Wildflower Play Therapy

20/01/2026

PLAY THERAPY CULTIVATES STRENGTHS

Through the safe and supportive nature of Play Therapy, children can discover and grow personal strengths that will support resilience, coping strategies, social relationships, problem-solving skills and more.

If your child could benefit from a safe place to develop their strengths, feel free to get in touch at https://www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com/contact

13/01/2026

PLAY THERAPY ENABLES SELF-EXPRESSION

Within Play Therapy, children are supported by a non-judgemental therapeutic relationship to freely express their innermost feelings, hopes, desires and more via the safety of the metaphor of play.
If your child would benefit from a safe space to express themselves, feel free to get in touch at https://www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com/contact

04/01/2026

Starting out a new year can be fun and exciting but it can also be scary with lots of unknowns, which can trigger anxiety and stress. A great reminder here from Bluey to take a little moment to breathe. Breathing exercises like this can help kids (and adults!) slow their breathing down which in turn lowers their heart rate and blood pressure, reducing stress hormones like cortisol, and calms the mind by reducing activity in the fear-response centres of the brain. Taking time out to breathe like this promotes relaxation, helping to manage anxiety and stress.

If you or your family would like more support in weathering the scary unknowns this year, feel free to reach out to us - we'd love to hear from you (https://www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com/contact).

18/12/2025

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM WILDFLOWER PLAY THERAPY 🎄✨

Courage, bravery, creativity, joy, curiosity, persistence, strength, tenacity, purpose and hope: as we think back over the year and the rich stories we have witnessed, we feel truly honoured to have journeyed with so many incredible young people on their path to healing and growth. We thank all the wonderful families we have met for entrusting us with the great privilege of working with their children, and we look forward to what wonders 2026 holds; in the remarkable children we’ll undoubtably meet and the powerful stories they’ll certainly tell through the metaphor of play.

We’ll be having a break from the 19th of December until the 4th of January, with appointments resuming on the 5th of January. From all of us here at Wildflower Play Therapy, we wish you a very merry Christmas and a safe, happy and playful New Year.

If Play Therapy is something you’d like to consider for your child/family in 2026, please visit our website www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com for more information. We look forward to talking with you more soon.

30/10/2025

SURPRISE! 🤗 NEW TEAM MEMBER! 🥳

We’d like to introduce you to our newest team member, Katie. Katie is journeying with us while our wonderful Amy is on maternity leave. We are really excited for families and children to meet Katie:

“Hi, I’m Katie and I’m so excited to be joining the team at Wildflower Play Therapy very soon! Being a play therapist is an honour. I love building relationships of deep trust where a child feels safe to share their inner world with me. Play gives children a voice when words are too hard to find, and I have the privilege of seeing, hearing, and understanding the words to these stories. There’s something so special about seeing the magic of play in real time; when a child finds newfound confidence, creatively solves a problem, feels calm where there was once a worry, or expresses joyful delight. Every journey is unique, and I feel so grateful to walk alongside each child and their family as they share their story and heal, grow and thrive through play.”

To read more about Katie’s qualifications, experience and areas of interest, head to https://www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com/katie-williams

If you’re wondering if your child/family might benefit from Play Therapy, head to https://www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com/contact to reach out to us. We look forward to talking with you more soon.

05/06/2025

We are so proud of our Amy and her recent publication in The British Journal of Play Therapy! Congratulations on your achievement, Amy, so great to see your hard work recognised and this important research published. 🥳

I am proud to say my Masters research, 'Holding Space for Children's Humour: How is Humour used within Play and Child Therapy? A Scoping Review,' is at last, published. I am really proud of the work, and to have my name alongside Dr Natalie Hadiprodjo. You can read it in the British Jour...

03/03/2025

IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY

That dreaded word: waitlist. We know how hard it is to hear that your child will have to wait for the support they need. That’s why we are always striving to reduce wait times and provide kids with the support they need when they need it. So, we are excited to announce that we have several appointments available for weekly Play Therapy with our newest team member, Amber:

“Hi, I’m Amber. I have a special interest in neurodivergence and neuro-affirming practice, and am neurodivergent myself. Within this I enjoy building children’s joy in play and capacity for play, which often supports their relationships with others and well-being. With my experience in educational settings, I also enjoy supporting children transitioning into school and with school related anxieties. By working alongside educators and families, I aim to facilitate the best environment possible for children’s education and care. ”

If you are interested in securing a Play Therapy appointment with Amber for your child, please reach out to us via email on info@wildflowerplaytherapy.com or by phoning 0406 311 254. If you would like more information on Play Therapy, please visit www.wildflowerplaytherapy.com.

07/02/2025

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PLAY THERAPY WEEK 2025! 🥳

Day 7: Games, Cards, and Projective Resources in Play Therapy

⭐️ Fostering Positive Emotions: The enjoyment and shared experience of games can build trust and strengthen the therapeutic relationship.
⭐️ Exploring and Regulating Emotions: Games can evoke a range of emotions, such as anticipation, surprise, joy, frustration, or disappointment. These experiences provide opportunities to explore and develop emotional regulation skills in a safe and supportive environment.
⭐️ Developing Social Skills: Games often involve turn-taking, cooperation, negotiation, and conflict resolution. These interactions help develop social skills.
⭐️ Enhancing Communication: Games can encourage self-expression, listening, and both verbal and non-verbal communication. They can also provide a platform for practicing narrative skills and sharing personal experiences.
⭐️ Projection and Exploration: Games, cards and other therapeutic resources can serve as projective tools, allowing individuals to express and explore their thoughts, feelings, experiences, and worldview in a symbolic and non-threatening way.
⭐️ Promote Self-Expression: Games can spark conversation, and provide an entry point for exploration of feelings and experiences.

Play Therapy harnesses the natural language of childhood: Play. This week we will be sharing some of the resources we use that support children’s therapeutic growth within Play Therapy.
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06/02/2025

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PLAY THERAPY WEEK 2025! 🥳

Day 6: Miniatures in Play Therapy

⭐️ Safety Through Metaphor: The miniature world creates a safe, symbolic space where children can explore and express their thoughts, feelings, and experiences indirectly and in a non-confrontational way.
⭐️ Develop Social Skills and Empathy: By creating and enacting narratives within the miniature world, children can explore different roles, relationships and social dynamics, developing a greater sense of self-awareness, understanding of the social dynamics and empathy.
⭐️ Cathartic Relief and Emotional Regulation: Miniatures can provide a safe outlet for expression of thoughts, feelings and experiences. Through the safety of the play, children can grow to understand and process their experiences, alongside practicing coping strategies and developing their emotional regulation.
⭐️ Therapeutic Expression Beyond Verbal Skills: By engaging with miniatures through play, children can communicate the complexities of their thoughts and feelings non-verbally, overcoming developmental limitations of verbal expression.
⭐️ Problem-Solving and Cognitive Development: The miniature environment encourages problem-solving and cognitive development, as children experiment with different scenarios and outcomes. By manipulating objects and creating narratives, they can develop critical thinking skills, enhance their creativity, and learn to approach challenges from multiple perspectives.

Play Therapy harnesses the natural language of childhood: Play. This week we will be sharing some of the resources we use that support children’s therapeutic growth within Play Therapy.

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05/02/2025

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PLAY THERAPY WEEK 2025! 🥳

Day 5: Costume Play in Play Therapy

⭐️ Enhances Self-Understanding, Increases Personal Strengths and Develops Empathy: Costume play provides a safe space for children to explore different strengths, abilities and roles, promoting self-discovery and self-understanding. It also allows them to see things from the perspective of others, fostering empathy and social skills.
⭐️ Allows Stress Relief and Promotes Positive Emotions: Costume play offers a temporary escape from reality, where children can shed their everyday identity and become someone else entirely, encouraging stress relief and fostering feeling of joy, control and competence.
⭐️ Supports Catharsis and Mastery: Costume play empowers children to play out their experiences through the safety offered by the metaphor of play and allows children the freedom to rewrite the ending should they so choose, providing cathartic relief and mastery over experiences.

Play Therapy harnesses the natural language of childhood: Play. This week we will be sharing some of the resources we use that support children’s therapeutic growth within Play Therapy.

”

04/02/2025

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PLAY THERAPY WEEK 2025! 🥳

Day 4: Nurture Play in Play Therapy

⭐️ Repairing Attachment and Nurture Experiences: Children can role-play as the recipient of care, exploring their own needs for nurture and attachment, at times fulfilling gaps in their own experiences.
⭐️ Mastering Experiences: By reenacting experiences with nurture toys, children can gain a sense of control and mastery, with the flexibility to rewrite their narrative to a different, more healing story if they so desire.
⭐️ Reducing Fears and Anxiety: Nurture play can provide a forum for rehearsing experiences such as inoculations, surgical procedures, injuries, etc. helping to gain mastery, and reduce anxiety and fear.
⭐️ Enhancing Communication Skills: Children can use nurture play to listen to and respond to others both verbally and non-verbally, improving their communication skills.
⭐️ Developing Empathy: Children can develop a deeper understanding of others' feelings and needs, fostering empathy, compassion and healthy relationships.
⭐️ Building Self-Esteem: Successfully caring for others via nurture play can boost children's self-esteem and confidence.
⭐️ Promoting Problem-Solving Skills: Children can use nurture play to explore different solutions to problems and exercise their problem-solving skills.

Play Therapy harnesses the natural language of childhood: Play. This week we will be sharing some of the resources we use that support children’s therapeutic growth within Play Therapy.

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03/02/2025

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL PLAY THERAPY WEEK 2025! 🥳

Day 3: Aggressive Play in Play Therapy

Aggressive play, often misunderstood and discouraged, can play a vital role in healthy child development:

⭐️ Empathy, Communication and Social Skills Development: Through aggressive play, children practice listening to social cues, practice verbal and non-verbal communication and grow in their understanding of how their behaviour affects others. This fosters the development of empathy, communication skills and social skills.
⭐️ Self-Regulation and Self-Expression: Engaging in aggressive play allows children to express their emotions and experiences in a safe environment. This helps them develop self-understanding, creates an outlet for self expression and encourages the development of self-regulation skills.
⭐️ Moral Development: As children navigate the rules and boundaries of aggressive play, they develop a sense of safe versus unsafe, and right versus wrong, contributing to their moral development and social competence.
⭐️ Physical Development: Aggressive play often involves physical activity, promoting gross motor skills, strength, and coordination.

Play Therapy harnesses the natural language of childhood: Play. This week we will be sharing some of the resources we use that support children’s therapeutic growth within Play Therapy.

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