Play Matters Creative Therapy

08/11/2025

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?

18/09/2025

09/09/2025

https://www.facebook.com/100064667502257/posts/1174296061402633/

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.

29/08/2025

Dive into the neuroscience behind anxiety and its associated behaviours. This session will provide you with tools, top tips, and tried-and-tested Thrive strategies for responding in ways that promote brain integration and emotional regulation.

28/08/2025

A teacher colleague providing tutoring

14/08/2025

In play therapy, we don’t see children as something to be “fixed.”
We listen to their stories, spoken and unspoken.

We witness their feelings, even the big and messy ones.

We walk alongside them, offering safety and support, as they heal in their own time.

Every step is theirs, we are simply there to hold the space.

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