4
PLAY THERAPISTS
60 min
SESSIONS
$150
SELF-PAY RATE
Free
15-MINUTE CALL
Children Don't Have the Words Yet
Ask a seven-year-old what is wrong and you will usually get "I don't know." That is not avoidance. The part of the brain that puts feelings into words is still being built, and it is the first thing to go offline when a child is upset.
Play is the language they already have. Give a child a sand tray, a dollhouse and a box of figures, and the thing they cannot say gets built on the floor in front of you.
A trained play therapist knows how to read what is being built, and how to help a child practice a different ending.
How Play Therapy Works
A play therapist does more than play. The room is set up on purpose. The toys are chosen because they invite certain themes. The routine is the same every week and so is the adult on the floor paying close attention.
The child leads. The therapist follows, names what she sees, and helps the child practice something new. Staying with a hard feeling a few seconds longer. Asking for help. Letting a story end a different way than it did in real life.
Parents are part of the plan from the first session. You will know what we are working on and what to try at home. Your child spends an hour a week with us and the rest of the week with you.
What Play Therapy Helps With
Here is where we use it.
Anxiety and worry. Children who freeze, cling, ask the same question ten times or cannot get to sleep.
Trauma and scary events. Accidents, medical procedures, loss, violence. Anything a child has no frame for yet.
Big behavior. Meltdowns, aggression and defiance. Usually a nervous system with no room left, not a bad kid.
Attachment and adoption. Building safety with a caregiver, often alongside TBRI work.
Grief and family change. Death, divorce, two homes, a move away from everything familiar.
School and friendship trouble. Perfectionism, refusing to walk in the door, falling out with friends.
What a Play Therapy Session Looks Like
You check in with the therapist for a few minutes, then your child goes into the playroom for the rest of the hour. Some weeks that is a sand tray. Some weeks it is a puppet show, a board game with rules the child invents, or drawing while they talk about nothing in particular.
From the doorway it rarely looks like progress. It usually is.
Most children need somewhere between twelve and twenty sessions, though it depends on what brought you in. You get regular parent check-ins so you are not guessing, and we will tell you when we think you are done.
Common Questions About Play Therapy
Play is how the work happens, not a break from it. The therapist is tracking themes, choosing what to reflect back, and building skills into what looks from the outside like an ordinary hour with toys.
Roughly three to twelve. Younger than three and we usually work with the parent and child together. Older than twelve and most kids do better with talk therapy, though not always.
Sometimes yes, especially with younger children or when the work is about your relationship. Other times your child goes in alone and you get time with the therapist before or after. We decide that with you.
Yes. You get regular parent check-ins and you will hear what we are seeing and what to try at home. Children still need some privacy for the work to feel safe, so we talk in themes rather than transcripts.
Questions About Our Services
Yes. We accept Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, DMBA, EMI, PEHP, Select Health, UMR, United Healthcare and University of Utah plans, and TRICARE is coming soon. Participation varies by clinician, so we check your plan before your first session.
Our self-pay rate is $150 for a 60 minute session, the same for every therapist on the team.
That is what the free 15 minute call is for. Tell us what has been going on and we will tell you who fits, which approach we would start with, and when that person can see you.