Play Therapy

29/06/2025

Harris Rosen, a self-made millionaire, transformed Orlando’s Tangelo Park by offering free preschool and full college scholarships to local students. Since the 1990s, his investment in education helped raise graduation rates from 25% to nearly 100% and cut crime in half. His model proves that when you invest in people, entire communities thrive. 🎓🏡

11/06/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/19CDDKqzaZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

08/06/2025

**SPACES AVAILABLE**
Life Story Workshop for adoptive parents

This workshop is designed to help adoptive parents feel more confident in talking to their child/ren about their life story and why they are adopted. It will also provide parents with a forum to discuss their concerns and challenges. At the workshop, tools and resources that may be helpful to try at home will be shared, alongside routes to seek advice and support in the future.

This workshop is open to adoptive parents with children aged eight years and under. The workshop will be held in person in South Gloucestershire. Parents only to attend (no children, sorry!)

Visit www.adoptionwest.co.uk/events to register your interest.

05/06/2025

“If you need to hit your child to make them listen, you’ve already lost control.”

Physical discipline isn’t parenting—it’s an admission of defeat.

Spanking doesn’t teach respect. It teaches fear.

It doesn’t build trust. It breaks it.

And yet, so many still defend it. Passionately.
Why? Because maybe we’re not really defending the method—we’re defending the memory.

To admit our parents got it wrong means confronting some painful truths about our own past.

We hear, “It never did me any harm.”
But what if it did—just in ways you weren’t allowed to feel?

Research from the American Psychological Association and UNICEF shows that:

🔹 Spanking increases aggression in children
🔹 It raises the risk of anxiety, depression, and poor self-esteem
🔹 It damages parent-child relationships
🔹 And it’s ineffective long-term at changing behaviour

Globally, over 60 countries have now banned corporal punishment—including Scotland and Wales—recognising that children have the same right to protection from violence as adults.

Meanwhile, in some circles, choosing not to hit your child is now mocked as “woke” or “liberal.”

If compassion is “woke,” then let’s wear it with pride.

So I’ll ask again:
What’s your take?
Let’s talk honestly. Let’s break the cycle.

29/05/2025

👏🏼 Well done Alison Bennett for Mid Sussex for standing up for the most vulnerable children in our society.

I hope Brian Mathew will do the same in Wiltshire, where over 100 children have been adopted or placed under Special Guardianship Orders in the past 5 years.

Many families are now at breaking point. Some children are re-entering care due to lack of support—and with a foster carer shortage, they're being failed again.

💔 These children don’t need more disruption. They need therapy, support, and stability to heal from trauma—not abandonment.

🧠 Adoption support is not optional. It’s vital.

23/05/2025

Highly recommended training for adoptive parents. Special discount of £20

22/05/2025

06/05/2025

🎮 ROBLOX 🎮 Parents/Guardians

Let's talk about Roblox...

Roblox is a gaming platform where players can create and publish their own games. The platform can be a great educational tool to help teach children new skills like coding. However, there are also some risks like any online game.

We've supported so many local kids in Crewe that have been in tricky situations because of games like this, so it's a pretty important topic to be in the know about!

Let's continue...

Roblox allows players to build and publish their own games. This means that other users could build games that contain adult or inappropriate themes that your child might see, this is a perspective that you may not have thought of before.

Anyone can send you a friend request on Roblox. Anyone could be sitting behind that screen pretending to be a child. (Find out below how to change the friend request settings!)

Players can use the communication features of Roblox to talk to one other while they are playing. This means that there is a risk of cyberbullying or unwanted contact.

Cyberbullying is a tricky situation to escape from for children, as messages can remain on devices, and these messages and images can be sent around out of their control. This can be very upsetting and scary for a child who's too young to process this situation.

We always teach the kids at schools in Crewe three rules for Cyberbullying -

🚩 Flag it (Raise it to the attention of an adult to help you.)
🤐 Zip it (Don't tell anyone your personal information including passwords, your school name, home address or real name etc.)
👋 Block it (If someone is causing you upset or giving you any unwanted contact, block them.)

So after all of that, you're probably wondering what you can do to make the game safer for your loved one! ⤵️

🎮 Sign up with the correct age
Make sure your child creates an account using the correct age. On Roblox, certain safety settings and parental controls are enabled by default for children under 13. However, you should still review the settings to ensure they’ve been set up correctly.

🎮 Build a list of age-appropriate games.
Not all games on Roblox will be appropriate for your child. The platform has a setting that lets parents and carers limit what their child can play by allowing them to build lists of age-appropriate games. You can also switch off in-app spending or set them monthly limits.

🎮 Explore communication settings.
You can manage who your child can speak to by disabling chat completely or limiting it to friends only. You can also switch off their inbox to stop them receiving direct messages.

🎮 Explore the platform together.

🗣️ Ask your child to give you a demonstration of the platform to help you understand how they use it and explore some of the parental controls together. You could even consider setting up your own account and playing the games yourself.

💬 Have regular conversations about gaming.
Continue to have regular conversations with them about what they are doing online. Ask your child open questions like ‘What games have you been playing on Roblox recently?’ or ‘What platforms have you been using to play games?’.

For more tips on keeping your child safe online feel free to have a Sunday morning read - https://orlo.uk/pbVoL

Finally, as I finish every online safety session at schools, "the internet can be an amazing and inspiring place to visit, as long as we know how to use it safely."

Stay safe,

PCSO Lizzie Jolley 22582

09/03/2025

Join Our Sensory Circuits Training!

🔵 Does your child between the ages 5 - 14 years struggle with focus, transitions, or emotional regulation?

🔵 Want to learn how sensory circuits can help?

Join our expert-led Sensory Circuits Training designed to empower parents & educational staff with practical strategies to support your child/ren regulation and development!

What You'll Learn:

✅ What sensory circuits are and how they work
✅ How to create simple sensory circuits at home & school
✅ Practical strategies for improving focus and self- regulation
✅ Ways to support your child's sensory needs through movement

Who Should Attend?

This training is perfect for parents, caregivers, and educators who want to:

- Help children with their emotions & access learning in school

- Improve transitions between activities

- Reduce meltdowns and anxiety through sensory strategies

- Sensory circuits are especially beneficial for children with:
Autism (ASD)

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Social, Emotional, and Mental Health (SEMH)

Event Details:

📅 Date: x2 evenings on Monday 7th & Tuesday 8th April

🕒 Time: 6.30 pm - 8pm (3 hours in total, split across two evenings)

📍 Location: In the comfort of your own home (ONLINE)

Cost: £50 (HALF PRICE Introductory offer)

🎟 Limited Spots Available – Register Now!

Empower your child with the power of movement and sensory regulation – Sign up today!

09/03/2025

I couldn’t love this more if I tried 🙌🏼

Danish schools teach empathy as a dedicated subject, known as “Klassen Tid” (Class Time), from ages 6 to 16. During these lessons, students discuss their emotions, personal struggles, and group dynamics in a safe and supportive environment. Teachers guide the conversations, helping students develop emotional intelligence, active listening skills, and conflict resolution strategies.

The goal is to foster cooperation, understanding, and social harmony—values deeply ingrained in Danish culture. Research suggests that teaching empathy can lead to higher emotional resilience, stronger relationships, and even improved academic performance.

If more countries implemented similar programs, it could cultivate more compassionate societies, equipping children with the emotional tools to navigate life with kindness and understanding.

24/01/2025

Absolutely love this!

Please share 🤗

Stress on the Brain was made by a group of students from New River College (Islington), working with SoapBox Youth Centre. They talk about stress, trauma, th...

22/01/2025

Arday was born in 1985 to Ghanaian parents, and is the third youngest of four brothers. He grew up on a council estate in Clapham, South London. He was diagnosed as autistic at 3 years old and due to global developmental delay learned to speak at the age of 11 and to read and write at the age of 18

In March 2023, he began an appointment as Professor of Sociology of Education at the University of Cambridge, UK, becoming the youngest black person ever appointed to a professorship at Cambridge.

It serves as a wonderful reminder that children will develop at different rates and for those children that have suffered developmental trauma in formative years, it will just take them a little longer to reach their potential.