular play. Whilst the toys, games and craft supplies in the playroom may suggest it is all about fun, to us they are the means through which children are supported to explore and resolve their own problems. Beneath the drawing, Lego, doll's house and sand play they are working hard processing emotions, practising new skills and confronting the scary and worrying things in their lives.
Parents often wonder how we structure the sessions to ensure they meets the needs of the child, especially as it can seem to change so much session to session.
It can help to imagine play therapy as a big puzzle, with two essential pieces: Directiveness and Consciousness. These two pieces help shape the therapy journey, and they're like the building blocks of play therapy.
The Consciousness piece is all about how the child expresses themselves during play and talks with the therapist. It's the child's way of showing their thoughts and feelings through play.
The Directiveness piece, on the other hand, is about how involved and interpretative the therapist is during the play session. Think of it as the therapist's role in guiding and understanding the child's play.
These two pieces come together to form four quadrants, which act like four different zones. The child's needs and the therapist's approach will determine which of these zones becomes the focus of the therapy. Sometimes it's like a dance, and the child and the therapist may move between these zones during a single session or over several sessions. Other times it may stay in one zone for the majority of the therapeutic work. It is always purposeful and intentional on the part of the therapist, as the therapy process evolves and adapts to the child's needs. It's like having a map to navigate the unique journey of therapy, making sure it's as effective as possible.
Who can benefit from Play Therapy?
Play and creative therapies can benefit people of any age, however, it is particularly suitable for:
- children 3 - 12 years who are experiencing developmental, emotional, psychological, emotional or social difficulties
- babies/infants and their parents to promote brain and sensory development
- teenagers who are struggling with change, identity, behavioural or psychological issues.
As a trained Play Therapist, Angie uses The Therapeutic Powers of Play to create an atmosphere of safety and acceptance while encouraging each child's understanding of their internal strengths. This process helps children make sense of their feelings and changes in their lives, while supporting psychological and emotional development. Angie is also trained in traditional cognitive behaviour therapies, trauma interventions such as EMDR and Brainspotting, and mindfulness practices, and will include these in sessions where appropriate. For Angie, the "therapeutic sweet spot" combines her years of experience working with children and families, the training and accreditation she has completed and the individual needs of each child and their family.
Our Partnership with Parents and Carers
At The Counselling Space we understand that parents and carers want the best for their children. Yet parenting isn't always easy, and there are times when everyone needs support. We work in partnership with you - to help us understand what is important to your family and to strengthen your confidence as a parent. We will explore how best to build in parenting sessions while your child is engaged in Play Therapy with us. You can also see us for individualised parenting sessions as a stand-alone service, whether your child is receiving therapy or not.
Our Play Therapy Services
The Counselling Space, Coffs Harbour, offers a range of child play therapy interventions. Some children have experienced trauma or major life changes and benefit from a humanistic, child led approach - lots of time in the third and fourth quadrants discussed earlier! Others are struggling developmentally and may need a focus on skill development; while finding their identity and unique sense of self is important for others. We know one approach doesn't fit all children, and our approach is tailored and integrated to meet the needs of your child. The integrative approach for your child will be explored with you in a preliminary session with Angie to ensure it fits your child's needs and your family's structure and values.
Please feel welcome to contact us to discuss your needs.
We think of Play as something that comes easily to children, but children develop play skills in different ways, and sometimes they need help.
Starting in a child’s second year, pretend play skills are an important part of child development. Children will start to imitate the life around them, such as pretending to drink from an empty cup or to talk on a mobile phone. They gradually increase their pretend play abilities such that by six years of age, they engage in complex pretend play scenes.
These skills help develop a child’s cognitive, social and emotional capacities as well as their fine and gross motor skills.
Some children struggle to develop pretend play skills on their own, and without additional support may experience difficulties in learning, peer relationships, and emotion regulation. For children 18 months to 10 years who:
- seem unsure how to start a play scene
- have emotional difficulties in play
- are anxious in social situations
- want to play with others but struggle
- have delayed language skills
- or destroy the play scenes of peers.
the Learn to Play program can help. Benefits include increasing problem-solving skills, extending attention, identifying and regulating emotions, and learning to navigate play with others. Please feel welcome to:
Some children show their worries on the outside, with arguments or aggression. Some children bury their worries inside, with anxiety or withdrawal. Some children do both.
Humanistic, often called Child Directed, Play Therapy can help. Humanisitc Play Therapy believes children have the capacity to resolve their own emotional and psychological difficulties if they have the opportunity for therapeutic play where the child feels unconditionally accepted. For this reason, the child takes the lead, determining what toys or games are played and how they are played in the session.
Angie's attentive and empathic approach allows the child to express themselves freely, and use play to work through their troubling thoughts, feelings or behaviours. In this way, they develop new understandings of their life and relationships, without having to generate words or link concepts that may be developmentally beyond them. On the surface it can look like a child is engaging in regular play. However, the therapeutic goals established with the parents remain at the forefront of Angie’s mind and are used as key markers to assess whether progress is being made.
Angie notices potential themes that emerge during a child’s play, which may indicate a current challenge or struggle. Common play themes include mastery, nurturing, safety and danger, rescue, separation and aggression. Combined with an understanding of the child’s physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and moral developmental stages, as well as the child’s current school/home/peer contexts, play themes can shine a valuable light on the child’s needs. This can also be helpful for parents who develop an increased understanding of the internal conflicts triggering their child’s behaviours.
Humanistic Play Therapy is helpful for children who:
- have poor self-esteem or low confidence
- appear argumentative, aggressive or oppositional
- have anxiety, depression or are withdrawn
- have experienced trauma or major life changes.
Neurodiversity recognises there are many ways to play, learn and engage. Neurodivergent children think and experience the world differently from their neurotypical peers, so they have different needs from play and from play therapy.
Therapy with Autistic children, ADHD’ers and children with other neurotype needs has historically focused on trying to change them to fit a neurotypical world. Not only can this be ineffective and stressful, research increasingly highlights that interventions encouraging masking, camouflaging, and code-switching can be traumatising for neurodivergent children.
ND Centred Play Therapy helps the 1 in 5 children who are Neurodivergent to understand and embrace their strengths to help them flourish. It affirms and validates a child’s neurodivergent identity, identifies their strengths and special interests, and contextualises the challenges they experience engaging in a neurotypical world. We understand they may have heightened sensory experiences, an ability to focus deeply on their interests, or to engage with others on their own terms. With genuine curiosity and attuned connection, we foster authentic, joyful, neurodivergent play, and use it therapeutically to build on their interests and help them explore their world and navigate their challenges.
If your child is autistic, an ADHD’er, an AuDHD'er, has sensory processing differences, dyspraxia or other neurotype needs, whether formally diagnosed or not, ND Centred Play Therapy can build their confidence and yours, to help them thrive in a world just starting to embrace neurodiversity.
For definitions of terms used please feel welcome to download:
Not just for kids! Teenagers enjoy play therapy as it is non-confrontational with age appropriate activities they enjoy.
Adolescence can be a time of confusion, chaos and vulnerability. At the same time, many teenagers do not come to therapy by choice or are wary of talking with someone they don’t know. Children’s therapy can feel condescending and immature, while the traditional talking therapies used with adults can feel intrusive, confronting and boring.
Adolescent Play Therapy provides a unique space for expression that reflects their developmental needs, in a safe, non-threatening manner. It helps them integrate their early childhood experiences, current difficulties, and anxiety about the future into their developing sense of selfhood.
Using play that draws in music, art, metaphors, gaming, manga or other interests, Angie helps young people indirectly explore and process their feelings, build self-regulation skills and improve self-esteem and confidence. Young people are much more open to coming when they know conversation happens along the sidelines of engaging activities they enjoy.
Adolescent Play Therapy can be helpful if a young person is experiencing:
- anxiety, depression or other mood problems
- OCD, self-harming, impulsivity or risk taking
- difficulties with peers or friendship networks
- lack of confidence or low self-esteem
- uncertainty about sexuality, relationships, intimacy or sex
- negative impacts of change or life transitions.
Filial Therapy is family based play therapy, and uses parent–child play to strengthen relationships and bring about change.
Based on the idea that parents/carers can be mentored to become the therapeutic change agents in their own family, Filial Therapy has been found to generate beneficial outcomes including:
- Closer relationships between parents and children
- Decrease in relationship stress
- Decrease in child worries and behaviour difficulties
- Increased parental awareness of children’s feelings
- Increased family functioning.
Filial Therapy can be commenced as a stand-alone therapeutic process, or commenced prior to or after Angie has had individual play therapy sessions with your child. Filial Therapy can benefit children and families in a range of circumstances including if:
- there are fractured or difficult parent-child relationships
- there may be attachment difficulties
- a parent or child experiences chronic illness or disability
- there are tensions within a blended family
- that has impacted some or all in a family.
Angie understands the important role families play in looking after their children’s wellbeing. She also understands it isn’t always easy, and that everyone needs extra help at times. As an accredited Family Therapist Angie is mindful that numerous research studies have shown conclusively that family-based interventions are effective in assisting a range of children’s problems, and in some cases more effective than therapy with the child alone. She is happy to talk with you about whether Filial Therapy or an alternative, family-based approach would best suit the unique needs of your family.
Most of us have grown up in a world that talks about gender as binary (one thing or another) - that we are either a girl or a boy, a woman or a man. However, research is now showing that whilst it IS like that for many people, it ISN’T like that for everyone. This can be hard for some adults to understand, and it can be very confusing for children and young people!
Through play therapy (or expressive therapy for older children and teens), children can explore their identity - including gender expression - in a safe, accepting and non-judgemental environment. Therapy is child-centred, goes at the pace of the child and in the direction chosen by the child.
It also supports parents with their understanding of what is happening. Angie works in partnership with a child’s family and GP to ensure a child exploring gender identity feels supported and scaffolded by those around them.
If your child is confused about gender, feels in any way distressed or concerned about their gender identity, makes negative comments about their anatomy, or has emotional or behavioural concerns that might be linked to gender identity, feel welcome to talk to your child's GP (doctor) or with us.
At The Counselling Space we provide assessments and counselling consistent with the standards set by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, so you can be assured our interventions are informed, up to date and affirming for your child, as well as supportive for you.
How do I refer my child for Play Therapy?
Please feel welcome to contact us to discuss how your child would benefit from Play Therapy, and which particular approach may be the best fit.
All child play therapy services start with a comprehensive background session with the parents/carers so we can:
- find out about your child, their developmental history, their likes/dislikes, their strengths and difficulties, their worries and fears, your concerns for their wellbeing and your hopes for therapy
- find out about your approach to parenting, your values, what is important in your family and your home. This ensures our therapy and strategies supports your family and is consistent with what you value
- explore what child therapy approach would fit best for your child, and give you an overview of what this will look like and what you can expect
- answer any questions you have. After all, involving someone else in your child's wellbeing and development is a huge step, and it is important you feel Angie is the right therapist for your child.
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Please feel welcome to contact us to discuss how your child would benefit from Play Therapy.
Why Angie chooses Play
I’ve been a therapist for more than 30 years, working in senior roles with health, child, youth and family services. Long before I became a "proper" Play Therapist I realised how important play is for children.
Play was a language they understood, a safe place to explore the little worries, the big fears and (sometimes) the significant traumas in their lives. The miniature world of the sand tray told stories of danger and rescue, triumph over adversity, or being lost then found. The playroom rug hosted pirate adventures on the high seas, magical tea parties, and whole worlds in Lego. They didn't have the words to describe their feelings or experiences, but play gave them the tools they needed to make sense of their world.
As an accredited Play Therapist, Family Therapist and Mental Health Accredited Social Worker, I understand the powerful theory behind the therapeutic work I do. Time and again, research confirms play therapy provides the best outcomes for children and young people. But it is the joy of connecting with children in play that I love the most. What other job allows you to generate such positive change by being a pirate, a friendly monster, a superhero, a Uno/Jenga/Boardgame player and a play doh cook all in the same day?
Many of the children we see come from separated families where their parents are able to maintain amicable relationships and constructive communication, particularly where matters concern their children. Some children come from families where this isn't the case. Our
outlines our practice’s philosophy to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of our clients is always prioritised.