Faye Oakley Play Therapy

22/01/2026

💭 Is your child struggling to express big feelings?

When children find it hard to put emotions into words, play can become their language.

Play therapy offers a safe, gentle space for children to explore their feelings, build resilience, and feel truly understood — at their own pace.

🌱 Services available:
• 1:1 private play therapy sessions
• School-based play therapy

🎓 PTUK Registered
🎓 Certified Play Therapist

📩 To find out more or make a referral, contact:
Fayeoakleyplaytherapy@outlook.com

16/01/2026

✨ Sensory Processing Disorder & Play Therapy ✨

Children experience the world through their senses — sound, touch, movement, light, and more. For some children, this sensory information can feel overwhelming, confusing, or hard to manage.

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) may show up as:
• Sensitivity to noise, touch, or movement
• Seeking lots of sensory input (jumping, spinning, crashing)
• Avoiding certain textures, sounds, or environments

🧩 How can play therapy help?
Through carefully chosen, child-led play experiences, children are supported to:
✔️ Regulate their sensory input
✔️ Build emotional regulation
✔️ Express feelings safely
✔️ Develop confidence and self-understanding

Play therapy meets children where they are — using play as their natural language 💛

If you’re wondering whether play therapy could support your child, you’re not alone. Feel free to reach out or save this post for later.

14/01/2026

💛 Settling Back In After Christmas

The second week back at school can often feel harder than the first.
After the excitement (and exhaustion!) of Christmas, many children feel a bit wobbly, clingy, or more anxious — and this is completely normal.

Children don’t always have the words to explain how they’re feeling, but their emotions often show up through behaviour, sleep, or worries about school and friendships.

🎨 Play therapy offers children a safe, gentle space to:
• Express worries through play rather than words
• Make sense of change and transitions
• Build emotional resilience and confidence
• Feel understood and supported

🏡 How you can support at home:
• Keep routines predictable and gentle
• Acknowledge feelings (“It makes sense you’re feeling worried”)
• Allow extra rest and downtime
• Offer connection before correction

✨ With time, patience, and support, most children settle again.

—
🌳 Faye Oakley Play Therapy

07/01/2026

As children return back to school... 💜

04/01/2026

Back to School: Supporting Your Child’s Worries 🤍

As children return to school, it’s completely normal for worries and big feelings to show up. Changes in routine, new teachers, friendship worries, learning pressures or previous difficult experiences can all feel overwhelming for children — even if they struggle to put it into words.

You may notice changes such as:
• Increased anxiety or tearfulness
• Complaints of tummy aches or headaches
• Changes in sleep or appetite
• Emotional outbursts or withdrawal
• Reluctance or refusal to attend school

How you can support your child at home:
✔️ Acknowledge their feelings without rushing to “fix” them
✔️ Keep routines calm and predictable where possible
✔️ Offer reassurance and connection rather than pressure
✔️ Encourage expression through play, drawing or stories
✔️ Communicate with school if worries are impacting attendance or learning

Play therapy offers children a safe, confidential space to explore their emotions at their own pace. Through play, children can process worries, build emotional resilience and develop coping strategies in a way that feels natural to them.

If your child is struggling with school-related anxiety, behaviour, trauma, friendships or emotional regulation, early support can make a meaningful difference.

04/01/2026

03/01/2026

After a long break, keep these 3 R’s in mind and at the forefront of your practice.

Regulation: Long breaks disrupt routines and bring a wide range of emotions back into the room. Children need time and space to regulate, and honestly, you probably do too. Young children rely heavily on co-regulation with you, so start there. Take slow, deep breaths, and keep the classroom dim and the pace gentle (if possible). Be patient and kind to yourself and the children. Remember, movement is a primary way children regulate their bodies, so expect and plan for it rather than working against it. Don’t stress about jumping straight into curriculum.

Rhythm: Returning to a predictable routine matters, but flexibility within that rhythm matters just as much. Children are recalibrating. Build in more opportunities for free play within your blocks of time and allow extra time for transitions. This isn’t lost time, but rather, it’s how everyone settles back in.

Relationships: Connection is what anchors everything back together, and connection leads to cooperation. Prioritize check-ins, shared laughter, and time side-by-side. When children feel safe, seen, and reconnected, learning naturally follows. There is no rush and no race here. You and the children feeling good is the most important piece in all of this.

Wishing everyone a gentle, joyful start to the new year. ❤

03/01/2026

✨ New Sessions Available for 2026 ✨

I am excited to share that I will have a small number of 1:1 play therapy sessions available for new clients in 2026.

If your child is finding the return to school challenging, struggling with their emotions, behaviour, or overall wellbeing, play therapy can offer a safe and supportive space for them to explore and express their feelings.
I offer:

1:1 play therapy sessions,
School-based sessions, where I can visit your child’s school,
Collaboration with teachers and school staff to help
support your child within the school environment.

I am also delighted to share that I now have access to a lovely, safe, and confidential therapy room at Positive Leap in Chirk. This calm and nurturing space allows me to work therapeutically with children while also collaborating with other professionals to ensure a holistic approach to supporting children’s emotional wellbeing.

If you are concerned about your child or would like to discuss whether play therapy may be helpful, please feel free to get in touch.

📧 fayeoakleyplaytherapy@outlook.com
📘 Or message via my page

Supporting children to feel understood, supported, and emotionally safe 🌱

21/12/2025

✨ Supporting Children Over the Christmas Period ✨

Christmas can be full of excitement, magic and family time — but for some children it can also feel overwhelming. Changes in routine, busy environments, heightened expectations and sensory overload can all impact children’s emotions and behaviour.
If your child seems more anxious, tearful, withdrawn or dysregulated over the festive period, know that this is completely normal.

A few gentle reminders for parents:
🎄 Keeping some familiar routines can help children feel safe
🎄 Talking openly about worries reassures children they are heard
🎄 It’s okay to lower expectations — rest is just as important as fun
🎄 Quiet spaces and calm play help regulate big feelings
🎄 Connection through play builds emotional safety and trust

Play gives children a natural way to express what they may not yet have words for. Slow, pressure-free moments together can make a powerful difference.
Be kind to yourself too — parenting through Christmas doesn’t have to be perfect 🤍
Quiet days are allowed.

✨ Wishing you and your family a gentle, peaceful Christmas ✨
Faye Oakley Play Therapy 🌲💫

16/12/2025

When a child is melting down, our instincts can take over — and not always the helpful ones.

We might lecture, rush to fix, or tell them to calm down… but these actually block co-regulation rather than build it.

Let’s talk about what not to do — and what to try instead — so we can truly help a child borrow our calm instead of our chaos.

via The Contented Child, Child Wellbeing Consultancy

15/12/2025

Connection Is the Starting Point

This quote speaks to a core truth often misunderstood in parenting and education: connection is not something a young person earns through compliance. It is the condition that allows their nervous system to settle enough to access self-control, problem-solving, and resilience.

Why Withholding Connection Backfires

When a child is dysregulated or struggling, their brain shifts into survival mode. Removing warmth or relational contact in these moments doesn’t teach them to behave better — it intensifies the alarm in their system. The part of the brain needed for learning from mistakes shuts down when connection is withdrawn.

Behaviour Is a Signal, Not a Test

A child’s behaviour is rarely a measure of respect. More often, it is a signal of unmet needs, overwhelm, or lagging skills. Viewing behaviour through a brain-based lens helps adults shift from “How do I make them stop?” to “What support does their nervous system need right now?”

Connection Restores Regulation

A calm adult presence is one of the most powerful tools we have. Eye contact that reassures, a steady tone, a gentle moment of attunement — these are the interventions that help a child’s stress response deactivate. When they feel connected, regulation becomes possible again.

Relationship Before Correction

Setting boundaries with warmth creates dramatically better outcomes than withdrawing affection until a child ‘earns’ it back. Discipline is about teaching, not punishing. And children learn best from adults they feel anchored to, not those they fear losing connection with.

For Those Wanting Tools Rooted in Brain Science
If you’d like practical, compassionate strategies to build regulation, reduce overwhelm, and strengthen connection at home or in school, explore our full range of toolkits.
Link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

26/11/2025

🎒💛 Play Therapy & School Anxiety

School should feel safe — but for many children, it can feel overwhelming.
Changes in routine, social pressures, sensory overload, learning difficulties, or past experiences can all contribute to school-related anxiety.
Play Therapy offers gentle, child-led support to help children manage these big feelings.

✨ How Play Therapy Helps With School Anxiety:
• Builds emotional regulation — children learn to manage stress, worry and frustration through therapeutic play.
• Supports confidence & resilience — sessions help children feel more capable, brave and secure.
• Provides a safe space to explore fears — children express worries symbolically through toys, stories and creative play.
• Improves behaviour & focus in school — when anxiety reduces, children cope better with learning and social interactions.
• Strengthens coping skills — breathing, grounding, sensory tools and emotional language become part of their toolkit.
• Reduces separation anxiety — consistent, nurturing sessions support smoother transitions between home and school.
Anxious children don’t need pressure — they need support, connection and understanding.
Play Therapy offers a calm, therapeutic environment where children can make sense of their feelings at their own pace.
If you’re concerned about your child’s school anxiety, I’m here to help 💛
Faye Oakley | Play Therapy
📩 Message this page to discuss support for your child or school.