Nigito Joanne T

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Joanne T. Nigito-Raftas, MS, LPC1754 W. Broad Street Bethlehem, PA 18018
Child's Play is the way!

National Certified Counselor
Parenting Counselor & Educator610-814-6263 office JTNigitoRaftas@aol.com

Why Does Play Therapy Work?
Children who have experienced some difficulties
in their lives will need to learn new coping skills to
integrate these experiences and feel whole again.

New brain research describes how play, as well
as other forms of expressive therapies (i.e. art,
music, storytelling, sandplay, etc.) helps the child
process their experiences using their right-brain
functions. It is the brain that helps us all to regulate
negative states and thus helps us to recover from
difficult or traumatic experiences. The left-brain is
generally responsible for speech and language,
and the right-brain for specific sensory and spatial

Play Therapy helps us achieve the
state of "flow"(Stien & Kendall (2004). PsychologicalTrauma and
the Developing Brain: Neurologically-based interventions for troubled
children.) whichisaharmoniousstate of consciousness
that brings brain waves into synchrony and all the
important resources of the mind to bear on a task.
When we experience "flow," it creates a physiologicalcalmness.

Whenever a Play Therapist asks a client to "draw a picture of their feelings," the thoughts begin to flow from one side of the brain to the other and this helps that client integrate those feelings and encouraging the state of "flow." This helps the client access their own internal resources by modulating and integrating emotion. Encouraging a child to process experiences through the various modalities builds self-awareness, promotes problem-solving skills, and develops self-control.

In conclusion, to help troubled children tackle their many different issues and experiences,

Play Therapists strengthen the cuircuitry in their client'sbrain by utilizing Play Therapy Techniquesto ultimately help these children resolve andintegrate their experiences. Children learn how to deal with their issues and behaviors through having Play Therapy sessions with a qualified Play Therapist that helps the child integrate their emotions from the experiences that caused them problems. Behaviors begin to become regulated because the childs coping skills and awareness improves and this in turn boosts their self-esteem which helps the child to become more successful in all endeavors.

This is why a CHILD'S PLAY IS THE WAY
to a positive mental-health status!
Please contact Joanne for more information about Play Therapy, or you can read more on the Association for Play Therapy, Inc.'s website at www.a4pt.org

Please read more about me and my Play Therapy Practice by clicking on the links above. Thanks Joanne

Don't miss the rest of the website!!!!

Click on links in the green heading at the top of the page.