Mariam Jensen, LCMFT, RPT - Joyful Heart Therapy, LLC

Mariam Jensen, LCMFT, RPT - Joyful Heart Therapy, LLC Mariam offers individual and family therapy to children and their families.

Mariam Jensen is a Licensed Clinical Marriage and Family Therapist (LCMFT), in the State of Kansas, and a Registered Play Therapist (RPT) with the Association for Play Therapy.

Every child carries something special inside them—something to give, and something they are still learning how to receiv...
03/25/2026

Every child carries something special inside them—something to give, and something they are still learning how to receive. In play therapy, I see this every day: in the way a child shares a toy, invites someone into their play, or offers a quiet smile when they finally feel safe and understood 🦋

When children are given space to play, they begin to discover their own strengths, their kindness, and their voice. And in those small, meaningful moments, they also learn that others have special gifts too. That’s where empathy, connection, and healing begin 💛

As an adult in their life, this is an invitation for you to continue creating spaces where children feel seen, valued, and free to be exactly who they are.

03/23/2026

Happy Monday 🙂
The world would have never been the same without YOU being in it 💛😊🦋 So continue spreading the kindness wherever you are and wherever you go 😉🌷

Healing doesn’t mean that the difficult time never took place —it helps us move forward without being controlled by it 🌅...
03/22/2026

Healing doesn’t mean that the difficult time never took place —it helps us move forward without being controlled by it 🌅

This is a reminder that even after difficult seasons, new light still rises. Healing often happens in quiet, connected moments—through safety, love, and being truly seen.

For children, having a consistent and caring adult beside them, through the therapeutic journey, makes all the difference as they learn that hard experiences are part of their story, but they don’t define their future 🦋

Do you remember using a Rotary Dial Telephone? ☎️ Well, I just built one as the newest addition to the Play Therapy Room...
02/15/2026

Do you remember using a Rotary Dial Telephone? ☎️ Well, I just built one as the newest addition to the Play Therapy Room! Nostalgia in a picture 😊



“Play is the highest form of research.” Albert Einstein Sometimes my work looks like playing in the sand tray, playing w...
02/13/2026

“Play is the highest form of research.” Albert Einstein

Sometimes my work looks like playing in the sand tray, playing with different toys, and discovering different meanings through miniature figurines…
But what’s really happening for the child is healing, connection, and growth 🧠💛

This is what I love the most about being a Child-Centered Play Therapist 💛 Children don’t always have the words for big feelings—but through play, they tell their stories, process their experiences, and discover their own strengths in ways that feel safe and natural to them.

Play is not “just play.”
It’s communication.
It’s emotional regulation.
It’s meaning-making of difficult situations.
It’s where change and healing begins for children✨

I’m so grateful and honored to do the work I do, that honors children exactly where they are—and to witness the incredible things that happen when children are given space to be themselves and speak out their feelings through play 🧸💛

I’ll be posting more about the Play Therapy field, and the History of Play Therapy, in the near future! Stay tuned 🙂 Play well, everyone!






“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Pla...
02/11/2026

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” - Fred Rogers

Play therapy is more than a collection of techniques—it is a developmentally responsive, relationship-centered approach to supporting children’s emotional and neurological growth. Throughout the International Play Therapy Week 2026, we explored together how play serves as a child’s primary language, how symbolic expression supports emotional processing, and how safe, attuned relationships foster regulation and healing.

For children, play therapy provides a space where emotional experiences can be explored at a pace their nervous systems can tolerate—without pressure to explain, perform, or verbalize before they are ready. Therapeutic progress often unfolds gradually and non-linearly, reflecting deeper processes of integration, regulation, and attachment.

Caregivers play an essential role in this work. When adults are supported in understanding the emotional meaning behind behavior, children benefit from greater safety, consistency, and connection across environments. Healing happens not only in the playroom, but within relationships that extend into daily life.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about how Play Therapy supports children’s emotional well-being, through the “Why Play Therapy?” series, in the International Play Therapy Week 2026!


The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 8 – Understanding the Non-linear Nature of HealingNeurobiological healing is NOT l...
02/08/2026

The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 8 – Understanding the Non-linear Nature of Healing

Neurobiological healing is NOT linear. As children process through their emotional experiences, fluctuations in behavior, affect, and regulation are all expected and natural to happen. Moments of joy and playfulness, followed by withdrawal, or emotional intensity and dysregulation can all reflect active integration within the nervous system.

Recognizing these patterns helps Play Therapists and Parents/Caregivers remain grounded and supportive to the Child. Apparent regression may actually signal that deeper emotional reorganization and regulation is taking place beneath the surface, and this understanding may help the adults involved in the child’s life see the behaviors, or ‘big feelings’, in a different light💡

Sometimes things may appear to get worse, before they actually start to get better ❤️‍🩹


The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 7 – Caregivers as Partners in the Play Therapy JourneyChildren’s nervous systems a...
02/07/2026

The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 7 – Caregivers as Partners in the Play Therapy Journey

Children’s nervous systems are shaped within relationships, particularly with primary attachment figures, their parents/caregivers.

Good, Ethical, Practice in Play Therapy often includes regular and consistent caregivers/parents consultations and Family Therapy sessions with and/or without the child present, with the Registered Play Therapist™️, whenever possible and safe for the child, which are essential to extend regulation and attunement beyond the Play Therapy room.

When caregivers/parents understand the emotional and neurological reasoning behind the behavior, through the process of play therapy and understanding general Themes of Play, as well as receive the resources needed to help their children at home, responses shift from correction to connection. As a result, undesirable patterns of behavior can then be resolved. At other times, modalities of Play Therapy like Theraplay™️ Therapy can be utilized by a trained Theraplay™️ Therapist, to assist parents/caregivers and children in shifting Attachment Adaptations towards a more Secure Attachment, when Insecure Anxious, Insecure Avoidant or Disorganized Attachment adaptations are present.

This relational consistency between the child and the parents/caregivers supports neural integration and reinforces therapeutic gains, allowing children to experience safety and predictability in their daily environments, outside of the Play Therapy room.


The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 6 – Play Therapy and Emotional RegulationEmotional regulation develops through rep...
02/07/2026

The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 6 – Play Therapy and Emotional Regulation

Emotional regulation develops through repeated experiences of manageable emotional activation followed by successful return to baseline. Play Therapy provides a structured environment, where children can safely experience frustration, fear, excitement, and mastery while being supported through co-regulation, by the trained and experienced Registered Play Therapist™️.

Over time, these experiences strengthen neural circuits involved in self-soothing, impulse control, and flexible problem-solving. The result is not simply improved behavior, but increased internal capacity for emotional resilience across settings - This starts in the Play Therapy room, then extends to other settings.


I love this! 💛
02/06/2026

I love this! 💛

The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 5 – Development Shapes Emotional ExpressionChildren’s brains develop from the bott...
02/06/2026

The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 5 – Development Shapes Emotional Expression

Children’s brains develop from the bottom up, and from right brain to left brain, meaning emotional and sensory systems mature before language and logic. Expecting children to verbalize insight before these systems are fully developed can increase dysregulation and shutdown, and will just not work!

Play Therapy aligns with the brain and nervous system’s natural developmental sequencing by engaging non-verbal, experiential pathways first. As regulation and integration occur, higher-level cognitive and verbal capacities naturally emerge. This approach respects neurological readiness rather than forcing premature verbal processing.

In this way, Play Therapy is NOT talking while playing, and it’s NOT also about playing about a feeling or an experience in order to be able to ‘talk’ about this feeling or experience. The goal in Play Therapy is NOT talking, the goal is processing, even if without words. Play Therapy is fully effective even if the child does not utter a word while playing, because the child’s brain is still processing, internally, what the child is experiencing and is needing to have processed, in order for healing to occur. The trained and experienced Registered Play Therapist™️ understands themes of play in the Play Therapy Room, and what they mean, and is able to provide reflections and support to the child, and to the family, in order to bridge the gap between the developmental stage of the child, and the fully developed brain of the adult caring for them 💛


The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 4 – The Therapeutic Relationship is the Primary Healing Agent“The Relationship is ...
02/04/2026

The “Why Play Therapy?!” Series - Day 4 – The Therapeutic Relationship is the Primary Healing Agent

“The Relationship is the Therapy.” - Dr. Garry Landreth

Neurobiological research consistently identifies safe, attuned relationships as central to emotional healing. For children, the therapeutic relationship provides a regulated external nervous system, before internal regulation in their own nervous system is possible. Through consistent attunement, responsiveness, and acceptance, the Play Therapist supports co-regulation and fosters neural integration, which then aids the healing process.

This relational safety allows children’s stress-response systems to settle, creating the conditions necessary for exploration, emotional processing, and developmental growth. Healing occurs not through directive instruction, but through repeated experiences of being emotionally supported and understood. In that way, and as Lisa Dion states: “the therapist is the most important “toy” in the playroom”. A trained, experienced, and possibly also Registered Play Therapist™️ has the clinical expertise, training, and knowledge to form a trusting therapeutic relationship with the child, to facilitate the healing process, in an age and developmentally appropriate manner, and according to the unique needs of every child.


Address

2420 N Woodlawn Boulevard, Building 100, Suite K
Wichita, KS
67220

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

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