Play Therapy Parenting Podcast

Sometimes it's easy to forget if a child has a developmental delay, when dealing with their behavior problems. In this episode, Dr. Brenna Hicks delves into the mindset of a child with developmental delays and how it affects their self-esteem and behavior. Dr. Brenna gives three tips to parents who are dealing with this issue to help build up their child.

"The very heart of play therapy lies in the belief that children innately understand what they struggle with, they just don't necessarily know how to fix it. And they will work on it through their play if they're given the time, the tools, and the opportunity." In this podcast, Dr. Brenna tells the story of a boy, without telling him why he was there, discovers, on his own, within 20 minutes what issues he needs to work on. Dr. Brenna also touches on the topic of "competence themed" play.

In this video, Dr. Brenna shares an example from her play room to explain how children "play" through their issues. Whereas adults "talk" or "work" through their issues, children play through their issues and "re-write their story", so to speak. The take-away is to not "protect" your child from their feelings. The only way through an issue, is to go through it! Dr. Brenna also touches on a secondary topic of non-traditional family configurations and how that affects kids.

In this video, Dr. Brenna comments on a situation that happened in the lobby of her practice where she overheard a Mom, maybe unknowingly, using a play therapy principle that communicated that the Mom trusted the child, knows that he will do what he's been asked to do, and that she believes in his abilities. What a great encouragement to see a Mom interacting with her son in this way. Learn what this play therapy principle was by watching the video and learn how to respond to your kids so that they become capable and trustworthy.

From ADHD to Autism Spectrum to ODD, CD and Bi-Polar. Dr. Brenna talks about the trends she observes in her practice about childhood diagnoses. She believes that Play Therapy should at least be considered as a non-medication alternative to try before simply medicating children.

Sometimes it is a struggle when families pursue therapy for their kids. In this podcast, Dr. Brenna helps you to understand the way that the therapy process works and some of the common concerns that parents have as a result of feeling that they need some support and help for their kids.

In this video, Dr. Hicks talks about research revealing that a holistic approach, that aligns with Play Therapy, is effective in combating common child diagnoses. Before you accept a pediatrician's diagnosis, and medicate your kids, consider this simple, more natural approach!

Many parents don't realize that the way they respond to their kids is actually REWARDING their NEGATIVE behavior! In this video, Dr. Hicks explains what this looks like, and how to implement a play therapy technique to prevent rewarding negative behavior.

Dr. Brenna discusses the top 3, most easily preventable reasons kids display behavior problems.  So before reacting, mentally go through this list to see if you can quickly eliminate the cause for these top 3 reasons children misbehave.

Play Therapy works for all age groups. In this episode, Dr. Brenna explains what play therapy with teens and older populations may look like, and why it's effective.