SoulChild Play Therapy

21/10/2025

💜🫶

26/09/2025

I am on annual leave, returning October 20th. Please email trish@soulchild.ie and I will reply to you on my return

26/09/2025

🌅💜

25/09/2025

Often, we shut down big feelings. Rather than making space for them, we brush them away or try to fix them

Though this doesn’t remove the feeling, it encourages children to bottle it up, likely leading to a bigger outburst later in that same day or week. Or worse, teaching a child that emotions aren’t okay, leading to avoidance of emotions (which often leads to unhealthy coping strategies later on)

So instead, let’s get good at validating feelings. Validating a child’s feeling helps them to feel understood, and feeling understood is an essential ingredient in feeling connected and supported

Feeling understood helps us to put words to, or name our feelings, and over time, this supports with emotional regulation 🩷

Here are 10 things you can say to a child instead of ‘don’t cry’

If you found it helpful, feel free to give it a share - don’t forget to tag us 💙!

06/09/2025

“Once upon a time there was a little girl who was trapped.

This is the story of her great escape.”

Matilda is about trauma and trauma responses—primarily Matilda’s trauma, but not exclusively. It is about the length to which we adapt to help us survive unbearable circumstances, the extent to which being ‘trapped’ during childhood leaves enduring scars that call for profound coping mechanisms.
-mentally escaping
-hyper-independence and excessive self-reliance.

Much like what happens in Play Therapy she she loses herself in creativity in the elaborate stories her rich inner life allows her to create. Such storytelling proves to be both a form of escapism and a way for Matilda to process her trauma: by displacing her own feelings onto the characters in her story and sharing that story with Mrs. Phelps, she can indirectly express and receive validation for her experiences.

Trauma can have an effect on creativity, and creativity can have an effect on trauma. Matilda seems to experience an overwhelming, often intrusive imagination: “It just comes to me in…fizzes.” Her creativity spins a narrative that has her own bad experiences and rescue fantasies leaking through it.

Like it does in Play Therapy the creativity serves to bring the trauma memories closer, albeit in a way that makes them more digestible and easier to process.
(Adapted for PTSD UK by Jemima Atar)

06/09/2025

How how all schools should feel... safe and accepting. Learning happens when children feel safe...

29/08/2025

Love this! Same goes for our children... love and nurture the child in front of you for exactly who they are.....

28/08/2025

Be careful to look past behaviors from your children as they return to school, and recognize the struggle!

27/08/2025

Thank you Mr Rogers🥰 I hope this benefits some families

Fred Rogers once said, “Anything that’s human is mentionable, and anything that is mentionable can be more manageable.” He believed that even life’s most difficult moments become easier when we talk about them, because those conversations remind us that we are not alone.

We are pleased to share an updated resource; When Someone a Child Loves Gets Divorced or Separated. This guide shares Fred Rogers’ thoughtful approach to helping children navigate the challenges of divorce and separation. Inside, you will find guidance on how to talk with your child, insight into what they may be feeling, suggestions for ways you can help, and other resources for support. We hope it will be a meaningful resource for anyone navigating this experience.

View the resource:https://www.fredrogersinstitute.org/files/resources/37/when-someone-a-child-loves-divorce-2025.pdf

24/07/2025

I am on Holidays till August 18th please email trish@soulchild.ie and I will get back to you on my return