How your child can benefit from Play & Creative Arts Therapy
Many children need support in emotional literacy. Others have behaviour or mental health problems at some stage that prevents them from fulfilling their full potential. Some studies indicate that 20% of children have some form of psychological problem and that 70% of these are helped through the use of psychological based therapies such as play and creative arts.
The 1999 British government survey estimated that 10% of children have a mental health problem. It is also essential to realise that mental health, like physical health, is as much about prevention as cure.
Bereavment, Divorce, Parent Separation
Therapeutic play can enable the child to process their grief and come to terms with the loss of a parent whether it be through bereavement or divorce.
The child can then heal their pain and gain strategies to cope with their loss, allowing them to function successfully in their daily lives.
Domestic Violence and Trauma
If a child is a victim or witness to domestic abuse, he or she will learn in therapy that it is not their fault that it happened and start to heal the wounds that inevitably linger.
Trauma can stunt a child's emotional and physical development and by working through their emotional response, whether it is to shut down or become unpredictable, therapeutic play will enable them to find equilibrium and the courage to start living again.
Aspergers and Autism
Therapeutic play enables a child to become more in touch with their emotions, enabling them to understand what they are feeling and more able to express it. This means that a child can then identify social cues and be more successful in their social interactions and responses.
Anger, Aggression and Bullying
Therapeutic play can help the child find new ways of expressing their anger, either by talking about how they are feeling or by releasing them during a session. Resulting in them feeling calmer and more able to manage their emotions.
Their confidence will increase, meaning that they no longer need to pick on others to feel better about themselves.
Bullied, difficult to make friends, or withdrawn
The child will learn coping strategies to overcome the bullying whilst their confidence and self-esteem will increase meaning that they are more able to make friends. This will make them less of a target.
Creative art therapy can really draw a child's personality out and enable them to feel comfortable with expressing themself and therefore start to integrate and socialise more with others.
Suffered Emotional or Sexual Abuse
A safe space in which the child can start to heal and be themselves is provided. Using play and creative arts the child can work through their feelings about what has happended to them (with no need to talk) and start to release their pain. The experience of an unconditional, positive relationship can also improve their self worth so that they start to feel good about themselves as well as learning to trust again.
Anger - courtesy of supakitmod
Bereavement - courtesy of londonmumsmagazine.com
Domestic Violence - courtesy of By David Castillo Dominici
Bullied - courtesy of By imagerymajestic
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