Play Heal Grow | child centred aust

Psychological Services
for children and caregivers

Melanie Jansen is a Registered Psychologist with AHPRA, a Registered Play Therapist with APTA, and a Board Approved Supervisor. play heal grow is a small, private space in Subiaco specifically set up for play therapy for children and work with families.

“My work and business are hugely important to me. It means a lot to me that my referrals are driven by word-of-mouth of my past work and interactions with families and other professionals. It is important to me as a professional but also as a daughter and mother, that every child and parent in my rooms feel that they are respected, supported and empowered.”

As a registered Medicare Provider, Melanie’s psychological services may be rebated under Medicare with appropriate GP referral. Private health insurance rebates may apply dependent on the health insurance provider and level of cover. Melanie is also able to provide services

claimable under NDIS.

About

FAMILY SERVICES

Families seek support for a range of emotional, behavioural, and relationship concerns.

Melanie aims to tailor a plan to suit each child and family’s unique needs, and to support them to work towards their goals.

CHILDREN as young as 3 years may benefit from play therapy.

ADOLESCENTS may benefit from counselling and integrative therapy using creative and expressive mediums. Melanie’s work draws from person-centred, narrative, cognitive behavioural and sand tray therapeutic modalities.

PARENTS may engage in sessions to better understand their child’s needs, to enhance their child’s emotional well-being, their relationship with their child, and their own confidence in parenting. Parents may also engage in Filial Therapy.

WHAT IS PLAY THERAPY?

Play therapy is a way to work therapeutically with children to uniquely suit their developmental needs.

Children lack the cognitive ability to meaningfully communicate their thoughts, feelings, and experiences through the abstract means of language. Concrete objects such as toys and play experiences provided in therapy allow children an emotionally safe way to express themselves.

Child Centred Play Therapy (CCPT) is a specific type of play therapy in which the child leads the way. The therapist focuses on the whole child (as opposed to the child’s problems) and develops a relationship with the child based on genuine acceptance, safety, and a deep respect for the child’s innate ability to work through their difficulties, heal, and grow if given the opportunity to do so.

Play therapy research over the past 30 years has found that humanistic play therapy (i.e. CCPT) has strong outcomes, and non-humanistic play therapy has moderate outcomes. Research has also found that greater outcomes occurred when parents were actively involved in their child's therapeutic process.