The Play Therapies Centre Ltd

The Play Therapies Centre Ltd Helping children resolve their problems through therapeutic play. The Play Therapies Centre is run by a team of highly skilled and dedicated professionals.

Together we have over 30 years combined experience of Teaching, Youth & Community Work, Child Development, Clinical psychology and Social Work as well as all being qualified to Post Graduate level in Non-Directive Play Therapy and are registered with Play Therapy International and the Academy of Play And Child Psychotherapy (APAC). We have 3 centres:
Belfast - Wellington Park, Malone Road
Derry -

Garden of Reflection on Pump Street
Newry - Hill Street

At The Play Therapies Centre we believe that each child is special and unique. We are passionate about helping and supporting children to grow and progress from being anxious, withdrawn or hostile to becoming more confident, content and satisfied with themselves and their environments.

👰‍♀️🥰Emergency office memo: The best partner in crime is officially off the market! 🚨💍✨​Lisa, seeing you walk down the a...
20/08/2026

👰‍♀️🥰Emergency office memo: The best partner in crime is officially off the market! 🚨💍✨
​Lisa, seeing you walk down the aisle later today will be amazing, mostly because it means free cake and an excuse to party. Seriously though, I couldn’t be happier for you both. Thank you for making work feel less like work and more like a comedy show. Cheers to the happy couple! 🥂🎉

Did you catch the Channel 4 documentary The Great ADHD Myth? Last night? 📺🧠​It’s sparked a massive national conversation...
19/08/2026

Did you catch the Channel 4 documentary The Great ADHD Myth? Last night? 📺🧠

​It’s sparked a massive national conversation about the sharp rise in ADHD diagnoses and what’s driving it. While valid questions are being raised about stretched healthcare systems, modern lifestyles, and the pressures of today's fast-paced world, it's also reignited an important debate about the medical validity of ADHD itself.

​For the millions of adults and children living with it, ADHD is very real—it’s rooted in neurology, brain structure, and genetics, not just "too much screen time" or a lack of discipline.

ADHD is not a myth. It is a globally recognized, well-evidenced neurodevelopmental condition backed by major medical and scientific organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Psychiatric Association (APA), and the UK's National Health Service (NHS).

Dismissing it as a myth or a trend can add to the stigma and make it even harder for people to access the support they genuinely need.

For individuals who live with it, ADHD is not merely a preference or a reaction to smartphones; it is a chronic condition that impacts executive functioning, emotional regulation, and daily life across all environments (home, work, and school), not just in restrictive classrooms.

Advocacy groups have criticized the phrasing of programs like Channel 4’s as "manufacturing doubt". They argue that casting doubt on the legitimacy of ADHD increases public stigma, invalidates the daily struggles of neurodivergent people, and can discourage individuals from seeking necessary medical help.

While the producers and presenter argued that the intent was to scrutinize stretched healthcare systems and the pressures of modern life, the consensus from the neurodivergent community was that labeling a recognized disability with the word "myth" caused tangible real-world harm. ​If a broadcaster aired a show questioning whether cancer or diabetes were just "modern lifestyle trends" or "labels invented to medicate people," it would be met with immediate universal condemnation for medical malpractice and reckless endangerment.
​So why does this double standard happen with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions like ADHD?

I"m left wondering today about media narratives like this documentary and government welfare scrutiny. Its likely they are deeply linked, feeding into the same broader political and cultural conversations about spending, public services, and personal responsibility.


mmmmm...what"s your thoughts 🤔

#ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ

ADHD "Hot Potato"🔥🔥🔥August is supposed to be about shiny new shoes, crisp notebooks, and fresh starts. But for families ...
18/08/2026

ADHD "Hot Potato"🔥🔥🔥

August is supposed to be about shiny new shoes, crisp notebooks, and fresh starts. But for families and teachers navigating ADHD, the start of a new school year feels entirely different.

​Right now, stomachs are turning with dread in every corner of our community—and everyone is bracing to catch the ADHD "hot potato" of fear, shame, and judgment:

Shame is a contagion. When it has nowhere to go and no safe place to land, it gets passed around like a burning hot potato—and everyone in the circle is getting burned.

​Look at how the cycle moves:

🔥​The School/Teacher feels the intense pressure of performance metrics, lack of resources, and the fear of losing control of the classroom. They feel judged, so that fear gets passed down as rigidity, frustration, or labels ("Your child is disruptive," or "They just need to try harder").

🔥​ We as parents catch that hot potato of judgment, and it instantly transforms into fear and self-blame. We carry it home, lying awake at night wondering, "What is wrong with me? Am I failing my child?"

🔥​Our child absorbs the ultimate weight of it. They bear the brunt of the dysregulation, the exhaustion of masking all day, and the quiet internalization of the message: "I am broken. I am the problem." And when they finally break down at home, they throw the hot potato right back out in a meltdown or an outburst.

​Everyone is terrified. Everyone feels scrutinized. And everyone is trying desperately to protect themselves from feeling like a failure.
​How Do We Drop the Potato? 🥔

​We can't stop the burning 🔥until we stop catching and passing the shame.

Breaking this cycle requires radical empathy across the board:

💛​Realizing we are all on the same team: The teacher isn't the enemy; the parent isn't the enemy; the child definitely isn't the enemy. The systemic lack of support and the stigma around neurodiversity are the real enemies.

💛​Creating a culture of confession, not perfection: When a teacher can say, "I’m overwhelmed and I messed up today," and a parent can say, "I am completely out of my depth right now," the shame loses its power.

💛​Holding space instead of holding judgment: When someone hands you the hot potato of their frustration or fear, refuse to catch it. Instead, pause and ask: "What is underneath this pain right now?"
​When we stop passing the shame around, we can finally set it down. And in that empty space, true collaboration, healing, and understanding can finally begin. 💙

Art - the magic yellow bus

​

Is your child resisting your boundaries? Good news: you are doing something right! ​As exhausting as the daily power str...
17/08/2026

Is your child resisting your boundaries?

Good news: you are doing something right!

​As exhausting as the daily power struggles, negotiations, and meltdowns can be, pushing back against limits is a very normal—and healthy—sign of child development.
​Here is why that resistance is actually a positive indicator:

⭐️​You have actual boundaries: Kids can’t test limits that don’t exist. If they are pushing back, it means you’ve set clear expectations.

⭐️​They are building independence: Testing boundaries is how kids figure out where they end and you begin. They are practicing autonomy and learning to be their own people.

⭐️​They feel safe with you: Children push the hardest against the people they trust the most. Home is their safe space to vent frustration and let out big emotions.

⭐️​It builds critical thinking: When they argue or ask "Why?", they are learning to analyze rules rather than just blindly obeying.

Resistance doesn't mean your parenting is failing. When you hold the line with love, empathy, and consistency, you're teaching them resilience—even if they scream about it. 💛

​

"Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is...
16/08/2026

"Everyone carries a shadow, and the less it is embodied in the individual's conscious life, the blacker and denser it is... liable to burst forth suddenly in a moment of unawareness."
— Carl Jung

Artist unknown

Creativity is an act of SURVIVAL. When early humans faced a hostile environment, we didn't wait thousands of years to ev...
16/08/2026

Creativity is an act of SURVIVAL.

When early humans faced a hostile environment, we didn't wait thousands of years to evolve; we invented fire, engineered shelter, and built tools.

Creativity is real-time adaptation.

​On an internal level, it’s how we survive grief, trauma, and chaos. When life shatters around us, art, writing, music, and imagination give our pain a shape we can finally carry.

It takes the invisible weight inside our minds and turns it into something manageable.

​To create is to declare that the present reality is not the final word.

It’s the ultimate human refusal to simply endure existence—we are here to shape it.

​What are you building, writing, or imagining today? 👇

Art by Survival | Valerie Simms - Clarendon Fine Art
​

Reframing Autism: Stimming & Routines 💛​Let’s look at two DSM traits through a trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirmin...
14/08/2026

Reframing Autism: Stimming & Routines 💛

​Let’s look at two DSM traits through a trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming lens:
​✨ Stereotyped or Repetitive Behaviours: (Stimming & Echolalia)
The medical world sees hand-flapping, rocking, or repeating words as symptoms to be stopped.

​However, these are totally natural ways human nervous systems self-soothe and express joy!


Fidgeting, pacing, and humming are things everyone does. For our kids, stimming is a healthy, joyful outlet—not a behaviour to correct.

​✨ Insistence on Sameness (Routines & Predictability)
​The medical view - A need for routine is seen as "rigid" or
"stubborn."

An ​affirming view is that routines are a vital protective shield for all humans. Autistic brains take in massive amounts of sensory input, and predictability helps lower daily overwhelm. Just like anyone leaning on a comforting schedule during a stressful week, routines help our kids feel safe in a world that isn't always built for their senses.

www.theplaytherapiescentre.co.uk

Sinead – Clinical Director & Senior Accredited Play Therapist​Sinead is the Clinical Director and a senior Accredited IF...
05/08/2026

Sinead – Clinical Director & Senior Accredited Play Therapist

​Sinead is the Clinical Director and a senior Accredited IFS Play Therapist in our North West Centre based in Derry.
​In her therapeutic work with children, Sinead creates a nurturing environment of warmth, acceptance, empathy, and genuine regard for all her clients, which she believes creates a safe space for them to psychologically heal.

Sinead is committed to forming trusting, supportive therapeutic relationships with parents that honour their vital role and the sanctity of the parent-child bond. By helping families find their balance and health, children are able to reach their vast potential.

For over the last twenty years, Sinead’s experience has been working with children who have severe social, emotional, or behavioural difficulties. This work has allowed Sinead to gain extensive experience collaborating with statutory agencies within health trusts and education boards, as well as various voluntary organisations across Northern Ireland.

​Therapeutic Parenting: Alongside her clinical work with children, Sinead has twenty years of experience running therapeutic parenting programmes for both individuals and groups. She most recently has been commissioned to run parents programs via statutory and community organisations.

​Sinead is also qualified in various complementary therapies that she incorporates into her work with children and families, driven by a deep understanding of the roots of trauma and the mind-body connection.

​Internal Family Systems (IFS) Integration-
​Sinead is IFS Level 1 trained, bringing an extraordinary depth and transformative dimension to her practice. Internal Family Systems (IFS) is an evidence-based, compassionate therapeutic approach that views the mind as naturally multiple. This model helps children and parents understand their inner parts—such as protective patterns, emotional burdens, and vulnerable young parts—with profound curiosity and self-compassion.
​
By integrating IFS Level 1 training into her play therapy and family work, Sinead helps clients access their innate "Self-energy." This allows for deep, lasting healing of core wounds and trauma, moving beyond symptom management to genuine emotional integration and inner harmony.

For more information or to book your child in with Sinead contact us on 028 90 923337.

www.theplaytherapiescentre.co.uk

In Internal Family Systems (IFS), we learn that our inner "parts" don’t always use adult words—they speak through our se...
04/08/2026

In Internal Family Systems (IFS), we learn that our inner "parts" don’t always use adult words—they speak through our senses. They might show up as the image of a younger self, an inner critic's sharp voice, or even a sudden smell from the past.
​When you look at this through the lens of Play Therapy, it makes total sense: play is the natural language of these parts.
​Instead of just talking about our feelings, expressive modalities like sandtrays, art, puppets, and miniatures give our internal system a physical room to play in. A scared little animal figure can represent an exiled vulnerable part, while a fierce action figure might embody a protector.
​By letting our parts "play" and externalize safely, we can finally listen to what they've been trying to tell us all along. 🎨🧸✨
​

If you find yourself facing an old pattern, an old memory, or a familiar challenge today—remember this: You are not star...
04/08/2026

If you find yourself facing an old pattern, an old memory, or a familiar challenge today—remember this: You are not starting over from scratch. You are meeting it with everything you’ve learned, grown, and survived since the last time.

​Growth isn't a straight line; it's a spiral. And every loop brings a wiser, stronger version of you. 🌿

​What’s a lesson or tool you have now that the past version of you needed? 👇

Address

Office 5, 3 Wellington Park Business Centre
Belfast
BT126EE

Telephone

+442890923337

Website

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