Expressive
Child-Centered
Play Therapy

Social, emotional and behavioral support

for children and their families in the

Wenatchee Valley

Welcome!

I'm so glad you found your way to Playful Heart Child Therapy. Finding the right therapist for your child is an important first step in supporting their emotional and developmental growth. It’s a process that requires trust and collaboration. By working together, we can create a safe and nurturing environment where your child feels empowered to express and explore themselves. It is my intention when working with families that together, we will cultivate a path toward healing, foster resilience and help your child thrive.

What is Child-Centered Play Therapy and is it right for my child?

Child-centered play therapy is an evidence based approach that can create meaningful, lasting, positive change. Child-centered play therapy recognizes the inherent wisdom and strength within every child. By creating a safe and accepting environment, children are given the valuable space to heal, grow and thrive.

Unlike more directive cognitive approaches, a child-centered approach gives autonomy to the child to direct how their journey unfolds. The child chooses the activities to engage with and the therapist comes alongside the child's process.

While this approach can be beneficial for any child, it's particularly helpful for those:

Experiencing behavioral challenges
Dealing with traumatic events like divorce, abuse, loss of a loved one, or any major life changes
Struggling with anxiety, depression, or other mental health issues
Facing challenges related to neurodiverse processing, developmental disorders or disabilities.

Home: Headliner

Treating The Whole Child

An integrated therapeutic approach that addresses the whole child—physical, emotional, sensory, and interpersonal—helps ease fears and anxieties while promoting healing.

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Interpersonal neurobiology informs my therapeutic approach aimed at increasing regulation and relational connection as a primary foundation for therapeutic work.

Play

Sensory

Holistic

Expressive play

Play is the foundation for learning, relationships and emotional processing. Play is the child's natural language. With creative freedom and through imagination, children communicate their inner world in ways words often can't.

Sensory motor

Children make meaning of the world with their whole body. For the child, meaning comes first and most deeply through physical, sensory and visceral experience.

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Inner process

Increasing a child's inner strength helps neurodevelopment link from the "bottom up" and will effect behaviors from the inside out. This resilience and integration leads to longer term change.

"Enter into children's play, and you will find the place where their minds, hearts and souls meet."
— Virginia Axline

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Stephanie Drexel, MA, LMHCA

I believe in the transformative power of play and the inherent brilliance of every child. Each child is unique, with an inner resilience and the capacity to heal and grow. As a child therapist, I create a safe, supportive space where children can explore, express, create and develop. Through play, they can discover new ways to learn, heal and thrive.

My work with children is focused on attuning to their needs, helping them regulate their nervous system, and guiding them through their healing process. Ultimately, I aim to help children develop a deeper sense of self and experience greater freedom and comfort within their bodies and their life.

About me