Beyond Play
Welcome to our play therapy center which focuses on helping children, adolescents, and adults by allowing them to express their thoughts and feelings through the natural language of play.
Our Environment
This special therapy office combines play and art elements through the use of toys, miniatures, and art supplies. Each office while identical, has its own theme catering to a nurturing enviorment filled with play and self-discovery.
Our Services
- Play Therapy
- Art Therapy
- Sand Tray Therapy
- Creative Visualizations
- Dramatherapy
- Puppets & Masks
- Dance & Movement
- Clay & Playdough
Who Does it Benefit?
Play Therapy is effective for a wide range of concerns:
Emotional difficulties such as aggression, depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, and withdrawal.
Behavioral problems
Developmental difficulties such as sleep problems, poor communication, and trouble with food
Learning disabilities
Loss or bereavement
Separation/Divorce
Problems with socializing
Developmental Trauma
Play Therapy also helps in benefiting older children, adolescents, and adults who are having emotional difficulties.
Grow Through Play
Play therapy helps individuals:
Take responsibility for their behaviors and develop more succesfull strategies
Experience and express emotions
Cultivate empathy and respect towards self and others
Learn new social skills and relational skills
Uncover trauma and past experiences
Develop self-efficacy
Find new and creative solutions to problems
Play Therapy for Children
Encourages use of language
Improves fine and gross motor skills
Useful for coping with anxiety, stress, anger, and challenging behaviors
Helps children who struggle to communicate because of developmental delays, ADHD, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Provides a safe place for children to express themselves and feel heard
Helps children build self-esteem
Encourages problem-solving skills
Learn coping mechanisms
Emotional healing
Improves social skills
Play Therapy for Adolescents
Taking more responsibility for certain behaviors
Developing coping strategies and creative problem-solving skills
Self-respect
Empathy and respect for others
Alleviation of anxiety
Learning to fully experience and express feelings
Stronger social skills
Stronger family relationships
Play Therapy for Adults
While play is crucial for a child’s development, it is also beneficial for people of all ages.
Play Therapy for adults can:
Add joy to life
Relieve stress
Supercharge learning
Heal emotions
Uncover trauma
Connect you to others and the world around you
Help self-identify behaviors and patterns
Improve relationships
Develop social skills
Play and laughter perform an essential role in building strong, healthy relationships by bringing people closer together, creating a positive bond, and resolving conflict and disagreements.
Free Play
Free play or also called unstructured play benefits all areas of development. It provides individuals with the freedom to explore, create, and discover without predetermined rules or guidelines. It’s been shown to foster cognitive development while boosting physical development and social and emotional development. It specifically helps creativity and imagination, problem-solving abilities and social skills.
The benefits:
Promotes important life skills
Encourages problem-solving
Supports healthy development
Increases physical activity
Promotes autonomy, independence, and self-confidence
Enhances social interactions with others
Teaches coping skills
Fosters navigation skills
Why play? The animal and human connection
The more animal and human play has been studied, the more frequently it has been discovered that there is no real gap between us. We share playfulness. We like to chase, rough and tumble, climb, play games, collect treasures… and so do many playful animals. Common patterns exist, and emotionally an uplifting union of play spirits when observed in animal play. Therefore, the urge to play is not a strictly learned behavior, flowing from “higher centers” but rather reflects a deep instinctive fundamental need. Our human subcortical brain is virtually identical with other playful mammals and play comes from deep centers, and nourishes higher centers as part of our essential biological design. Play allows a new landscape of science to better understand in how many ways play behavior enriches us humans. Play and playfulness need to be honored, not only in developmental infant and childhood eras, but for us humans throughout all of our life cycle.
Where Healing Begins…
Life must be lived as play ~ Plato
Articles to Explore
The Secret Power of Play
The following story is excerpted from TIME’s special edition, The Science of Childhood, which is available in stores, at the TIME Shop and at Amazon. Nothing is as natural as a child at play. After a month of little more than eating and sleeping,...
The Power of Play: Insightful Perspectives from Dr. Jaak Panksepp
The Power of Play Perspectives from Dr. Jaak Panksepp Beyond Healing Counseling. A neuroscientist and psychobiologist.
Get in touch
Location: 14845 S. Founders Crossing, Homer Glen, IL 60491
Telephone: (708) 737-7968
Email: [email protected]
Office Hours: By appointment!