Your Child is Struggling and Unhappy

Your child isn’t themselves anymore. They are not the carefree happy kid you want them to be. You wish there could be peace in your home but instead you and your child get into disagreements. Things are not going well at school either. It seems like most days they become so worried or upset that they explode or can’t stop crying. Other days they talk bad about themselves and hide away in their room. Maybe something stressful happened to them at school, or your family has gone through some big changes. Perhaps you do not even know what happened but the cheerful child you knew is rarely around. Instead you see a sad, anxious, or angry child who has trouble calming down. You try to talk to them but nothing changes.

Overwhelming Emotions Become Manageable

Emotions can be difficult to have and to express for both kids and adults. However, children, and even teens, do not communicate verbally as well as adults. In play therapy for children we get on the child’s level so they can more easily process their thoughts and feelings about difficulties and the world around them in order to cope and grow. A more creative and natural approach is needed for conducting therapy for children. Therapeutic play helps kids build skills, find their sense of self, practice coping strategies, and resolve issues. This can be especially important for highly sensitive children. Play therapy can be done using toys, games, books, plushies, dolls, sand trays, art, music, and your child's imagination. These same tools can be used for online play therapy using telehealth as well as the use of online games, Youtube videos, online sand tray, digital art, virtual reality, and more.

Online Play Therapy with Jenna Helps Kids Heal

I’m Jenna Wonish-Mottin, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist. Child therapy is currently conducted with me online using toys, cards, video games, music, and art materials your child or teen has at home as well as online links to videos, sand tray, art, music, and games. Many sessions will include use of my Virtual Therapy Room which includes an online play room through Google classroom with multiple interactive links. If you have video games or a virtual reality headset and ability to cast to your computer, VR activities can also be used in virtual play therapy for kids.

My style of play therapy is child-centered so I use your child’s individual interests, qualities, and pace to help them succeed. In digital play therapy for children, we will use fun interactive tools and games of your child or teen’s preference in order to help them explore and express stressful thoughts and feelings that are not heard in their normal conversations. We will also use these activities to help your child experience a safe and caring space to process trauma, try new things, feel confidence, and learn coping and problem solving skills. Play therapy is for all ages and can even be incorporated into therapy with adults using creativity to problem solve or increase self-expression. Art, music, and play based approaches can be helpful for kids and adults who have experienced trauma and have difficulty verbalizing it since it uses right-brained approaches. Play is how we grow and heal.

“In the play therapy experience, toys are like the child's words, and play is the child's language.”  -  Garry Landreth, award winning author and founder of the Center for Play Therapy

Check out the Association for Play Therapy's website for more information on this therapy approach and the research behind it. This video also explains why play therapy versus talk therapy is the best approach for children. As a Registered Play Therapist, you can find me listed as a provider on their website for play therapists in The Woodlands, Texas, play therapists in St. Charles, Missouri, and play therapists in Evansville, Indiana at www.a4pt.org  

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Contact Me

If you are ready for your child to use the power of play therapy to help them process situations, cope, and grow contact me now to schedule a free phone consultation or set up the first online play therapy session. Click here to schedule your free 15- minute phone consultation for online play therapy in The Woodlands, Texas, St. Charles, Missouri, Evansville, Indiana, and statewide. My other specialties include individual counseling for relationship issues, child therapy for anxiety, and child counseling for Highly Sensitive Children.