As an NDIS registered provider we support children and families with NDIS funding. This includes offering support to children in educational settings via outreach. If you have an approved NDIS plan, please contact us so that we can talk with you about how to get started.
We work with families and carers on an individual basis. We will work alongside your specified NDIS goals, but we may also find additional goals that we can address through play therapy.
A lot of our work is with the neurodiverse population. As an increasing number of researchers continue to study the brain in an attempt to gain a better idea of what ASD looks like on a neurological level, we are beginning to understand the condition in a way that has not been possible in the past. In many ways, this research and our understanding of the conditions under which children with ASD thrive are allowing us to tailor our therapeutic approaches to increase children’s experience in a world largely developed for neurotypical brains.
At Play Therapy Melbourne, one of the most important things for us as clinicians is to provide a safe and predictable environment from week-to-week and provide a space for your child to experience a level of control. This means that they see us at the same time each week, in the same room, and with the same rules. As our therapeutic relationship with your child develops, they will learn that we are predictable and safe, and that this is a space where their brain can feel quiet and begin to work on what they need to.
We are there to assist them by co-regulating them as required. We are there to validate their experience, to help them to understand their world in a context and in language that makes sense to them, and to normalise their emotional experience. Having a place to go each week that is structured, predictable and safe, sets the perfect conditions for your child’s brain to change and grow. Play therapy gives your child’s brain a chance to form new, more positive links.
For brain growth to occur, and for long-lasting links to be formed in the brain, it takes repetition, repetition, repetition. This goes beyond applied behaviour analysis therapy. We are connecting and attuning with the child, following their lead, and offering insight into cause and effect. We reflect their emotional responses, give names to feelings, and connect these with the felt sense in your child’s body.
At Play Therapy Melbourne our foundation is Synergetic Play TherapyTM (2008), a researched- informed model of play therapy. It blends the therapeutic power of play with nervous system regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, physics, attachment, mindfulness, and therapist authenticity. Its primary play therapy influences are child-centred, experiential, and Gestalt theories.
