Play therapy; how it reveals a child’s inner emotional views
Play therapy is not just play – it involves the use of structured and unstructured fun activities that can help children express their feelings and thoughts and share their experiences. It can help them explain and understand their experiences, allow them to respond to their world and to connect with others.
Young children can easily communicate through play what they may find hard to verbalise. Children may have feelings that are too overwhelming for them to put into words, but during play therapy they are able to express those feelings freely. By playing, they can assume control of a situation that they may feel they have no control over in ‘real life’, where the adults are in charge.
Working with play therapists, play therapy can be deeply restorative, helping children work through their issues with difficult emotions. It gives children a voice, allowing them to be seen and heard, teaches them that their feelings and thoughts are valid, that it’s okay to talk about their fears, and that they have adults around them that can help them process and understand their fears.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
Simple, complex and developmental trauma; a short guide to each type
Trauma can be defined in many different ways – there are lots of definitions and sub categories, which can make it somewhat confusing when it comes to understanding the complexities of it. Three of the more common types of trauma are simple, complex and developmental trauma.
Simple trauma often occurs from single incidents such as; car accidents, house fires, bushfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. It is overwhelming and painful, involving experiences of events that are life threatening and/or have the potential to cause serious injury, but they aren’t likely to be subject to any stigma, as there would generally be a supportive and community response to people experiencing this type of trauma, and they are also unlikely to be experienced repetitively over time.
Complex trauma, on the other hand, is often associated with stigma and a sense of shame experienced by the victims. It can involve interpersonal threat, violence and violation and is often found within relationships. Examples of complex trauma include experiences of child abuse, bullying, domestic violence, rape, war and imprisonment.
Developmental trauma is that which is experienced during a time of development, such as childhood trauma, which takes place while the young brain is still developing. Developmental trauma can include children who are neglected, abused, forced to live with family violence or experiencing high parental conflict in the context of separation or divorce.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
The difference between ‘stress’ and ‘trauma’
It is important to distinguish between ‘stress’ and ‘trauma’ when we are considering childhood trauma and its impact. Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. It is something that challenges our capacity to cope. Everyone has a different capacity to cope and this can be influenced by our family of origin, genetics, training, experience, support networks and more. Stress also isn’t necessarily a bad thing – some amount of stress can be good for us, in that it can help us accomplish tasks or boost our memory, though too much stress is definitely a bad thing.
Alternately, trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. From the stress that accompanies experiences of threat, violence, and life-challenging events comes trauma of an emotional, psychological or physiological nature. A traumatic experience has the ability to overwhelm your capacity to cope, and because we each have a different capacity to cope, there will be many differences in the way we respond to similar levels of trauma or similar traumatising events. As the trauma is so overwhelming, it’s not possible to be resilient to it, and this is where we see the effects of trauma come into play; shutting down feelings, suppressing memories, acting out.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
How do we define childhood trauma?
Childhood trauma takes many forms – it can be simple, complex or developmental. Childhood trauma itself can be described as the experience of an event by a child that is emotionally painful or distressful, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects. Trauma can include; emotional, physical or sexual abuse of a child; trauma the child experiences within its environment, such as substance abuse, parental separation or divorce, mentally ill or suicidal household member and domestic violence; the neglect of a child, such as abandonment, or a child’s basic physical or emotional needs being unmet.
The most common causes of childhood trauma are; accidents, bullying/cyberbullying, trauma in the household such as domestic violence, parent with a mental illness, substance abuse or incarcerated, death of a loved one, emotional abuse or neglect, physical abuse or neglect, separation from a parent or caregiver, sexual abuse, stress caused by poverty, sudden and/or serious medical condition, violence (at home, at school, or in the surrounding community), war/terrorism.
Early childhood trauma usually refers to children between the ages of 0 and 6. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we go through the difference between stress and trauma, and other types of trauma.
The Wishing Well foundation
The Wishing Well was established in 2010 to offer children in out-of-home care, such as foster care and residential care, a range of healing and treatment options usually not accessible as a free therapy in mainstream health.
The Wishing Well raises funds to enable children and young people to access developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments shown to be highly effective in dealing with severe trauma and neglect. These therapies respond to the unique needs of each child and young person.
The Wishing Well is a not-for-profit incorporated charity organisation, established and managed by people seeking to improve outcomes for children and young people in out-of-home care and their families. The Wishing Well recognises the importance of the act of giving. We recognise the significance of the participation of community members and all donations are most appreciated.
The Wishing Well operates ethically, effectively and empathically with a view to achieving quality outcomes and a satisfying working environment.
Support the Wishing Well
The Wishing Well uses its funds to help children in need access all manners of developmentally-appropriate and trauma-informed treatments. The Wishing Well takes referrals for any child/young person in out-of-home care in NSW. Applications are assessed by qualified personnel and on a case-by-case basis. The decision to fund an application is affected by the following:
- Funding availability
- The support the child/young person has to access the proposed therapies
- The capacity and willingness of the Carer Household to support the child/young person
- Assessment, which recommends and supports the proposed therapy as relevant to meeting the particular needs of the child/young person
The Wishing Well gratefully receives donations, funding and resources through bequests, corporate partnerships, fundraising events, grants, online donations and other fund raising activities. Money donated to The Wishing Well enables traumatised children access to healing therapies. Please see our website for more information:
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