Play Therapy in Colorado | Support for Children & Teens

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Play Therapy

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How Play Therapy Works

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Experts view Play as children’s language and Play Therapy is used to help address childhood problems. Working with a skilled Play Therapist, children can work through difficult transitions in their lives by practicing skills and roles needed to grow. Play Therapy is particularly appropriate for children aged 3-12 years old, but those of any age can benefit, including adults and entire families.

What is Play Therapy and Who Is It For?

What You Can Expect

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

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Depending on your child’s age and presenting problem, it may seem like we are “just” playing in our sessions. However, your child’s therapist will use your child’s language of play to address the emotions underlying the behaviors that bring you to us.

What is Play Therapy and Who Is It For?

What You Can Expect

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

The play therapy process involves the therapist tracking your child’s emotions, emotional regulation, regulation of the nervous system, levels of tolerance for uncomfortable and distressing subjects and feelings, and other behaviors. Your child’s therapist will model and teach different skills and ways to help your child learn to regulate their nervous system, provide language to explain their feelings through this play therapy process.

What is Play Therapy and Who Is It For?

Who is Play Therapy For

What You Can Expect

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

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Our therapists use both non-directive and directive Play Therapy techniques to address the issues that bring each child into therapy. Toys, games, and other materials are hand-selected to serve a therapeutic purpose and encourage growth and learning. Art and Music are also used as avenues for growth. We facilitate the development of a strong and trusting therapeutic relationship with each child and parent and welcome input and collaboration from parents and other professionals.

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

What You Can Expect

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

You know your child better than anyone else, and there may be times that seeking the help of an outside ear can create a safe place for your child to explore and resolve conflicts. Courageous Counseling Colorado hopes to work with you and your child on your courageous journey in counseling!

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

What You Can Expect

Technique and Timing

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Play Therapy is a structured, evidence-based approach that builds on children’s normal communication and learning processes. Through Play Therapy, children are able to resolve inner conflicts and dysfunctional thinking in a developmentally appropriate way in order to heal and thrive.

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

What You Can Expect

Technique and Timing

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Some of the therapeutic benefits of Play Therapy include gaining the ability to communicate well with others, developing problem-solving skills, modifying behavior, learning coping techniques, expressing feelings, gaining self-esteem, and relating to others.

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

What You Can Expect

What to Expect

The length of therapy depends on your goals and the kinds of things you or your child are experiencing. We work closely with clients to identify exactly what you want to accomplish during our time, to keep track of the progress we are making, to problem solve when there are setbacks, and anticipate the frequency of therapy and length of therapy. Some clients benefit from just a few sessions and others need regular therapy for a year or more. Children typically attend therapy for 3 months – a year or more.

Timing and Technique

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

Intake

Intake Stage
Pre-Treatment Stage
Introduction Stage
Tentative Acceptance Stage
Negative Reaction Stage
Growing Stage
Termination Stage

Kevin O’Connor, PhD, ABPP, RPT-S (Co-founder, Association for Play Therapy) describes the stages of Play Therapy below. As a parent, you will play a crucial role in every phase of your child’s play therapy which, typically, proceeds through as many as seven phases:

What you Can Expect

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

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Who is Play Therapy For

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During your very first meeting with your child’s play therapist, he or she will conduct an intake interview during which you will be asked questions about your child’s early development, current functioning and presenting problem. It is very important to be as open and honest as possible during the intake as this information will form the foundation of the play therapist’s understanding of both your child’s difficulties and the treatment plan.

What you Can Expect: Intake

Technique and Timing

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How Play Therapy Works

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Most play therapists will also complete a separate intake interview with your child to get a solid sense of his or her experience of the problems and to make sure your child feels fully engaged in the treatment process right from the beginning.

What you Can Expect: Intake

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Depending on the play therapist and your child’s presenting problem, the therapist may decide to conduct a pre-treatment assessment. The assessment may be as simple as having you complete one or more questionnaires. Your child may be asked to complete a variety of pretreatment measures ranging from questionnaires, to drawings, to more formal testing.

What you Can Expect: Pre-Treatment

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

Introduction

Sometimes the play therapist will choose to observe your child at play either alone or with you and/or other family members. However it is completed, the assessment process provides the play therapist with additional information about your child’s difficulties and the best ways to go about treating them. Assessments can also be very useful in helping the play therapist evaluate your child’s progress during treatment.

What you Can Expect: Pre-Treatment

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

Tentative Acceptance

Having completed the intake and any pre-treatment assessments, your child will begin treatment. The first few sessions are referred to as the Introduction phase. During this phase your child will be getting used to the play therapist, the playroom, and the play therapy process. The more shy or anxious your child is, the more difficult this period may be. You can help by providing your child with a lot of encouragement so he or she will give the treatment a chance to begin working.

What you Can Expect: Introduction

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

Negative Reaction

After anywhere from one to several sessions, your child will enter into the Tentative Acceptance phase of treatment. During this phase, your child will probably look forward to the play therapy sessions and be eager to enter the playroom and to interact with the play therapist. For you as a parent, this is usually one of the easiest treatment phases. As the play therapy begins to work, your child will begin to make some changes. While these changes are necessary, they may not be easy.

What you Can Expect: Tentative Acceptance

Technique and Timing

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Initially, change makes all of us uncomfortable. We are trying to behave in ways we are not used to and may fluctuate between attempts to engage in healthy new behaviors and attempts to retreat to older, more comfortable patterns. This is called the Negative Reaction phase. Some children pass through this phase with virtually no problems. Other children go through a period where their problems actually get worse and they may actively resist going to the play therapy sessions.

What you Can Expect: Negative Reaction

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

Growing

Once again, you may need to provide your child with a great deal of support to get through this phase. Let your child know you have confidence in the therapy process and his or her ability to be happier and healthier in the long run.

What you Can Expect: Negative Reaction

Technique and Timing

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The Introduction, Tentative Acceptance, and Negative Reaction phases may all pass quite quickly, potentially in as few as three or four sessions, or they may last for several months. Once these phases pass, your child will enter the Growing phase. This is the most important and, usually the longest, part of the play therapy process.

What you Can Expect: Growing

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

Termination

During this phase your child will come to better understand his or her difficulties, how to best resolve those difficulties and how to live a much happier and playful life. Surprisingly, this phase can be a bit difficult for parents. Typically, children will make significant advances and then slide right back into some of their problem behaviors or symptoms. These regressions can frustrate both children and parents. Again, everyone needs to trust the process, celebrate the gains, and try not to worry too much about any occasional slips.

What you Can Expect: Growing

Technique and Timing

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How Play Therapy Works

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The last phase of play therapy is called the Termination stage. It begins when your child’s behavioral and emotional functioning have stabilized to the point that you, your child, and the play therapist are all confident in your child’s ability to maintain those gains without regular play therapy sessions. Surprisingly, this phase can be difficult for children. Adults in therapy are pleased when their symptoms subside and soon realize they can maintain the improvement on their own.

What you Can Expect: Termination

Technique and Timing

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They see the end of therapy as a sign of their success. Children often enter therapy only reluctantly and do so at a point when they are experiencing all sorts of symptoms and distress. Gradually, they become comfortable with the play therapist and the play therapy process and begin to experience symptom relief, becoming happier, and more playful. Then, just as things are going well, they find it time to end therapy.

What you Can Expect: Termination

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For some children, this feels more like a punishment than a reward and they may react with a temporary recurrence of their symptoms. Just as with earlier rough spots in the play therapy process, it will be important for you to maintain your confidence in your child’s ability to continue to be happy and healthy and to convey that confidence to your child. With everyone’s efforts, the end of therapy can truly be a celebration of your child’s gains and a genuinely happy and playful event.

What you Can Expect: Termination

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Who is Play Therapy For

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No matter the particular course of your child’s play therapy, you will play a variety of very important roles all along the way. The play therapist will rely on you to help determine how well the therapy is progressing and to report any changes, good or bad, as they arise. Depending on the nature of your child’s difficulties, the play therapist may also ask you and/or various other family members to participate directly in one or more of your child’s play therapy sessions.

What you Can Expect: Termination

Technique and Timing

Play Therapy Benefits

How Play Therapy Works

Who is Play Therapy For

What Is Play Therapy and Who Is It For?

This can be a great way for you, your child, and the play therapist to work together to ensure everyone is getting the most out of the treatment. Lastly, the play therapist will also work with you and advise you in ways to support your child between sessions. After all, you are the most important person in your child’s life and no amount of play therapy can ever replace the support and guidance you are there to provide!

What you Can Expect: Termination

Family Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on improving communication and resolving conflicts within family relationships.

Family therapy views the family as a complex system with its own structure, patterns of communication, and dynamics. Therapists examine how individual behaviors and interactions within the family system influence each other.

Family therapy takes a holistic approach, considering the interconnectedness of family members and the impact of family relationships on individual well-being. It recognizes that changes in one family member can affect the entire family system.

Therapists help families identify recurring patterns of interaction that contribute to conflict or dysfunction. This may include communication styles, roles within the family, and unspoken rules or expectations.

Family therapy focuses on improving communication among family members. Therapists teach active listening skills, help family members express their thoughts and feelings effectively, and facilitate constructive dialogue.

Therapists assist families in resolving conflicts and addressing disagreements in a healthy and productive manner. They teach negotiation skills, problem-solving techniques, and strategies for managing emotions during conflicts.

Family therapy aims to promote empathy and understanding among family members. Therapists help family members recognize and validate each other's perspectives, feelings, and experiences.

While focusing on the family unit, family therapy also considers the goals, strengths, and challenges of individual family members. Therapists work collaboratively with families to integrate individual needs with collective family goals.

Family therapy can provide support during times of crisis or transition, such as divorce, illness, loss, or relocation. Therapists help families navigate these challenges and strengthen their resilience as a unit.

Therapists acknowledge and respect the cultural backgrounds, values, and beliefs of each family member. They adapt therapeutic approaches to be culturally sensitive and inclusive, addressing unique challenges that may arise based on cultural differences.

Family therapy can be beneficial for families experiencing a wide range of issues, including communication breakdown, conflicts between parents and children, behavioral problems in children or adolescents, adjustment to life changes, trauma, and grief. It provides a supportive and structured environment for families to explore their strengths, enhance relationships, and work towards positive changes together.

Family Therapy

Sandtray therapy is a therapeutic approach that utilizes a tray filled with sand and miniature figures to facilitate healing and self-expression. The therapist offers a wide array of miniature figures, objects, and symbols that you or your child can use to create scenes or landscapes in the sand. These miniatures can include people, animals, buildings, nature elements, vehicles, and abstract shapes.

Clients use the miniatures and sand to create scenes that reflect their inner thoughts, feelings, conflicts, and experiences. The process of selecting and arranging miniatures in the sand can provide a safe and non-verbal way to express complex emotions and memories.

Engaging in sandtray therapy encourages clients to tap into their imagination and creativity. It can help uncover unconscious or suppressed feelings and provide new perspectives on personal challenges.

The therapist maintains a supportive and empathetic relationship with the client throughout the process. They may observe and inquire about the scenes created, helping the client explore deeper meanings and connections.

Sandtray therapy can be adapted for clients of various ages, backgrounds, and abilities. It can be particularly effective for children, adolescents, and adults who may find verbal expression challenging or prefer non-verbal forms of communication.

Sandtray Therapy

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) is an evidence-based, specialized therapeutic approach designed to help children, adolescents, and their families overcome the negative effects of trauma. TF-CBT focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors, with techniques specifically tailored to address trauma-related issues such as abuse, neglect, domestic violence, natural disasters, traumatic loss, and post-trauamtic stress disorder.

Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)

Companioning is a type of grief therapy that focuses on accompanying you through a death loss or coping with a loved one’s terminal illness. Companioning views grief not as a thing to be analyzed or fixed, but a healthy process.

Our therapists use companioning to help children, teens, and adults understand the physical, spiritual, and philosophical meaning of death unique to them. Our therapists also introduce art activities for the purpose of remembering and memorializing your loved one.

Companioning is appropriate for any child, teen, adult, or family who has experienced a death loss or terminal illness.

Companioning and Grief Therapy

Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI) is a crisis prevention and intervention model that includes responding to early signs of escalating behavior in order to prevent a crisis from occuring, providing support and understanding to those in crisis to help them regain control and prevent the situation from escalating further, teaching techniques and strategies to safely and effectively de-escalate crisis situations, and support after a crisis to help process the experience, regain emotional stability, and learn from the situation.

Therapeutic Crisis Intervention (TCI)

Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is a therapeutic approach specifically designed for children. It is rooted in the belief that children have an innate ability to heal themselves when provided with a supportive and accepting environment. In CCPT, The therapist creates a safe and nurturing space where the child is free to play with toys and materials of their choice. The therapist follows the child's lead during play sessions, allowing the child to explore their thoughts, feelings, and experiences at their own pace.

Through play, children often express complex emotions, conflicts, and issues that may be difficult to verbalize. CCPT allows these feelings to be communicated symbolically through play actions and narratives.

While the play sessions are unstructured in terms of content, they are structured in terms of time and physical environment. This provides a predictable and secure setting for the child to explore and process their experiences.

CCPT aims to empower children by promoting autonomy, decision-making, and problem-solving within the play therapy context. As children gain confidence and self-awareness through play, their self-esteem often improves.

Overall, CCPT is a gentle and effective approach to helping children navigate challenges, process emotions, develop resilience, and foster healthy social and emotional development. It is widely used to address a variety of issues such as anxiety, trauma, behavioral difficulties, and relationship problems.

Child-Centered Play Therapy

Art and expressive interventions encompass a variety of therapeutic approaches that utilize creative expression as a means of promoting healing, self-discovery, and emotional well-being.

Art and expressive interventions provide a non-verbal way for individuals to communicate thoughts, feelings, and experiences that may be difficult to express verbally. This can be particularly beneficial for clients who struggle with traditional talk therapy or have limited verbal skills.

Engaging in creative activities such as drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, or music-making allows individuals to tap into their creativity. This process can help them explore and express their inner world, gain insights into their emotions, and find new ways of coping with challenges.

Creating art or engaging in expressive activities can provide a safe outlet for releasing pent-up emotions and stress. It allows individuals to externalize their feelings in a tangible form, which can promote emotional catharsis and a sense of relief. Art and expressive interventions often involve the use of symbols, metaphors, and imagery. These symbols can represent deeper meanings and unconscious thoughts or feelings, providing valuable insights into the client's psyche.

The therapeutic process often involves reflecting on and discussing the artwork or expressive creations with the therapist. This dialogue helps clients integrate their experiences, gain new perspectives, and develop a deeper understanding of themselves and their challenges.

Art and expressive interventions can be adapted to meet the needs of diverse populations, including children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. Engaging in creative activities can promote mindfulness and relaxation. Focusing on the process of creating art or expressing oneself through movement or music can help individuals reduce stress, increase self-awareness, and improve overall well-being.

Art and Expressive Interventions

Support for Mental Health Concerns

Cultural Sensitivity

Prevention of Future Issues

Long-term Wellness

Enhanced Communication Skills

Positive Behavioral Changes

Increased Understanding

Conflict Resolution

Strengthened Relationships

Improved Communication

Support for Mental health Issues

Stress Reduction

Problem-Solving Skills

Increase Self Esteem and Confidence

Behavioral Change

Improved Coping Skills

Self-exploration & Insight

Emotional Support

Confidentiality

Personalized Attention

Here are a few common benefits we see with our clients

The benefits of therapy can be numerous and ongoing.

Therapy Benefits

Unfortunately, we do not accept Medicaid and cannot accept out of pocket payment for Medicaid clients.

We Currently Accept Insurance from Aetna, Cigna/Evernorth, & Kaiser

Insurance Accepted

https://thesecondwindfund.org/

All therapists accept Second Wind Fund

For private pay patients, please review our Good Faith Estimate Notice.

Family Session

$140-200

60-90 minute session

Adult Session
(18 and older)

$125-185

50 minute session

Child or Adolescent Session (Under 18)

$125-185

30-50 minute session

Each of our therapists have their own specialties including the following styles: solution-focused, companioning and grief, couples and family, children and adolescents, inner child, mindfulness-based, CBT, DBT, acceptance and commitment therapy, parenting skills coaching, narrative, play, and other expressive therapies!

Fees for services are based on your therapist's experience and specialties.

Therapy Pricing

“Kristen is an incredible therapist, friend, and colleague. She has a super warm heart and will hold the space for you to explore your emotions without judgement. She is highly skilled and trained in working with children..”

"Courageous Counseling Colorado is passionate about child development."

“I highly recommend Kristen, she is such a kind and warm spirit that has such a connection with those around her and especially those she works with.”

"Kristen is compassionate, caring and a great listener. Highly recommend."

"I’ve found Kristen to be deeply compassionate and warm spirited. She is knowledgeable and keeps up to date on updates in the field. Kristen truly connects with not only her clients, but also with the client’s family and other professionals. When I speak with Kristen there is a sense of being seen, heard, and valued. And let’s not forget the playroom she has created! It is an ideal environment for freedom to explore and express through play. I highly recommend Kristen."

"Kristen is compassionate and helpful. I was referred to her and she was prompt in responding to me and helping me figure out the best course of action for getting my kids into therapy with their unique needs. She has a deep understanding of the needs of children and child development as well as the family dynamic. I highly recommend her."

I highly recommend Kristen, she is such a kind and warm spirit that has such a connection with those around her and especially those she works with.

“Kristen has the most beautiful soul. She has an innate gift to relate to and support others. She is knowledgeable, warm, approachable, and thoughtful. When you meet Kristen, you’ll immediately feel like she’s been in your life forever - she has that unique ability to welcome and connect with you and your loved ones.”

Kristen is highly empathetic and excellent with children and families. She can navigate wellness with ease for families struggling with co-parenting, children suffering from a range of mood and behavioral concerns and parenting needs of all sorts. I only refer my client's children to a few select and trusted therapists, Kristen being one of them.

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8120 Sheridan Blvd C334 Westminster, CO 80003

Westminster Playroom

5738 Olde Wadsworth Blvd. Arvada, CO 80002

Olde Town Arvada Playroom

info@denverplaytherapist.com

720-443-0871

We have two locations in Colorado. One in Olde Town Arvada, the other in Westminster. If those locations are out of reach, you can also schedule Telehealth appointments.

Accessible Therapy Across Colorado:
Olde Town Arvada, Westminster, and Telehealth Options

Our Locations

5738 Olde Wadsworth Blvd. Arvada, CO 80002