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Gentle Sleep Support and Services

Family First Play Therapy Centre is now very excited to now offer a sleep support program.The Gentle Sleep Coaching® method provides gentle proven solutions to help your child sleep well and wake up happy. The Sleep Lady® Shuffle helps parents learn to use proven step-by-step changes in bedtime, nap time and middle of the night routines that haven’t been working for them thus far. It offers a gentle alternative rather then letting their child ‘cry-it-out’. Our aim is to help your infant or child, (children who have special needs are also welcome to this support program) develop sleep independence and teach them age appropriate and soothing self-regulation skills so that they can establish healthy and lifelong sleep habits. This service is designed to be financially affordable and offers a variety of support packages for individuals as well as families.

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WHAT IS THE SSP?

Developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP) is a five-day auditory intervention designed to reduce stress and auditory sensitivity while enhancing social engagement and resilience. Based on Dr. Porges’ Polyvagal Theory, by calming the physiological and emotional state, the door is opened for improved communication and more successful therapy.

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Play Therapy can be a useful support for children and parents. The saying ‘It takes a Village to raise a child’ may have been an old African proverb, but it holds such wisdom which can be applied to today’s family challenges  – big or small – and one that parents should not feel any shame about.

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What is Play Therapy and What is a Play Therapist?

Play therapy is a specialized mental health medium which includes many forms of evidencebased interventions designed to effectively assist children healing from trauma, abuse, grief, emotional dysregulation disorders as well as many other childhood challenges, experiences, and issues. Play Therapy is suitable for children from infancy to about 16 years of age but can also be adapted for young people in their late teens, and even for adults, including the elderly (O'Connor & Schaefer 1994). Because children are still developing, it is important for the play therapist to consider many areas of the child’s presentation upon entry into service, including attachment strengths and weaknesses.

Play therapy is not the same as regular play. Play Therapy is a systematic, evidence-based therapeutic process whereby Master’s level therapists (who have completed extensive training, supervision, and education specific to children’s mental health) guide the child client within sessions. Toys, games, art and sand are simply the tools which are used to help the child cathartically release, process life experiences and learn how to master control over their challenges. Play Therapy incorporates a growing number of evidence-based practices and techniques such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, EMDR, DDP, Theraplay, Filial Therapy (to name a few) which aim to appropriately support the developmental and emotional abilities for each individual child, youth, and teen.

Not all therapists who work with children possess a specialized Play Therapy credential. However, in Canada, a Certified Play Therapist (CPT) is one who has completed special trainings and have successfully passed the stringent certification standards and remain in good standing with their play therapy association (Canadian Association of Child Play Therapists - CACPT) and thus are deemed ‘specialists’ in their field. It is important for parents to know what their child’s therapist’s credentials are, in order to understand the level of training and expertise being offered

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Child Therapy

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Why Is It Important to Teach Social Skills to Children on The Autism Spectrum

Social skills are the rules and customs that guide our interactions with other people and the world around us. In general, people tend to learn social skills in the same way they learn language skills: naturally and easily. They use these skills in a flexible manner to navigate their environment. For people with autism it can be harder to learn these skills, forcing them to guess what their response to a particular environment should be. This often results in increased anxiety and lower self esteem.

Learning social skills is essential to helping the child become more independent at home, school, and within the community. By introducing these skills early and continuing to build on them, people with autism gain the necessary tools to successfully maneuver the world around them.  This success results in greater self-confidence and higher self-esteem as well as assists in successfully building self-regulation and mastery with life skills in positive ways.   Therefore, Social skills development for people with autism involves:

Individualized programming and direct one to one instruction

“Teachable moments” with practice in realistic settings

Support for enhancing communication and sensory integration

Learning behaviours that predict important social outcomes like building friendships and experiencing joy and happiness within relationships.

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PSYCHOLOGICAL AND EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH BY QUALIFIED PSYCHOLOGIST

Family First offers Psychological and Educational Assessment for Children and Youth by Qualified Psychologist.

As children grow and develop, they sometimes have trouble learning in school, difficulty concentrating, or problems getting along with others.When this happens, a psychological assessment can pinpoint where the difficulties lie.

Psychological assessments at Family First offers insights into a child’s learning, social, behavioral and personality development, with the goal of tailoring recommendations to plan a child’s educational and mental health needs. The Family First Psychological & Educational Assessment program provides a broad range of testing services to school -age children and youth which concludes with a comprehesive report summarizing educational and mental health recommendations and next steps.

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Child Psychotherapy Play Therapy

Child Psychotherapy Play Therapy focuses on helping children and teens by using evidence based techniques which include Cognitive Behaviour Play Therapy (CBPT), Theraplay®, Child Centered Play Therapy, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Filial Therapy as well as play based strategies including art and sandtray. Certified Play Therapists let children explore, act and practice new ways of coping and managing their emotions in a safe and supportive environment.

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What are the benefits of therapeutic play in child psychotherapy?

Play therapy is a specialized mental health medium which includes many forms of evidence-based interventions designed to effectively assist children healing from trauma, abuse, grief, emotional dysregulation disorders as well as many other childhood challenges, and life experiences. Play Therapy is suitable for children from infancy to about 16 years of age.  Because children are still developing, it is important for the play therapist to consider many areas of the child’s presentation upon entry into service, including attachmentstrengths and weaknesses.   The biggest benefit of play therapy for children includes the opportunity to express themselves even when they may not have the ability to openly, verbally process their experiences or feelings.  Play therapy tools include toys, sand, art, books and other items which allow the child to explore, create, express past, present and future life happenings.  Children use toys to learn about themselves, work through in conscious or unconscious ways their life events.  The trained play therapist specifically guides and follows the child’s play and provides evidence-based tools and therapeutic strategies to support the child’s healing journey. Although play therapy is not based on ‘sitting and talking’ like adult therapy is, it very much involves communication, processing and mastery but at a child’s level and ability.  Building therapeutic rapport within a safe environment such as the play therapy room and with a skilled play therapist,  allows the child to explore, reflect, learn, process and master control over their challenges to support growth and healing. 

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What is a Child Trauma Assessment (CTA)? 

A CTA helps to determine if trauma has occurred and, if so, what specific effects it has had on the child’s functioning and development.  Grief and loss issues are included in this assessment  evaluated as well as the child’s current emotional presentation/symptoms and whether or not the child has any positive or maladaptive coping mechanisms.  Emotional regulation patterns and attachment presentation are also reviewed in order to determine if the child has positive relationships to support healing.  After evaluation, a written report which includes detailed recommendations, are made for treatment strategies to meet the needs of the child and to support a solid and structured therapeutic treatment plan.

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Family First Therapy Room

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How can Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy be used to treat anxiety disorders in children?

Hierarchical in nature and problem-focused, CBPT involves teaching skills and coping strategies to help children effectively deal with a wide range of emotional responses by using tools which include playful experiences. Children are often unable to ‘know’ why they feel the way they feel or ‘act’ they way they do, and are most often unable to effectively communicate with words about how they feel.   Thus, playful mediums such as toys and art materials support the child’s journey of communicating/processing their inner most challenges in a non-hindering, safer way.   Books, art, sand and other playful medium support the child to cathartically express themselves via playing out their unconscious or conscious emotions and experiences when using these times.   The trained play therapist, uses formal CBPT strategies and techniques to teach children about how their brain and body respond to emotions and experiences.  This allows the young client to learn techniques which support mastery and healing (rather than the emotion / response being in control of the child).  CBPT is considered a top-down approach whereby the child must have achieved some cognitive skills and abilities prior to being able to understand and then master maladaptive coping strategies.   Other interventions such as Theraplay, EMDR or Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) can be combined within the treatment plan can be introduced simultaneously during the treatment process and supportive to the healing journey.

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Can we ever really heal from our traumas?

Yes, we now know thru evidence-based studies and technology of the human brain and body that humans can heal from trauma with the appropriate interventions that have proven to do so. Researchers have noted that a trauma is stored in somatic memory and expressed as changes in the biological stress response. The physiology of stress is quite interesting but complex. Nevertheless there are interventions that have been developed which now can reframe the physiology of our stress responses which then allows us to become less activated or triggered. There are many well-known interventions such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, EMDR., the Safe and Sound Protocol, amongst many other proven modalities to help those become less responsive to their trauma histories and to move forward towards healing and strength. It is important to know that not one treatment modality can erase full trauma, but a solid, experienced, well trained therapist can support healing that best supports each individual client.

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Family First Play Therapy Centre Entrance

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Child Psychotherapy Play Therapy

Child Psychotherapy Play Therapy focuses on helping children and teens by using evidence based techniques which include Cognitive Behaviour Play Therapy (CBPT), Theraplay®, Child Centered Play Therapy, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Filial Therapy as well as play based strategies including art and sandtray. Certified Play Therapists let children explore, act and practice new ways of coping and managing their emotions in a safe and supportive environment.