Play Matters Creative Therapy

29/11/2025

This terrifying advert is a powerful reminder to parents not to over-share details about their children on social media

29/11/2025

A meltdown isn’t a child “acting out” — it’s a nervous system in overload.
When you understand what’s happening inside the child, it becomes so much easier to meet them with steadiness instead of stress.

Today’s visual shares the Voice of a Child during a Meltdown — the things they wish they could say when their body and brain are overwhelmed.

If you’d like a deeper, brain-based breakdown of what happens before, during and after a meltdown, you’ll find it inside Timeline of a Meltdown — link in comments below ⬇️ or via Linktree Shop in Bio.

What’s one thing you wish you had known about meltdowns earlier?

25/11/2025

Time-in teaches the emotional skills that time-out simply can’t. When a child is overwhelmed, isolating them doesn’t build regulation — it removes the very support their nervous system needs to calm. Time-in keeps the adult close, offering safety, modelling coping strategies, and helping the child return to regulation with connection.

Today’s visual breaks down what time-in teaches, and why this approach supports long-term emotional resilience far more effectively than traditional time-out strategies.

For families looking to strengthen emotional skills at home, our Managing Big Feelings Toolkit is available via the link in comments below ⬇️ or through the Linktree Shop in Bio.

25/11/2025

Today we’re focusing on the difference between Time-Out and Time-In — two approaches that look similar on the surface but shape emotional development in completely different ways.

This simple truth sits at the heart of brain-based, connection-focused discipline. Regulation is taught through presence, not isolation — and today’s posts will explore exactly why.

23/11/2025

08/11/2025

08/10/2025

For more info, e-mail bonniebanks@southend.gov.uk or call 01702463927

02/10/2025

Coming soon. 8pm, BBC 1, 6th October.

30/09/2025

Dragging a child into school is not support.
It’s trauma.

Anyone who tells you to do this is actually harming the child physically and emotionally. As an adult, can you imagine if we did the same?

When a child refuses school, it’s rarely about defiance.

It’s EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance) - a nervous system overwhelmed by fear, anxiety or sensory overload. Forcing them through the gates doesn’t “build resilience.” It pushes them deeper into survival mode.

I know the pressure parents face: threats of fines, welfare checks, services insisting attendance must come first. But when a child is dragged in, their trust is broken. The message they receive is: your fear doesn’t matter.

And once that trust is gone, it can take years to repair.

We need to shift the focus:

✨ From compliance to connection.
✨ From punishment to understanding.
✨ From force to support.

Children don’t learn when they’re in fight, flight or freeze. They learn when they feel safe.

💭 Have you ever been pressured to physically force your child into school? What did you do instead? If you were made to do this, please go easy on yourself, you should never have been pressurised to do it in the first place!

I have a free guide on EBSA, just drop the word 'resource' below and I'll send you a link for more details...

24/09/2025

Wear it loud. Wear it proud. Wear yellow this World Mental Health Day.

Stand together with thousands of people to support young people’s mental health on Friday 10 October for .

This year, we've partnered with M&S to reach more people than ever before, in even more schools and workplaces across the country.

There are days when all of us struggle with how we feel, but for some young people, the pressures are building up. The world can be a tough place to grow up in right now, and when children and young people reach out for support, many don’t get the help they deserve.

That’s why matters.

No young person should feel alone with their mental health. Together, we can make sure they don’t have to.

By wearing yellow for Hello Yellow and donating what you can, you’re showing up for the young people in your life and letting them know that you are there, and things can get better.

Are you in?

01/09/2025

If your child is anxious about going back to school, here are some things you can do to support them and encourage them to talk about how they’re feeling.