Changing Leaves Play Therapy

20/05/2025

The fawn response, is an aspect of our nervous system that we utilise for our survival.

What happens is our neuroception (a clever aspect of our higher brain structure), detects threat in the environment & signals DANGER. This results in our autonomic nervous system, mobilising for threat - it may do this through fight/ flight, but another option it may use is the Fawn response. I spoke more about this in a previous post last week if you’re interested to hear more.

Quite often, and i think particularly for women, we’ve had to fawn in our environment to survive & get through tricky times. In Western culture too, woman are supposed to be in the patriarchal mould of - quiet, subservient, meek, a yes person, which really goes hand in hand with the fawn response.

So what are some ways we can change this?

It’s ALL ABOUT getting you nervous system back on your side. This might look like:

✨Tuning into & knowing your nervous system state.

✨Inhabiting your body, & listening to the messages within.

✨Developing skills to safely anchor yourself to the present moment.

✨From a place of grounded safety, being able to acknowledge your wants & needs. What I mean here is that when you are in a survival response, you need to first come back to regulation - and once we have this, we can respond rather than react.

✨Meeting yourself with compassion, particularly as this is a tricky
survival response to beat! And remember you won’t likely get it right each time. I still fall into this pattern every now & then.

If you’d like to learn more My NURTURING YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM COURSE⚡️focuses on getting to deeply know your nervous system & empowering you with the resources to move out of survival mode.
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16/05/2025

28/09/2024

The power of good quality, related training is incredible!

Today I attended the Sunflower Networks Safeguarding and Child Protection in Private Practice training.

Having the opportunity to look at related scenarios to my field of work as well as within doing private practice and not having all the safeguarding systems that education has was very affirming to the systems I do have in place as well as stretching my understanding of Safeguarding within the Play Therapy setting as a private practitioner.

I now have a plan to take further Safeguarding Training to make my systems even more robust and safer for my kiddos, their families and myself.

As a play therapist I love working with kiddos and supporting and holding kiddos and there difficult experiences to help them understand, accept and manage those experience in a positive way.

19/07/2024

14/05/2024

When we think of emotions anger is always among the list but there is actually different stages of emotions. We only have anger when we are not safe in feeling sad or scared.

Story time:
I remember being in secondary school and had this wonderful teacher as my year group tutor. I felt safe, seen with her until she just disappeared there was no explanation as to where she went. I was devastated.

2 years later she comes back and has a new year group. I was so angry. I threw my bag at a wall repeatedly. All my friends were scared, they didn't understand what was going on. After a few days I got over it and moved on but when I saw her walking across the courtyard I was so angry. Years later and learning this piece of emotional knowledge the anger in fear and sadness bodyguard I was thrown back to this experience and could see how hurt and sad I actually felt but that I couldn't express because I didn't feel safe, I didn't have anyone that understood why I was so hurt, so sad.

I look back over many different experiences where I have felt angry and see that I was actually scared or sad.

01/05/2024

Just completed Beacon Houses Developmental Trauma course and it has given me a new perspective on working with children as an educator and therapist. There are so many misunderstood and misdiagnosed children out there, and I have always wanted to support them emotionally and with their mental health. Through this course, I gained a deeper understanding of trauma and its impact on children, and it has provided me with even more ways to work productively with and for them. Check out my website to learn more about how I'm helping children, parents, and educators understand trauma from the child's point of view.

Play Therapy Sessions in Nottingham. Changing Leaves Play Therapy is Play Therapy UK accredited. Information on why play therapy is right for your child. What play therapy is and how does it work. Specialist in Attachment and Trauma issues. Play Therapy Blog about what a play therapist does.

08/03/2024

So excited! Out at a Mother's Day Mingle for female business owners! So excited to network! Let's get Changing Leaves Play Therapy out there!!

22/02/2024

This is going to be a hard read but I think well worth the journey it will take me on to help understand the of this incredibly powerful brave women that went through unimaginable experiences but through therapeutic support is able to support others.

03/02/2024

I am conducting some research for a blog post. Thanks in advance.

01/02/2024

Last night I went to a wonderful event put on by NIDAS and Compass Art Therapy Charity. This charity helps domestic abuse survivors process, heal and become the incredible people they are.
Last night's event was an art exhibition of the survivors art work done while working with the wonderful art therapist Hatty.

It was a very powerful and moving exhibition exploring all stages of experience showing how vital and brilliant the support and work that NIDAS does.

Out of respect I did not take photos of the work to share but will carry the shared experiences through these people art into my work with children and families knowing that with the right support no one has to be a victim but can be a survivor.

27/01/2024

OUT OF ADVERSITY CAN COME SMALL BUT MIGHTY THINGS.

I noticed this tiny snowdrop this morning on my way to work. Unbelievably it is in the foot path having found a tiny home where it can have everything it needs.

Even a tiny change, space, or opening can be enough to provide what you need to be beautiful and mighty! 💮🌿