Play Therapy for Children
Expressing Emotions through Play!
About Us
When Words Are Hard, Play Gives Children a Voice!
Our play therapy service follows recognised professional standards and is informed by PTUK guidance. We provide a safe, consistent, and child-centred environment where children can explore thoughts, feelings, and experiences through play, which is often their natural way of communicating.
We understand that many children do not yet have the words to explain difficult emotions or complex experiences. Through carefully supported therapeutic play, children can process experiences, build emotional awareness, strengthen resilience, and begin to feel more confident and in control.
Play therapy can support children with anxiety, low self-esteem, emotional regulation, family breakdown, bereavement, trauma, friendship difficulties, behavioural concerns, school-related stress, and experiences that may feel overwhelming or confusing. Our approach is gentle, relational, trauma-informed, and tailored to the individual needs of each child.
Sessions are structured yet flexible, following the child’s lead whilst remaining within clear therapeutic boundaries. We use a range of creative and play-based resources to support emotional expression, including art, sand, storytelling, symbolic play, sensory materials, games, and imaginative activities.
We offer play therapy across Derby and Derbyshire through private arrangements with families as well as through partnerships with schools and other organisations. Sessions can take place in school, within our therapy space, or online where appropriate, depending on the needs of the child and family.
Alongside direct work with the child, we take a whole-family approach, recognising that support for parents and carers is an important part of helping children progress. We work closely with families, carers, schools, and professionals across Derby and Derbyshire, helping to build a wider network of support around the child and strengthen understanding of their emotional wellbeing and emotional needs.
Hidden Voices
Hidden Voices is a school-based, trauma-informed programme from Action4Families CIC, supporting children affected by parental imprisonment—one of the UK’s largest yet most overlooked vulnerable groups.
In Derby and Derbyshire, an estimated 3,000–5,500 children are impacted at any one time, many of whom remain unseen. These children often carry the effects of loss, stigma, anxiety, and disrupted home lives—experiences that can significantly affect their mental health, behaviour, relationships, and engagement in school.
Delivered within the safety of the school environment, Hidden Voices provides targeted 1:1 therapeutic support, alongside parent guidance and close collaboration with staff. This enables children to process complex experiences, build emotional resilience, and regain a sense of stability and belonging.
For corporate partners and funders, Hidden Voices offers a clear opportunity to create meaningful, measurable social impact. The programme aligns with key CSR priorities by improving mental health and educational outcomes, delivering early intervention, and strengthening local communities. Impact is tracked through recognised measures and reported clearly.
A £6,000 investment supports 10 children through a full therapeutic programme—providing timely, specialist support that can change the direction of a child’s life.
Hidden Voices ensures that children affected by imprisonment are no longer overlooked—but heard, supported, and able to move forward with confidence.
Play Therapy Placements
Action4Families has experience in organising and managing play therapy placements within schools in partnership with APAC Ltd.
We work closely with schools, trainees, and APAC Ltd to create safe, supportive, and professionally managed placements. This includes arranging referrals, liaising with schools, supporting safeguarding processes, providing supervision, monitoring progress, and ensuring that placements meet professional and ethical requirements.
We are open to developing partnerships with schools that would benefit from a low-cost therapy service for their pupils, helping to increase access to emotional wellbeing support within a structured and professionally supported placement model.
Our aim is to help schools increase access to therapeutic support while giving trainees valuable experience within a well-supported and structured environment.
