in St. Louis, Missouri
Play Therapy
Your child seems so anxious, angry, and overwhelmed. Your pediatrician told you to start play therapy in St. Louis. So here you are, trying to understand how play therapy is going to help your hurting child.
You’re exhausted, you’re overwhelmed, and you don’t know how to help your child anymore.
They have such huge outbursts. They keep getting in trouble. You’re tired of always being the bad guy, but you know you need to tell your child it’s actually not okay to hit, punch, kick, or break things, no matter how you’re feeling.
Your kid has trouble telling you what’s going on, or why they’re feeling the way the feel, and you are lost. You don’t know what to do. You just know that they can’t keep reacting like this.
Play therapy interventions can help your child process their big emotions.
But you might be thinking “Wait! Is playing with my child really going to fix all of this? I play with my kid all the time and it is NOT helping!”
And then you think: “Will talking to my kid with traditional talk therapy work? I try to talk to them all the time and that’s not really helping, either!”
The good news is that play when paired with evidence-based, outcomes-focused therapy, delivered by therapists who specialize in working with angry, anxious, and overwhelmed kids, can be incredibly powerful!
At Compassionate Counseling St. Louis, we provide evidence-based, outcomes-focused therapy
Here, we start with getting to know your kid and processing those emotions through play. Then we develop a targeted plan with real skills so that those big feelings can be processed and dealt with, and we figure out what is and is not working for your unique child and create a plan to build the skills they need.
But, how can you (and I) know if what you are doing in therapy with your child is really working?
Each week we track the progress your child is making, we check in with you one-on-one on that weekly basis, we track verbally and numerically, and we tailor our interventions to what your child really needs. We literally keep data on every session and with every child to ensure we make progress and change things up until everyone sees progress. If for some reason our interventions aren’t working (that’s rare), we’ll find someone who is a better fit and refer you out! We care about progress, not butts in seats.
When you leave your child’s weekly appointment, you’ll know what the focus is at therapy, and at home with you.
You’ll know exactly what strategies we are working on, know what to reward at home, and you’ll be left feeling really clear on what you and your family are getting out of the child therapy process.
Play is a hugely important skill for kids. Play is how they communicate. All of our therapists integrate play therapy informed techniques into their work with kids and teens, while we build on those techniques with targeted interventions so that your child actually has the skills they need to manage their anxiety, anger, and overwhelm.
The Process:
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We use play therapy techniques to build up a relationship and rapport with your child.
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We dig in to what’s going on underneath the surface.
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We help your child recognize what’s going on with their emotions, their behaviors, and their reactions.
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We build a plan, together, to target what’s going on and teach you and your child the skills to manage their overwhelming thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
Get started with a free phone consultation about play therapy in St. Louis
Let's schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation to talk further about play therapy in St. Louis and how Compassionate Counseling St. Louis can integrate play therapy techniques into our highly specialized anxiety work.
Spotlight on:
Molly Shaffer
MA, LPC
Young Child Specialist and Parent Coach
FAQ’s About Play Therapy in St. Louis
What’s the difference between play therapy and play therapy techniques integrated with outcomes at Compassionate Counseling St. Louis?
Most certified play therapists don’t automatically integrate outcomes into their clinical work. Our work always starts with outcomes first and interventions second. We tailor our approach to each client, and we don’t require a certain type of therapy for every client - we want to make sure the work we do with you and your child is as impactful as possible to you. Research shows the relationship you have with your therapist is even more important than the type of therapy you’re receiving, which is why we track scores each and every week to make sure A. We’re making progress and B. Your child feels heard, understood, and respected throughout the therapeutic process.
What do you do in play therapy?
Traditional play therapy is often non-directive, meaning you allow the child, through play, to communicate about what’s going on with them through symbolic means - it’s a way for your child to explore stressors, big feelings, aggression, worry, transitions, anxiety. It can be a really helpful tool for children. At Compassionate Counseling St. Louis, we integrate play therapy techniques, such as using puppets or sand tray, to explore these themes, and then we build on top of this exploration through integrating anxiety and anger management skills, for little kids and big teens.
What is the theory of play therapy?
“The child plays out thoughts, feelings, and emotions they might not otherwise be able to express meaningfully through their words (West, 2022; Bratton et al., 2005). As the child acts out their feelings, directly or symbolically, the therapist can gain insight into their emotional state.” (Positive Psychology.com accessed 9.18.22).
What that means for us is we integrate that important exploratory work to gain insight, but then we build on top of it with anxiety-focused skills building. We want to know what’s going underneath the surface, and then build a plan on how to address it.