Before starting play therapy my daughter was incredibly shy and anxious. Her anxiety was crippling and she was deeply unhappy. She found it impossible to talk to people she didn’t know and it was making life at school really difficult. Every day would be a battle to get her to school and it was exhausting for her and us as a family.
I was quite worried about our initial meeting with Julie. I didn’t think my daughter would engage and we would sit there in awkward silence. To my astonishment within 10 minutes of arriving my daughter was chatting, albeit shyly but I could see she was relaxed and comfortable. I actually felt like I was intruding on something very special and personal.
My daughter has always been keen to go to Julie; she describes it as her happy place. Initially I was grateful that for one hour a week I knew my daughter was happy. The rest of the week was a struggle for her. Over time, I have watched her grow and change. I can see her tackle situations that would have previously floored her. She is now able to manage her anxiety rather than allow it to consume and define her. We still have occasions where she is gripped by anxiety but her response is different and her recovery is much faster, she is now able to analyse what happened and think about how she could have managed her emotions differently. Crucially she is much happier and school is an environment that she enjoys and goes to willingly.
I think having the space to explore her emotions in an age appropriate way has been incredible for her. Having such a positive experience with therapy as a child is a gift. I am confident that if she ever feels like she is struggling again she will access therapy to help her through life’s tricky patches.
I am incredibly grateful to Julie and everything she has done for my daughter.
My son of 6 years before starting play therapy with Julie found it very hard to open up and express his feelings and emotions which led to a lot of anger and frustration built up inside him which also he’s got a lot of sensory issues around the toilet at first I think he was very unsure when we entered into the 1st session but as time went on every Wednesday he looked forward to seeing Julie and to his session his behaviour became much better although we still had his meltdowns but
not as much and toilet issues had improved tremendously with him going by himself without any encouragement which is a massive relief off his shoulders and me as a parent unfortunately his sessions has came to a end but hopefully we will return in the near future Julie is very professional she’s helped my little boy massively thankyou.