Engage Playfully

23/02/2026

23/02/2026

🌟 Engage Playfully is coming into schools! 🌟
We’re excited to offer our Animal-Assisted Social Groups a playful, evidence-based program designed to support students’ emotional and social wellbeing through the help of our gentle therapy animals.
These small-group sessions help children learn and practise skills such as:
🐾 Emotional regulation – noticing big feelings and finding safe, effective ways to calm
🐾 Understanding body cues – recognising early signs of overwhelm, anxiety, or dysregulation
🐾 Reading social cues – building confidence in friendships, communication, and connection
🐾 Navigating social conflict – learning practical, child-friendly strategies to problem-solve and repair
🐾 Co-regulation with therapy animals – experiencing safety, warmth, and connection that supports learning
Our programs are trauma-informed, strengths-based, and designed to meet students where they’re at. Schools can use School Mental Health Fund Menu allocations to support these programs.
If your school is looking for a nurturing, engaging way to build emotional and social skills, we’d love to chat.
📩 Get in touch to book a program or learn more.

19/02/2026

✨ Bubble Magic & Big Feelings ✨
Yesterday Poppy reminded us that sometimes the best way to practice emotional regulation… is through pure, simple joy.
Watching her chase bubbles with her client giggling, pausing, breathing, and connecting was such a sweet reminder that regulation doesn’t always look like sitting still. Sometimes it looks like movement, curiosity, and shared moments of delight.
Bubbles popped, smiles grew, and a beautiful bond blossomed right in front of us.
Small moments, big growth 💛🫧

12/02/2026

Meeting children where they are at 🥰

11/02/2026

11/02/2026

🎉 Happy 4th Birthday, Poppy! 🎉
Our birthday girl was very spoilt today! The children celebrated her in the most beautiful ways making her colourful collars, tiny hats, thoughtful cards, food bowls, and even little houses just for Poppy.
She soaked up every moment (and every cuddle!) with her usual waggy enthusiasm.
We’re so lucky to have such a gentle, playful girl bringing joy to so many little hearts. Happy birthday, Poppy! 💛🐾

07/02/2026

Benefits of Play Therapy in schools something Engage Playfully advocates for 💕

As Play Therapy Week 2026 comes to a close, I wanted to share what integrated, multi-tiered play therapy in schools actually looks like

These images show the systemic playroom, but there is also an individual play therapy room too – embedded within a school with strong play pedagogy at its core. This is intentional design, not accidental

Tier 1: TORA-trained educators bring relationship-based approaches into everyday teaching moments across the school community – classrooms, transitions, playground interactions, and parent & community relationships. Educators receive ongoing access to supervision of practice

Tier 2: Group play therapy and filial therapy sessions in the systemic playroom. Group play therapy is co-facilitated with educators who receive ongoing supervision

Tier 3: Individual play therapy for children needing more intensive support

One school. Multiple levels of support. Play therapy woven into the fabric of school life, not bolted on as an afterthought

This is the model I’m advocating for in Australian education systems. Play therapy as essential infrastructure. Therapeutic approaches that are evidence-based developmental and wellbeing supports, accessible right where children already are. Educators empowered and equipped as therapeutic agents in children’s daily lives

Every Australian school could have this. Every child deserves this level of integrated support.
Play Therapy Week may end tomorrow, but this work continues every single day
💙

05/02/2026

🌼 Benefit of Play #5: Encouraging Independence and Everyday Confidence
Play gives children the chance to practise real‑life skills in ways that feel safe, supported, and fun. Through playful routines, gentle challenges, and hands‑on experiences with our therapy animals, children build confidence in completing everyday tasks from packing away to following steps in a sequence or caring for an animal.
In Animal‑Assisted Play Therapy, these moments become meaningful opportunities for children to try things on their own, celebrate small wins, and feel proud of what they can do. Independence grows when children feel capable, connected, and encouraged to lead the way.
Play turns everyday routines into empowering learning moments.

05/02/2026

How Counselling & Play Therapy With a Therapy Animal Supports Children to Grow
At Engage Playfully, counselling and play therapy sessions are designed to feel safe, warm, and deeply attuned to each child’s needs. Our therapy animals join sessions as gentle co‑regulators, helping children feel grounded enough to explore emotions, practise new skills, and build confidence at their own pace.
This approach can be especially supportive for children aged 4–16 who experience:
🐾 Anxiety or overwhelm
🐾 Autism and neurodivergence
🐾 School refusal or school‑based stress
🐾 Low confidence or self‑esteem
🐾 Difficulty with independence or self‑care routines
🐾 Challenges with emotional expression or social understanding

How counselling and play therapy supported by a therapy animalhelps
✨ Emotional safety first: Children often find it easier to open up, reflect, and try new things when a calm animal is nearby.
✨ Play as the language of healing: Through games, creative activities, and child‑led play, children explore feelings, practise coping strategies, and build emotional awareness.
✨ Co‑regulation in action: The therapy animal models calm body cues, helping children learn what regulation feels like in their own bodies.
✨ Confidence through mastery: Small, achievable tasks with the animal build a sense of capability that transfers into school, friendships, and home routines.
✨ Social and communication skills: Children practise turn‑taking, empathy, problem‑solving, and flexible thinking in a natural, pressure‑free way.
✨ Support for independence: Activities involving planning, sequencing, and gentle responsibility help strengthen self‑care and daily living skills.

Every session is child‑led, trauma‑informed, and grounded in evidence‑based counselling and play therapy practices. The therapy animal simply enhances what’s already possible, offering connection, comfort, and a steady presence that helps children feel safe enough to grow.

03/02/2026

🌟 Benefit of Play #4: Supporting Social Connection
Play creates natural opportunities for children to connect, communicate, and build relationships in ways that feel safe and enjoyable. Through shared activities, turn‑taking, gentle challenges, and moments of joy, children practise the foundations of social connection without pressure.
In Animal‑Assisted Play Therapy, our therapy animals help children tune into social cues, practise empathy, and experience what it feels like to be understood and accepted. These playful interactions strengthen confidence in communicating with others and help children build meaningful, trusting relationships.
When children feel connected, they feel empowered and play is one of the most powerful pathways to get there.

02/02/2026

🌈 Benefit of Play #3: Strengthening Emotional Regulation
Play gives children a safe space to practise big feelings in small, manageable moments. Through playful challenges, co‑regulation, and the calming presence of our therapy animals, children learn how to pause, breathe, reset, and find their way back to feeling grounded.
In Animal‑Assisted Play Therapy, children naturally explore regulation skills noticing their body signals, slowing down with a gentle stroke of a therapy animal, or using playful strategies to move from overwhelm to calm. These moments build emotional resilience that carries into home, school, and everyday life.
Play doesn’t just teach regulation it makes it feel achievable, supported, and safe.