Welcome to Play2Grow

My name is Christine and I am a 47-year-old single mother of two highly energetic and loveable boys. I was born and raised in Stawell Vic and after living in Warrnambool and Melbourne I returned to my much-loved country town. I enjoy the sense of community Stawell offers and have always felt welcomed and at home here.

 

I have always been very interested in the benefits of counselling and have accessed my own personal therapy for many years to assist with re-occurring bouts of depression and a generalized anxiety disorder.  

I strongly belief that it is important to be honest and upfront about my own personal mental health struggles as for many years’ society has attached a stigma to mental health illness. I passionate about advocating for Mental Health support services especially in regional Victoria and removing that stigma associated with acknowledging mental health illness and seeking help.

 

In 2011 when my son as a four-year-old experienced a traumatic event and was having difficulty in making sense of what he had witnessed I knew that he needed help. This is when I first was introduced to Play Therapy and its therapeutic benefits.

 

I was able to access a counsellor in the Grampians Region who had created an amazing therapeutic play

and art room and under her guidance and with her highly trained skills she was able to assist my son to work through his traumatic experience.

 

I was next reminded of the importance of seeking professional help to assist with traumatic experiences, social difficulties, behavioural or emotional issues when working as a Case Manager for an employment service within Stawell. It was distressing to see the number of teenagers that were referred to my services as they had become disengaged with school and unable to find employment.

A common theme among these children is that the majority of them had experienced trauma, whether that was their parents separating, having a parent pass away, domestic violence or sexual abuse.  Most of these children had not accessed professional counselling services that they desperately needed to help them process their complex and traumatic personal experiences.

 

This was my first inkling of how vitally important “Early Intervention “ is.

If we want to help our children develop into well adjusted adults then we need to be able to provide specialized counselling services to them as early as possible to help them sort out and understand experiences that may have been confusing, upsetting, traumatic or distressing.

 

It was in 2012 that I decided that I wanted to do more to help children so I trained to become a Therapeutic Foster Carer with Uniting Wimmera. I am proud to say that over the years I have welcomed over 30 children into my home providing respite, emergency, short term and long-term care.

 

Through Uniting Wimmera, I was able to gain practical hands on experience  living with children who had a range of behavioural, emotional, social and intellectual challenges. I know first hand how incredibly emotionally draining and challenging it can be to have a child with complex issues.

 

Yet another reason why I wanted to create my business, to not only help children but to support parents. 

 

I enhanced this practical experience with specialized training. Some of the training I have completed includes;  

 

• Strategies for Managing Abuse Related Trauma

• Trauma Informed Care Part 1 & 2

• Understanding the Neurobiology of Complex Trauma     

• 5-day International Childhood Trauma Conference

• Life After Loss - Its effect on the developing child     

• Dan Hughes -Caring for Traumatised Children      

• Fostering Resilience

• Kim Golding DDP-informed Parenting with PACE to Build Security for Children with Developmental Traumas     

 

My next step in my journey was to take the massive step of enrolling at Deakin University in 2016 as a Mature Age student. I had never completed Tertiary education before. Terrifying yet exciting at the same time.

 

Over the past five years I have successfully completed the following;

 

Undergraduate Training.

 

• The Bachelor of Psychological Science (with Honors) with a focus on Child & Adolescent Development, Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychopathology.

 

Intensive Specialized Post Graduate Training.

 

• The Graduate Diploma of Therapeutic Child Play with a focus Foundations of Play Therapy, Child Attachment, Environment and   Trauma, Childhood Developmental Neuroscience and Psychopathology, Assessment and Measurement in Play Abilities Engaging Children in Play Using Directive Approaches

 

• Master of Child Play Therapy with a focus on Humanistic Play Therapy and Filial Therapy. 

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I am committed to promoting the rights of children (0-18years) to be able to access specialized mental health services in rural regions and to provide appropriate support for parents so that our children are able to reach their full potential.

 

I am passionate about delivering child-sensitive and trauma-informed therapeutic practices via my private Play Therapy practice, Play2Grow Play Therapy & Parenting Support.

 

I have an up to date Working With Children Check (WWCC) and Play2Grow Play Therapy & Parenting Support is insured for Combined Malpractice, Public & Products Liability Insurance. Both the WWCC and insurance certificates can be produced upon request.

 

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