Bright Start Therapeutic Services

24/06/2025

24/06/2025

08/05/2025

All children cope best when things are consistent and reliable.

Children who've experienced trauma will have brains that developed in chaotic, scary and sometimes dangerous situations, meaning they are likely to be hypervigilant and perceive danger wherever they are even when there is none.

The play therapy relationship and the Play Therapist provide this consistency and reliability, so the child is able to experience what this feels like and how this calms their nervous system.

02/05/2025

On 3 May, there is a protest march to Downing Street to protect one of the most vulnerable groups of young people in our society. The Government has just imposed a 40% cut to therapeutic support funding for adopted children. Without consultation! Without consideration! Purely a financial decision!

Please sign the petition, and if you can, join the march. These children and young people have started life with trauma, often abuse and neglect. They need our protection and unwavering support.

You can find out more in our article
https://pipsolutions.co.uk/funding-slashed-without-consultation-putting-vulnerable-young-people-at-risk/

17/04/2025

"Autistic brains produce 42% more information at rest (than neurotypicals). Our brains have LOTS more neurons, SEE IMAGE.

When we say we See More, Hear More, Smell More, Taste More, and Feel More, it's NOT an exaggeration or figure of speech!

We get MORE of ALL the senses. THIS is why we get Overloaded. This is why we have MELTDOWNS.

To you, it's a grocery store. To us, it's: VISUAL Overload (from the sheer number of items we see); COLOR overload (all the labels, plus all the colors of clothing people wear); MOVEMENT Overload (the people moving, the baskets, the forklifts, the cart returns), at All Times, Every Second We're In The Building;

SOUND overload (people talking, wheels squeaking, babies crying, boxes being sliced open, scales moving, forklifts beeping, beep goes the checkout scanners 100's of times a minute), and we HEAR IT ALL, at all times, at dozens or hundreds of times LOUDER than You hear it;

SMELL Overload (we smell every shampoo, conditioner, lotion, shaving cream, soap, deodorant, spice, fruit, vegetable, laundry detergent, and cleaning supply for sale- plus all of that for every individual person in the store!), and we Smell it dozens if not hundreds of times stronger than you smell it;

LIGHTS Overload, aka Photosensitivity. The lights are LITERALLY dozens, if not Hundreds, of times Brighter for US. Some lights are worse than others- and those long tube lights in grocery stores are Number One for Photosensitivity Overload.

DECISION PARALYSIS- Which way to go to start, what item was I getting again? What aisle was that on? How much money do I have to spend today? Oh that person is coming at me, should I slow down or speed up, are they turning, am I blocking what they're getting? Did I want chips? Wait- I have a list. Where's the list? What was I getting again?

Only ALL OF THAT hits in the FIRST TEN SECONDS of entering the building, leaving us FROZEN and UNABLE to proceed. Think of it like LAG, when you ask your electronic to DO TOO MUCH, TOO FAST. That is Decision Paralysis, and it's often brought on, not Just by all those questions (and more) listed, it's brought on because those thoughts are happening WHILE all the OTHER SENSORY items are Overloading our circuits!

This SHUTS DOWN our Executive Function- which is the ability to do things (like drive, get dressed, follow a recipe- grocery shop), and also causes Task Paralysis, the inability to START.

There's going to be a period of Nothing Happening, just Leave Us Alone during this time, and If Left Alone, we'll "catch up" in our brain and be Able to proceed. We may need to Stim during this time, or move our body to calm down- rocking, wringing our hands, twiddling fingers, twirling hair- leave us alone to stim, it's how we self regulate and are able to navigate the Drastic Changes we just experienced."

-Michelle Mason

30/09/2023

An amazing podcast featuring Juliette Miller speaking about the benefits of Play Therapy.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts or online.
Search School Behaviour Secrets Podcast and look for episode 150.
https://zurl.co/wuPT
www.beaconschoolsupport.co.uk/podcast/150

Can Play Therapy help children Process their emotions and traumatic experiences?
In this episode of School Behaviour Secrets, we delve deep into the world of Play Therapy with our expert guest, Juliette Miller. Join us as we explore how Play Therapy empowers children to express their emotions, build connections, and foster personal growth.

https://zurl.co/Byqb

20/12/2022

06/11/2022

A story about complex trauma, addiction, generational trauma and a child in care

Brave, The Little Hedgehog 🥰

Once upon a time there lived a family of hedgehogs. This family had went through many storms and even in Winter they didn’t hibernate like most hedgehogs do as the Mommy hedgehog had too many shocks as a little hedgehog to sleep deeply and safely.

The mommy hedgehog had believed in her heart becoming a mommy if she had little hedgehogs they would survive many storms like she had without hibernating. The trouble with mommy hedgehogs who don’t hibernate is they make many bad choices about safety for themselves and their little baby hedgehogs.

Daddy hedgehogs are as equally responsible for making sure their families hibernate and are safe but some daddy hedgehogs have similar experiences of storms and not hibernating which causes mommy and daddy hedgehogs to eat poisonous berries. This causes big, deep, tricky problems in hedgehog families and little hedgehogs get all muddled up and are often not save in families where poisonous berries are eaten.

Brave was a little hoglet born into a family where her mommy and daddy ate lots of poisonous berries and had experienced many storms and even tornadoes as little hoglets themselves. They even created storms between each other and fought over the poisonous berries and this often happened in front of Brave.

Deep in the woods, there are rules amongst the animals in the forest. The owls are in charge of the safety of all hoglets and other little baby animals who rely on their parents for safety, food, love and guidance. From high in the trees they noticed Brave in a very dangerous situation and they knew they had to make big, life changing decisions for Brave.

Their job was to keep Brave safe, so they swept through the air carefully watching all areas of the forest to make sure they had their information correct about the storms and the poisonous berries. One day they swept through the air and gently held Brave in their wide wing span they officially became Braves watchers until Brave became an adult.

Brave melted the hearts of many animals in the forest who she met. Brave was very unique as she had the wisdom of an owl, the heart of a cutest bunny rabbit, the courage of a lion and the beauty of a wild deer. Brave was amazing but she didn’t know it.

The owls searched for a family in the forest to raise Brave as their own. The owls found a family to love and care for Brave. Brave went to live with strong bears that looked after her, the mommy bear paid particular attention to Braves heart, brave fell in love with her and Brave called her Momma Bear. The bears and Brave spent many happy years together, playing in the forest, by the river and cuddling up in the cave. Brave learnt very quickly the behaviours of a bear even thou she was a hedgehog.

Brave would cry and shout “I don’t want to be a hedgehog, I want to be a bear” it was so confusing for Brave and once again the owls swept through the air and held Brave but they noticed something different. They noticed Brave had grown spikes, they never noticed before when Brave had her Momma Bear caring for her, they never noticed while she lived with her parents who ate poisonous berries.

These spikes were worrying the owls and felt it would be a good idea for Brave to visit the Playful Butterfly who played by the river of wisdom at the other end of the forest. The Playful Butterfly knew lots about big hurts, storms, tornadoes; poisonous berries and had so much knowledge about hedgehogs and particularly their spikes.

Brave agreed to visit the Playful Butterfly because of course this was her own choice, the owls showed the way. The Playful Butterfly was waiting for Brave by the river of wisdom and welcomed Brave and encouraged her to sit with her and she was delighted to see how many spikes Brave had grown.

Brave was confused she had thought there was something wrong with her spikes, The Playful Butterfly explained to Brave while they played with the slime that lay up against the side of the river of wisdom that all hedgehogs have spikes and how important they are to protect hedgehogs, she also explained it would have been impossible to protect herself when she was a little hoglet because her spikes had not grown. Brave told the Playful Butterfly that she was feeling dizzy and how her spikes were getting in her way; the Playful Butterfly listened very carefully and said that was because she kept rolling into a ball to protect herself even at times she didn’t need to use her spikes.

Brave learnt to accept her spikes and with many cuddles of Momma bear, sitting by the river of wisdom with the Playful butterfly, she learnt many ways to use her spikes and slowly learnt how to hibernate but kept one eye open. Brave also started to believe she was amazing.

The End
By Edel Lawlor

14/07/2022

Always try to stay in connection.. love this from

14/07/2022

Love this so much! So powerful