Psychology and Play Therapy Australia

Psychology and Play Therapy Australia Psychology and Play Therapy Australia delivers supervision, training and consultancy services Australia-wide and internationally.

Our clinical services are based in Hobart, Tasmania, and available to those in other states by mutual arrangement.

One of the most wonderful gifts of play therapy is that it offers children a developmentally sensitive counselling appro...
13/08/2026

One of the most wonderful gifts of play therapy is that it offers children a developmentally sensitive counselling approach – opportunity to express themselves and process their experience through their dominant means – play.

But is there a cost?

Where is the child’s voice, via verbal articulation?

What does this mean for the child who is still quite literal? Or compliant? Or has experienced interpersonal trauma, such as abuse, neglect and/or family violence, particularly where secrecy is a feature of the trauma experience?

It means the child may not be receiving the information they need to express themselves fully – through play and talking. In cases of abuse and neglect, it potentially means therapists unintentionally replicate a milieu of silence or secrecy.

What’s an alternative permissive introduction you could use?

“During our time together, we might do some talking, and we’ll always have time to play with the things/toys...”

Simple, and permissive.

Ready to equip yourself with essential foundational verbal counselling skills? Get instant access to our recorded workshop ‘Kids Talk Too: Verbal Counselling Skills for Child and Play Therapists’ here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/c2d2kJkh/checkout

How the therapist introduces a child to the therapeutic process influences how the child uses this process, the therapeu...
12/08/2026

How the therapist introduces a child to the therapeutic process influences how the child uses this process, the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic space.

In the example of play therapy, common teaching has been to simply introduce the child to the therapist and their role, and advise they will be having “play time” together. Too often, little information is provided to the child about the reason(s) they are attending, garner their own thoughts about that, and what “play time” might actually mean.

“During our time together, you can play with any of the toys/things you would like, in any way that you’d like, as long as you’re safe, I’m safe, and the toys/property are safe.”

Sound familiar?

However, such an introduction fails to provide the child with explicit permission to verbally express.

Ready to equip yourself with essential foundational verbal counselling skills? Get instant access to our recorded workshop ‘Kids Talk Too: Verbal Counselling Skills for Child and Play Therapists’ here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/c2d2kJkh/checkout

Kids talk too!So child therapists MUST - and I don’t use the word ‘must’ often! - be comfortable with using verbal couns...
11/08/2026

Kids talk too!

So child therapists MUST - and I don’t use the word ‘must’ often! - be comfortable with using verbal counselling skills.

That’s why ‘Kids Talk Too: Verbal Counselling Skills for Child and Play Therapists’ introduces a client-centred counselling approach that can be used with children, which is very very congruent with the child-centred nature of play therapy.

This is our first webinar in a series of workshops designed to equip child and play therapists with essential foundational verbal counselling skills across 4 evidence-based therapy modalities:
👉🏻Humanistic Therapy
👉🏻Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
👉🏻Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
👉🏻Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

The rest of the series will be coming soon, but in the meantime you can get instant access to ‘Kids Talk Too’ here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/c2d2kJkh/checkout

Did you know that you can get instant access to our recorded workshop ‘Kids Talk Too: Verbal Counselling Skills for Chil...
10/08/2026

Did you know that you can get instant access to our recorded workshop ‘Kids Talk Too: Verbal Counselling Skills for Child and Play Therapists’?

If you’re a child therapist using play therapy or play-based approaches, you have no doubt resonated with Garry Landreth’s famously quoted phrase – “Toys are children’s words and play is their language”. It has likely been instilled in your training, and you hold firmly to this anchor in your practice.

But at what cost?

What potential does the child miss out on if we don’t feel competent and confident to work with a child’s verbalisations in therapy?

Children communicate in many ways – through their play, behaviour, body, and patterns of relating.

And of course….Kids talk too!

They have valuable insights into their own experiences they are capable of speaking about.
They strive to make meaning of their experiences and communicate this through narrative.
They seek understanding and ask questions.

If we don’t give children permission talk in play therapy, we deny them these opportunities. And most alarmingly, we risk not communicating to the child an explicit message they can tell us if they are not, or do not feel safe, becoming unintentionally complicit in the secrecy that often characterises abuse and family violence.

We will be running a series of workshops designed to equip child and play therapists with essential foundational verbal counselling skills across 4 evidence-based therapy modalities:
👉🏻Humanistic Therapy
👉🏻Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
👉🏻Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
👉🏻Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Our goal is to support you to integrate developmentally appropriate verbal counselling techniques seamlessly with your play-based interventions so you can effectively respond to the child’s need for this when it arises in sessions.

This workshop (Workshop 1), will focus on general and Humanistic verbal counselling skills for children.

Learn more and get instant access now: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/c2d2kJkh/checkout

Neuro-leadership involves thinking about how we lead while considering the social domains of the human experience.In ess...
09/08/2026

Neuro-leadership involves thinking about how we lead while considering the social domains of the human experience.

In essence, that’s what leading, managing and supervising is all about!

It’s especially relevant for those using trauma-informed approaches, as it aligns with the neuroscience. In many ways, it’s the emotionally intelligent way to lead and supervise people and teams.

Neuro-leadership is a key theme of ‘Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision’ - our upcoming masterclass for supervisors, team leaders and managers across the mental health, community and family services, child safety and OoHC sectors, particularly those working in leadership roles, group private practices, and in the trauma field.

Join us online on the 3rd of September. Learn more and register here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/3whb65ki/checkout

If you’re working through a trauma informed lens, you want to be leading this way as well.Whether you’re in community se...
08/08/2026

If you’re working through a trauma informed lens, you want to be leading this way as well.

Whether you’re in community services, child protection, family support, or out of home care, the way you lead impacts not just your team, but the clients and communities you serve.

A supervisor who leads with emotional intelligence creates a culture of safety, trust and resilience, which is essential in high-pressure, trauma-exposed workplaces.

A dysregulated leader creates a dysregulated team, but an emotionally intelligent leader fosters stability, safety and care.

**THERAPIST REFLECTION PROMPT**
How do you create a culture of safety, trust and resilience within your team?

Ready to become an emotionally intelligent leader? Join me online for ‘Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision’ on 3rd September.

Learn more and register here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/3whb65ki/checkout

Have you registered for our masterclass: Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to super...
06/08/2026

Have you registered for our masterclass: Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision?

The key learning objectives for this supervision and leadership masterclass include:
👉🏻 Understand the role of neuroscience and brain-based supervision practices in promoting competency-based learning of supervisees
👉🏻 Identify the stages, phases and processes of professional and therapist development
👉🏻 Understand how a supervisee’s perception of safety enables learning through the application of interpersonal neuroscience principles
👉🏻 Conceptualise and apply the SCARF model of neuroleadership in a range of supervisory relationships, processes and situations, and approaches for managing these
👉🏻 Participate in reflective and experiential activities to enhance integration of theory to practice, and awareness of how these can also be used with supervisees

Earlybird rates end tonight, so register now.

This is both a PsyBA-approved Masterclass AND a general CPD opportunity for psychologists who are not a PsyBA-Approved supervisor, and supervisors/leaders/managers from other professions (e.g. Social Work, Counselling, Play Therapy etc.) and settings (e.g. CSS, NGOs, Family Services etc.).

Learn more and register here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/3whb65ki/checkout

Our upcoming ‘Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision’ masterclass is an i...
05/08/2026

Our upcoming ‘Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision’ masterclass is an interesting neuroscience take.

It’s a unique take on supervision and a beautiful, congruent fit if you’re a trauma-based service, or are supporting clinicians who work with children and families who have experienced trauma.

This is both a PsyBA-approved Masterclass AND a general CPD opportunity for psychologists who are not a PsyBA-Approved supervisor, and supervisors/leaders/managers from other professions (e.g. Social Work, Counselling, Play Therapy etc.) and settings (e.g. CSS, NGOs, Family Services etc.).

Learn more and register here: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/3whb65ki/checkout

‘Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision’ is both a PsyBA-approved Masterc...
04/08/2026

‘Balancing the Tightrope: A brain-based, relationship-oriented approach to supervision’ is both a PsyBA-approved Masterclass AND a general CPD opportunity.

If you lead a team - whether that’s in a private practice setting, or an NGO or a government child and family service - this masterclass is a unique perspective on navigating the nuances that often play out within a workplace and within internal supervisory arrangements.

And - of course - it’s also open to other supervisors who may be supervising a clinician who works in a team-based setting. This will allow you to gain insights about potential threats or stressors that might be underneath particular concerns that your supervisee brings to you in supervision.

Learn more and register now: https://psychologyandplay.mykajabi.com/offers/zU8JDuYj/checkout

Address

Hobart, TAS

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 4pm
Tuesday 8am - 4pm
Wednesday 8am - 4pm
Thursday 8am - 4pm
Friday 8am - 4pm

Telephone

+61361693104

Website

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