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family therapy after a divorce

Have you recently been through a divorce? Are you feeling the impact of the divorce in ways that you didn't plan for? After my divorce, my kids and I went through several months where they were angry and I felt like a complete failure. It was almost a year before I decided to begin seeing a family therapist to help us get through such a difficult transitional time for the entire family. She was so understanding, compassionate and helpful. She helped us talk through our feelings and provided us with the tools that we needed to get through the most difficult time in our lives.

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family therapy after a divorce

Meeting Your Child's Mental Health Needs With Play Therapy

by Fernando Barnett

Child's play therapy is a form of psychotherapy that utilizes play to help children communicate their thoughts and feelings, resolve conflicts, or overcome emotional difficulties. It acknowledges the importance of play in a child's development and uses it as a medium to explore their inner world. While this is an effective approach, parents might not know the numerous benefits that it can provide.

Benefit: Fosters The Development Of Social Skills

Through engaging in various activities during play therapy sessions, children can learn how to understand others' emotions better by putting themselves in their shoes. Playing with dolls or toys representing different characters allows them to experience different perspectives and develop empathy toward others' feelings.

Play therapy lets children communicate nonverbally through toys and other objects that represent their thoughts and emotions. By doing so, they can gradually improve their ability to express themselves verbally through clear articulation and dialogue with the therapist or other participating individuals. This can be especially important for some developmental issues and PTSD because the children may struggle to verbalize the complex emotions they may be feeling.

Benefit: Reduce Stress And Anxiety

Another significant benefit of child's play therapy is its ability to reduce stress levels among young participants while helping them manage anxiety more effectively. During play therapy sessions, children can explore various forms of self-expression as they work through conflicts or process difficult emotions using creative mediums such as drawing or painting.

The nonjudgmental environment created during play therapy allows kids to express even negative emotions safely without fear of criticism or repercussions from others. Ultimately helping them develop more effective ways of handling stress and anxiety, which can directly improve their quality of life and the effectiveness of their treatments.

Benefit: Improvement In Cognitive Abilities

Play therapy also benefits a child's cognitive development by encouraging creativity and imagination while cultivating problem-solving skills. The toys, art supplies, or other materials available during play therapy act as tools that help children stretch their imaginations. As they use their creativity to explore emotions or work through conflicts, children may discover new ways of thinking about specific situations or experiences.

Play therapy helps children enhance their problem-solving abilities by teaching them to identify the root causes of conflicts in play scenarios and find practical solutions for resolving these issues. Through this process, they learn that problems can be approached from multiple angles, which is a valuable lesson that is applicable inside and outside the therapy space.

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