Our Services

The Playful Place provides high quality therapy aiming at empowering the child or young person through celebrating strengths and understanding challenges. Specialist areas include:

• Neurodivergence
• School Burn Out
• Sensory Differences
• Behavioural concerns
• Premature Births - long term effects. 
• Young Adult transitions
• Adult mental health & wellbeing
• Anxiety
• Autism, PDA, AuDHD
• Complex Trauma
• ADHD
• Emotional Regulation
• Self Esteem 
• Understanding a New Diagnosis

The Playful Place offers training, workshops and keynote conference talks that can be designed around individual needs of the organisation, group or the family. Elen is a highly skilled and engaging presenter who can make hard topics easy to learn and apply to practice.  Call or email us today to discuss what your training needs are. Our most requested workshops include:

• Sensory Modulation and Trauma
• LEGO- Based Therapy Facilitator Training
• Therapeutic use of LEGO - Award Winning Conference Talk.
• Is it sensory or is it behaviour? 
• Development of Emotional Regulation - what to expect when.
• Big Feelings - how to reduce and support overwhelm without relying on rewards or punishments. 

1-1 support for adults (18+) needing some support navigating transitions, work place challenges, moving out of home, relationship stressors, anxiety, depression or other barriers to wellbeing. 

Richard and Elen are both able to support in the community or home, to work alongside adults, for whom traditional counselling or talk therapy may not be accessible or comfortable. 

Contact us for a discussion or with any queries regarding your needs.

A safe and fun space for selective eaters and sensory sensitive kids to explore food using a sensory integration and play based approach. These groups run once every 6 months, so if you are interested, please contact us to place your child on the list for the next group.  

Designed for children who have difficulty eating, with or without a diagnosis:

• Eat less than 30 foods.
• Eating a variety of food, but limited amounts.
• Often gag, choke or feel sick during meal times.
• Prefer brand specific foods.
• Prefer foods prepared the same way each meal.
• Find biting or chewing certain food  difficult.
• Challenges eating at school or kindy.
• Mealtimes are stressful at home.
• Fear of eating at other peoples houses, school camp or restaurants.

Is your child between 2-12, and struggling with toilet learning? 

Have you tried other approaches or traditional methods, and not had the progress or outcomes you expected? 

• Sticker charts
• Frequent prompting (every 1-2 hours)
• Night time waking
• Vibration watches
• Removal of rewards
• Weekend focus
• Fluid tracking
• Support program at school

Contact us for a discussion regarding your child's needs. We take a highly individualised approach, spending time to get to know your child, and build a specialist plan, designed around what your whānau can manage. 

The sensory lens is often not considered in toileting programs, and can be a missing link. If your child has Autism, ADHD, or anxiety, it is highly recommended for a sensory assessment or screen to be considered by a trained sensory practitioner to ensure any sensory needs related to toileting such as interoception are being met. 

We are very happy to work alongside your current medical professional - GP or Nurse to support during laxative use. 

The term “sensory integration” refers to the processing, integration, and organisation of sensory information from the body and the environment.

Simply put, this means how we experience, interpret and react to information coming from our senses. Sensory integration is important in all the things that we need to do on a daily basis, such as getting dressed, eating, moving around, socialising, learning and working.

Sensory information is received from our 8 senses, which include:

• Sight (vision)
• Hearing (auditory system)
• Touch (tactile system)
• Taste (gustatory system)
• Smell (olfactory system)
• Proprioception (senses of body awareness and position)
• Vestibular (awareness of movement, balance, and coordination)
• Interoception (our internal sensory system that tells us what is happening inside our body, for example, hunger, needing the toilet, fatigue, emotions, etc)

For most of us, the development of sensory integration occurs when we are young as part of our development and in the things we do such as rolling, crawling, walking and in play; for others, sensory integration is less developed, or can be disrupted. 

The Playful Place offers the following  assessments:

• Sensory Profile 2 (SP2)
• Sensory Processing Measure (SPM) 
• Retained Primitive Reflex Screening
• Developmental Assessment 
• Classroom Assessments

These groups give an opportunity to learn and practice skills in a safe environment tailored for their individual needs. The group is kept small with children with similar skills. Research based Lego-Therapy techniques are used as the foundation of the group activity.  The group works on:

• Communication Skills
• Cooperation & Collaboration 
• Negotiation
• Self regulation
• Safe conflict resolution
• Resilience & perseverance 
• Leadership and teamwork
• Fine & Gross motor
• Sensory Modulation.