After almost five years of growing the Play Therapy Hub, and helping children and families across Australia connect and heal, we decided it was time for a major change to our brand to bring it more in line with where we are now and where we are headed. While Play Therapy is still an important part of our offering, we know that it is just one way to achieve happiness and harmony within the families we work with. We see a duty to our and your children’s generation to not let them carry the unresolved unconscious and conscious wounds of our past that come from our childhoods, preventing them fr ..read more

It’s that time of year again. School return is just around the corner. For some, that can bring feelings of excitement and anticipation. For others, there could be feelings of anxiety and uncertainty. Parents might be looking forward to the return to routine, or feeling unsure about what the new school year will bring for their family. Regardless of how you or your child is feeling, the return to school can be a challenge. It’s back to a schedule and routine that your child may not have had for six weeks. It’s back to a different environment, more people and noises, new challenges and relat ..read more

How do I ‘fix’ my child? This is a question that I hear from parents who are struggling and wish that their children could be different. It often comes from a place of worry and concern for their future, worrying what the world sees, what the community think of their child and what they think of them as parents. When hearing these few words, as a therapist, we know we need to connect and care for this family. The short answer is that your child does not need to be ‘fixed’, they are not broken and nor are you. Your child might be struggling and need support, or you might be struggling and nee ..read more

Supporting children through grief and loss and can be particularly difficult. Sometimes in our own pain, finding the words may be hard, or feelings may be too confronting to face especially when we are grieving with our child too. Children are particularly vulnerable to grief because they have a more limited view of the world, and depending on their developmental stage, may not have a sound understanding about the permanency of death. There are some things you can do to support your child in their grief, while still honouring the need to journey through your own. Be factual and age appro ..read more

Do children experience homelessness? When picturing the social inequality of homelessness within our community, many people forget that children are a part of this picture. Homelessness for children is somewhat hidden, whether it’s in inappropriate dwellings, overcrowding, motels, emergency accommodations. However it is, unfortunately, still affecting many children within our communities. Data from the 2016 census tells us that children make up over 1 in 4 people experiencing homelessness, which was an alarming 26,918 children in Victoria over the 2018-2019 period. How does homelessness affe ..read more

Here’s the thing about feelings. Ignoring them doesn’t make them go away. Annoying isn’t it. But there is something that does work and it’s so simple you’ll wonder why you’ve never tried it before – reflecting. Reflecting feelings is my number one, gold nugget piece of advice I give every parent. Especially those who are struggling (and seriously, which parent isn’t at some point or another?) It’s a tried and tested, research backed approach that works wonders, and did I mention it’s simple to use?   So, what exactly is it, and how does it work? Well, ultimately every person wants to f ..read more

Having been an educator myself, I have seen that in the last few years, there has been a particular emphasis on supporting and managing behaviours with children from traumatised backgrounds. But what does that actually look like? I’m going to take you three some simple (not necessarily easy!) ways to support children who have experienced trauma, and how we can adapt our learning environment to make it more trauma-informed. These tips are also useful for children from non-traumatised backgrounds as well. So what is a trauma informed school? A trauma-informed school focuses on identifying ch ..read more

Looking through a different lens Challenging behaviour is a clue that a child has an unmet need. A child’s behaviour can be seen as a form of communication. Think of a child’s behaviour as an iceberg. At the tip of the iceberg what can see is the child’s words and behaviours. For example, you may see behaviours like hitting, throwing toys, crying, hiding or yelling. At the bottom of the iceberg is what we can’t see, that is the child’s feelings, needs and internal experiences. As parents, support worker and teachers, children’s behaviour can really challenge us as individuals. It can be real ..read more

When it comes to telling the truth, there is a fascinating gap between adults and children. Adults often hide information, especially if it appears negative or harmful. Children, on the other hand, are notoriously honest (often to their parents’ shame!). They open up about their feelings and opinions regularly. So if we then consider the practise of protecting children from the truth, it seems counterintuitive.  It’s not only a formula for mistrust, but it’s also problematic on a number of levels. Why tell them the truth? As far as I can see, there are a couple concerns at play here. Fi ..read more

So you’ve heard the words gentle parenting. Maybe you saw it on the news, heard it from a friend, or read an article about it on your phone. It’s become a well-known phrase lately and we’re seeing it gain popularity across social media, and in our everyday lives. When we hear gentle parenting, we may have many different ideas about what that means. Some of us may assume it means giving kids free reign, whilst others may think it’s focusing on emotions too much. Some of us may just turn our noses up at the thought of doing something differently to what we have always known. I’m going to clea ..read more