Nourish Play Therapy

11/11/2025

10/11/2025

Change is not achieved only by reinforcing strengths. It also requires engagement with disowned material; integrating the sides of ourselves we tend to avoid: blind spots, shadows, patterns under stress.

09/11/2025

06/11/2025

In Play Therapy, we know that children communicate through their play — their feelings, worries and needs are often expressed symbolically rather than in words. When adults slow down, listen, and playfully connect, we give children the safety they need to share what’s really going on beneath the behaviour.

🧩 Shouting often happens when we feel unheard.
🎨 Play invites calm, understanding and repair.
💬 Through attuned play, trust and communication grow — without a single word needing to be raised.

Let’s use today to pause, notice, and respond with empathy rather than volume.
Because when a child feels heard, they no longer need to shout to be understood. 💛

04/11/2025

Play Therapy recognises exactly this.
Children’s play can often appear messy, chaotic or even confusing — but beneath it lies a profound process of communication and healing.

Through play, children express what they cannot yet put into words. A BAPT Registered Play Therapist ®️ provides the safe space, patience, and skilled attunement needed to help a child make sense of their experiences, regain control, and begin to heal.

True therapeutic play isn’t about directing a child — it’s about trusting them to lead their own process, at their own pace. That’s where growth happens. 💛

30/10/2025

29/10/2025

In Play Therapy, we understand that meaningful change unfolds gradually, within the safety of a consistent and trusting therapeutic relationship.

Children need to go at their own pace. When we follow the child, we honour their readiness and create the safety they need to explore their inner world. Going at the child’s pace allows them to process experiences — including trauma — while maintaining a safe psychological distance.

Real growth doesn’t happen under pressure; it happens when a child feels safe enough to take small, manageable steps towards healing.

A Play Therapist’s role is to hold space, to wait, and to trust the process. 🌿

29/10/2025

27/10/2025

20/10/2025

Thank you to for highlighting PANS and PANDAS in their blog on classroom wellbeing

It’s so important that teachers and school staff understand how these conditions can affect children day to day. Raising awareness like this helps make schools more supportive and informed places for families navigating PANS and PANDAS.

Read the blog here https://www.twinkl.co.uk/blog/pans-pandas-and-classroom-wellbeing

20/10/2025

Why the Vagus Nerve Matters in Play Therapy ⚛️ If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed, anxious, or emotionally activated during a play therapy session —you’re not alone.

It happens because we feel with our clients.

And when a child’s nervous system is activated, ours naturally responds.

But here’s the key—how we regulate ourselves in those moments matters.

And that’s where the vagus nerve comes in.

In our nervous system, we have two main branches:
🔹 The Sympathetic System – The part that revs us up (fight/flight).
🔹 The Parasympathetic System – The part that slows us down (rest/digest).

The vagus nerve lives within the parasympathetic system—specifically, in the ventral vagus branch.

✨ Its job? To help regulate our arousal states—whether we are escalating (hyperarousal) or shutting down (hypoarousal).

Why Does the Vagus Nerve Matter in Play Therapy?

Because in play therapy, our nervous system is constantly interacting with the child’s nervous system.

We sit with their:
💥 Activation
💥 Emotional overwhelm
💥 Fear, sadness, rage, confusion

And in doing so, we feel it, too.

Without an ability to regulate through the vagus nerve, we risk:
❌ Staying stuck in activation alongside the child
❌ Feeling overwhelmed, drained, or anxious after sessions
❌ Losing access to the spaciousness needed for co-regulation

Here’s the essential piece—we cannot co-regulate a child unless we can regulate ourselves.

When we learn how to activate our vagus nerve, we:
✔️ Stay connected to ourselves in heightened moments
✔️ Create a sense of safety for the child to anchor into
✔️ Hold a steady presence, allowing the child to move through their activation

The more regulated we are, the more we become the child’s external regulator—offering them a way back to themselves.

An Invitation—Explore Your Own Vagal Regulation

If this is new to you—or if you want to deepen your understanding—I invite you to explore:
🌿 How do you activate your vagus nerve?
🌿 What practices help you regulate when you’re activated?
🌿 How does your ability to regulate impact your clients?

Because knowing how to engage your own vagus nerve isn’t just about self-care—it’s about becoming a more attuned, grounded, and effective therapist.

Much love on the journey 💜

Lisa