Passionate Occupational Therapy service in Leeds working with children, young people & their family ✨
29/11/2025
"Parents threatened and blamed by authorities as 1,000 adopted children returned to care"
A hard read on BBC News yesterday. Children in care have often experienced significant trauma, which means the entire care system needs to be trauma-informed including social workers, foster carers and potential adoptees. Children and families who are not offered essential support are being massively let down, with often heart-wrenching consequences.
Warning: our therapists are art critics in disguise! 🎨Kat currently has a prolific artist in the Treehouse and as you can see - she's fantastic! We would love to cover an entire wall with artwork. Please bring your pictures in to sessions or send them to us via our socials. They really brighten our day!
24/11/2025
We hope you all had a relaxing weekend. It can be particularly hard to prioritise self-care and well-being at this time of year, party season is well and truly upon us!
Here are some things we like to consider before attending a potentially overstimulating party/event -
🏃♀️🪜🌳 Prioritise getting outside or doing some exercises before an event. Climbing at the playground, digging in the garden and wall/floor push-ups all help regulate the sensory system.
🔊 Communicate your needs with the host beforehand. Many people now ask on invite but everybody wants a successful event and for everybody to enjoy themselves so don't feel uncomfortable asking for support.
🎧👓 Pack a sensory kit to help when you're there. Headphones, sunglasses, fidget and chew toys and small weighted items.
👚👖 Choose comfortable clothing, layering to manage temperature. Comfort is key!
🥪🍎 Take your own food
⭐️ Plan a shorter visit. It's ok to attend for a shorter duration. A shorter, successful attendance is still a success!
Normalise saying "no". It's ok to decline some invites without feeling guilty.
💡And remember - when considering your child's needs, also consider your own. If you are feeling dysregulated because you're tired or hungry, there is little chance of you supporting your child's regulation. Be kind to yourself ❤️
22/11/2025
Our first newsletter 📰 will be going out at the end of this month. It will be packed full of sensory friendly Christmas 🎄 ideas and JTT news and views. This quarterly publication will be emailed to our mailing list. If you'd like it sending straight to your inbox, please email - hello@junipertreetherapy.com or message us on our socials.
18/11/2025
❄️The temperature has dropped and it's time to get the big coat out. For some children, especially those with sensory processing differences, winter clothing can feel scratchy, heavy, or restrictive. The good news? With a few simple strategies, you can make the colder months much easier for everyone.❄️
☆Start early
Introduce hats, gloves and scarves before the cold weather sets in properly. Begin with just a few minutes at home and slowly increase wear time.
☆Offer fabric choices
Let your child choose between textures like fleece, cotton, or wool blends. Look for seamless designs to reduce irritation.
☆Layer with favourites
Use a comfortable base layer (like a favourite T-shirt or leggings) under winter clothing to create a "buffer" between skin and rough fabrics.
☆Make it fun
Turn dressing into a game - such as "snowman dress-up"☃️or set a challenge to see who can put on their scarf the fastest.
☆Warm up the senses
Encourage participation in a proprioceptive activity such as animal walks, wall pushes, or carrying something heavy before dressing. This can help to regulate their nervous system and make clothing sensations easier to tolerate.
☆Go step by step
If wearing everything at once is overwhelming, try one item at a time and build up. For example, start with a hat, then add gloves, then coat, until the full outfit feels manageable.
💡Top Tip: Praise small wins and keep the atmosphere positive. Progress is progress, no matter how small
16/11/2025
So many events happening for under 5's during the rest of Baby Week 2025.
12/11/2025
11/11/2025
Help us wish the wonderful Lauren a Happy Birthday! 🎉
May your day be full of coffee, cake (thank you, Kat, for another delicious bake!), and all the treats you deserve! ☕🍰✨
10/11/2025
Power For Good is the theme for this year's antibullying week.
The campaign hopes to encourage children to speak out, support others, and build a world where kindness wins.
As sensory integration therapists , we believe that individuality is key! However, sometimes we know that being unique can make people a target for bullies.
The goal of SI therapy is not to change an individual to fit a "standard" model, but to help them adapt their environment, develop coping strategies and ultimately thrive as their authentic self!
08/11/2025
C and his mum have been coming to see Kat since September. Lots of proprioceptive and vestibular input helps C find the optimum calm-alert state, meaning Kat could take the opportunity to read a book from the Scared Gang series.
Each book is an introduction to a different character and today it was Wary Wanda's turn.
Frightened Fred, Run-Away Ronnie, Busy Beatrice, Fired-up Freda, Frozen Frank, Frozen Florence, Day-Dreamy Derek and Sleepy Sue - if we were all to stop and think, I think we can all identify with elements of these characters at times.
06/11/2025
A huge thank you to Little Hiccups for visiting Juniper TreeHouse today and helping us plan our support for the year ahead.
Little Hiccups are an incredible charity whose openness, humour, and compassion shine through every time we connect. We’re so grateful for your time, your insights, and your willingness to “come and play” with us - here’s to an exciting year of collaboration ahead! 🌿✨
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Juniper Tree Therapy is a small team of Specialist Occupational Therapists based in Yorkshire. We support Children and Young People, along with their Families and Key Professionals. This might be at home, in schools, or in other settings.
Our team are MSc Occupational Therapists, registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC) and Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT). We are Advanced Sensory Integration (PGDip) and Sensory Attachment Intervention Practitioners. This means that we are trained to understand the sensory systems, motor development, cognitive development, and the sequence that this occurs in. We understand the impact of factors such as neurodevelopmental disorders, motor disorders, developmental trauma, or other factors which may impact on a child’s development.
We want to promote the foundations for play, learning, curiosity, and confidence, to engage in the challenges and rewards of everyday life, at any age. To do this, we consider each individuals’ needs, and those of the Family Members and Professionals who are a part of their life. We support the process of co-regulation and self-regulation as the underpinning for our ability to adapt to different situations.
We provide assessment, intervention, training and consultancy to support co-regulation with Key Adults. We consider enriched environments to meet their specific sensory and emotional regulation, and we consider meaningful occupations to promote the well-being of the Child and their Key Adult.
We accept referrals from Health Care Professionals, Social Care Departments, or Educational Professionals/ Local Authorities. Under some circumstances we also accept self-referrals.
Please feel free to email us for further information; we look forward to hearing from you!
