If a therapist, teacher, or pediatrician has suggested play therapy for your child, your first question is probably a simple one: what happens in that room, and how does playing help? This guide explains what play therapy is, how it works, and what families in Charlotte can expect. If you are still weighing whether your child needs support at all, start with the signs your child may need play therapy, which walks through what parents often notice first.
Play Is How Children Communicate
Adults tend to work through difficulty by talking about it. Children process the world differently. Long before they have the vocabulary to name a feeling, they express it through play. A child arranging figures in a sand tray, painting, or building an elaborate story with stuffed animals is doing the developmental work of making sense of their experiences.
Play therapy meets children in that language. Using toys, games, art, sand tray, and other developmentally appropriate materials, a trained clinician creates a space where a child can express social and emotional concerns in the way that comes naturally to them. Within that space, children learn to identify and express feelings, strengthen communication, build self-regulation, and expand their problem-solving skills.
What Happens in a Play Therapy Session
Sessions take place in a room equipped for the work: figures and animals, art supplies, sand tray, dress-up items, and games. The child leads. The clinician observes, joins the play when invited, and gently guides it toward the feelings and experiences the child is working through. Pretending offers children something rare in their daily lives: the chance to be fully in charge, and to show what it feels like to be them.
Parents are part of the work throughout. Your child’s clinician will meet with you regularly to share themes from the playroom, hear what you are seeing at home and school, and think together about how to support your child between sessions.
How Play Reveals a Child’s Inner World
The characters in a child’s play may look nothing like the people in their life, yet the storylines tend to match. A child might pick up a stuffed horse and a kitten and replay the same tense scene again and again, one figure looming while the other pleads. An adult watching might read aggression. A trained play therapist reads communication: this child is showing what home feels like when conflict between the adults around them is loud, frequent, and frightening.
Feelings can overwhelm children, and a still-developing vocabulary leaves those feelings with nowhere to go. Early experiences, including adverse childhood experiences, shape how a child understands safety and relationships. Play gives those pent-up emotions a place to land where a caring adult can finally see them.
How Children Practice New Ways of Responding
Children are instinctual and impulsive. The ability to pause, reason, and weigh a course of action develops gradually across childhood. Play therapy gives children a safe place to rehearse that skill. Through play, a child can try out different responses, behaviors, and ways of thinking about a situation they face at home or at school. When the clinician understands where a child is working hardest, they can take on a role or character within the play and guide the story toward a resolution the child can use at home and at school.
How Play Therapy Helps Children Feel Safe and Capable
Children often come to therapy because their behavior has worried the adults around them. Underneath the behavior is usually a child whose feelings are too big for their words. By helping children work through complex emotions while feeling heard and respected, play therapy builds a felt sense of safety. From that safety, children become able to consider new ways of behaving and of getting their needs met.
Will Play Therapy Help My Child?
Play therapy has decades of clinical practice and research behind it, and many children who struggle to engage with talk-based approaches connect readily through play. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) notes that supporting children’s mental health early in life matters for their overall health as they grow, and play therapy offers young children a developmentally attuned way to begin. Every child is different, and progress looks different for each one. What parents can reasonably expect is a developmentally attuned approach, a clinician who partners with the family, and regular conversations about how the work is going and what your child is building.
Play Therapy at Montgomery Counseling Group in Charlotte
Montgomery Counseling Group (MCG) offers play therapy as part of its work in therapy for children and adolescents in Charlotte, with in-person sessions on Park Road and telehealth available across North Carolina. Families begin with Michelle Daley, LCMHC, who will talk with you about what you are seeing and whether play therapy fits your child. When you are ready, call, email, or book a free 20-minute consultation online.
Frequently Asked Questions About Play Therapy
What age is play therapy for?
Play therapy is most commonly used with children roughly ages three through twelve. Older children and adolescents often benefit from a blend of expressive and talk-based approaches, and your child’s clinician will match the approach to your child’s age and development.
How is play therapy different from playing at home?
Play at home is valuable, and play therapy adds a trained clinician, a purposefully equipped room, and a consistent, protective structure. The clinician reads the themes in a child’s play and guides it toward the feelings and experiences the child is working through, which is a different experience from open-ended play.
What is my role as a parent during play therapy?
Parents are partners throughout, with regular conversations with your child’s clinician about themes from sessions, what you are noticing at home, and ways to support your child day to day. Play therapy works best when the important adults in a child’s life are part of it.
How long does play therapy take?
The length of the work varies with each child and each family’s goals. Your child’s clinician will review progress with you regularly so you always know how the work is going and what comes next.
How do we get started with play therapy in Charlotte?
Reach out to Montgomery Counseling Group by phone, email, or the online booking page to schedule a free 20-minute consultation. From there, you and your child’s clinician will decide together on next steps.
Michelle Daley, LCMHC, is a Senior Clinician at Montgomery Counseling Group in Charlotte, NC, working with children and adolescents. She creates a warm, child-centered space where young people feel safe to express what they are working through and begin to build the emotional skills that support long-term well-being. An EMDR Trained Clinician trained in Play Therapy, Michelle draws on EMDR, play therapy, and person-centered approaches to adapt to each child’s pace and starting point.
