How is Play Therapy Helpful to Children?

Children don’t have the language to express themselves verbally, so it can often be difficult for them to communicate psychological distress. Play therapy is an evidence-based approach to child therapy that uses pretend play, toys, crafts, and games to help children process and express their thoughts and feelings. So, how is play therapy helpful to children?

Promotes Resilience and Coping Skills

Through creative expression and guided play, children discover new ways to process their feelings, build resilience, practice decision making, and develop more flexible ways of coping and relating to others.

Supports Change in Behavior and Social Functioning

Play therapy can help with a wide range of issues — aggression, anxiety, attention problems, family and peer relationship difficulties, trauma, and grief/loss. In addition to emotional healing, children come to learn empathy, cooperation, and how to navigate social interactions more effectively.

Builds Trust and Safety

Play therapy sessions create a predictable, structured, and supportive space where children can feel safe opening up, taking emotional risks, and exploring difficult topics.

Helps Process Trauma and Big Emotions

Children who have experienced trauma often carry their feelings in their bodies and show it through their behavior. Play therapy gives them an outlet to re-enact, comprehend, and integrate those experiences at their own pace.

Play Therapy at Uptown Downtown Psychotherapy

At Uptown Downtown Psychotherapy, we begin by understanding each child’s unique strengths, interests, and ways of experiencing the world, including neurodivergent children. Our play therapy interventions for children draw from psychodynamic, psychoanalytic, and developmental frameworks, creating a safe space where every child can develop at their own pace.

Interested in play therapy for your child? Contact us today.