PARENT SESSION

Parent sessions are an ongoing part of the play therapy process for your child which allow you to hear my observations of their symptoms or behaviours and offer strategies that can help their progress if you implement changes at home, or in conjunction with their schools so we can work together outside of their therapy sessions to help support their healing journey. These are also available by request if certain challenging behaviour is leaving you stumped, or if you just want more support about how to build on what you’re already doing to help them we can book parent sessions more often if you would like.

Sometimes people even want to start with just parent sessions to see if adjustments at home or school can be made enough to help introduce new strategies that are enough to reduce the behaviours you’re seeing. There is so much information out there it is difficult to figure out what to even try that’s going to bring the results you’re seeking, so let us talk it through and find what fit works best for your family and parenting style. 

THE PROCESS:

We start here either in-person or virtually to discuss your child in-depth, review results of the intake assessments, and ask any additional questions about the play therapy process. If we choose to work together, we meet for the following sequence of sessions:

INTRODUCTORY SESSION: 1 x 50-minute Session Your child is meeting me for the first time, so the person bringing them to our first session comes in with you and we all talk together about what they can expect in the room including their right to confidentiality and its limits. Then your child and I introduce them to the play room and they spend the remainder of their time getting used to the play therapy room they will be in for their sessions.

BUILDING TRUST: 2 x 50-minute Sessions

WORKING PHASE: 4 x 50-Minute Sessions

PARENT/GUARDIAN CHECK IN: 1 x 50-minute Session: Now that I have met your amazing kiddo I have a check-in with their caregivers because I know you’re curious about what is happening in the sessions and may have more questions for me about the Play Therapy process, or how you can be helping at home in addition to their work in the sessions. These check-ins also review their assessments to have a concrete measure of their behaviours shifting too.

** Please note: For separated or divorced families where being in the same room, or on the same virtual parent session is not an option that is no problem, we just book an additional parent session so that you each have time to ask the questions you want and get suggestions of how to support your child in your individual homes. These are treated like counselling sessions where I do not share what you have asked me with the other party. I want each parent to feel safe asking the vulnerable parenting questions you need answered without fear.

Both parents need to consent to treatment or we cannot start therapy so to avoid rescheduling we wait to schedule their sessions until both parents/guardians have given written consent to treatment for every child under 12 unless there is a court order amending this requirement.

Expectations for “how long does it take?”: Therapy takes time. In order to get to the outcome you are hoping for which is to see your child get to their optimal quality of life and not need to return to therapy we need to help them get to what we call the empowerment stage. From the start I want you to know what you’re realistically looking at for your timeline to reach their full empowerment stage and be ready to get back to being a kid.

Minor anxiety and depression is 15 sessions. Based on a variety of factors such as diagnoses, support, environmental stressors, or complexity of their situation this timeline increases. From the initial assessment you complete, and we use as our ongoing measurement tool I can give you a better idea from our first parent session about what I foresee is a more accurate timeline for your child.