Child-centered PLAY Therapy in Houston

Helping children through the power of play

Playtime is the best time for curious little explorers! B Well Counseling is excited to offer Play Therapy to help your little one process life’s BIG emotions.

What is Child-Centered Play Therapy?

Dr. Garry Landreth, one of the leaders who formalized child-centered play therapy, says play therapy relieves stress, enhances connections in relationships, stimulates creative expression and exploration, and helps children regulate their emotions. Play is used within the context of the therapeutic session to establish rapport, engage, and provide children with a way to express themselves that does not rely on receptive or expressive language skills beyond the child’s developmental level. In play therapy, the therapist depends on the child’s play rather than verbal responses. Children use play as a means of communicating their experiences. Children are encouraged to express their feelings, thoughts, and experiences.

Play therapy offers children a secure and accepting environment to explore, express, and experience their emotions freely. This emotionally safe space is crucial for their natural process of growth and healing and provides a comforting backdrop for their therapeutic journey.

Benefits of Play Therapy

Play therapy provides children with a safe environment in which they can express and explore their emotions through play, which is their natural language.

Play therapy has many benefits. It relieves stress, enhances relationships, stimulates creative expression, and regulates emotions. Playing can help children experience these benefits, contributing to their overall well-being.

Therapeutic Environment: Children are given an emotionally safe and accepting environment to explore, express, and experience their emotions, aiding their growth and healing.

Effectiveness and Parental Involvement: Research shows play therapy is effective for children’s various challenges, and therapists often involve parents to ensure progress.

How Does Play Therapy Work?

At B Well Counseling Center, our clinicians are trained in child-centered play therapy and possess empathy, unconditional positive regard, and genuineness. Through these qualities of the clinician, the child will eventually be able to accept themselves. Think of yourself and the many roles you play in your life. In different settings with various people, you may need to change your behavior for acceptance. That can be stressful and challenging. Where are you, and who are you with when you are your most authentic self and are accepted exactly as you are? How does that feel? Pretty amazing? That’s how children can think through the process of play therapy. They are free to be who they are born to be, complete with the unique gifts they possess.

In child-centered play therapy, the relationship is key. This approach to play therapy believes that people (including children) will heal, grow, and change if they are provided with an atmosphere where the prosocial aspects of the self can flourish. The child-centered play therapist can facilitate understanding by viewing the world from the child’s frame of reference and unique perspective.

Why work with a play therapist vs. child behavior therapist?

Play therapy research has shown effectiveness in improving or supporting children experiencing various concerns and needs.

  • Internalizing behaviors such as anxiety, depression, and others
  • Externalizing behaviors such as aggression, disruptive behaviors, self-control, and others
  • Attachment issue
  • Academic performance
  • Autism
  • Attention deficit
  • Homelessness
  • Loss and bereavement
  • Medical conditions
  • Parents/caregiver/teacher relationship
  • Self-concept/self-esteem
  • Social-emotional assets
  • Speech/language struggles
  • Trauma, natural disaster, and PTSD

Parents and Play Therapy

Because parents and caregivers are children’s most outstanding teachers, we offer Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT). This evidence-based 10-session filial therapy model empowers parents with the skills essential to relationship building through play therapy skill building. CPRT is a treatment program that helps parents and children strengthen their relationship. It's based on the idea that a secure attachment is essential for a child’s well-being.

How does CPRT work?

  • Parents learn play therapy skills in group or individual parent coaching sessions
  • Parents practice these skills with their child
  • A therapist provides feedback on parents’ play sessions
  • Parents complete homework between sessions

What does CPRT aim to achieve?

  • Improve communication between parents and children
  • Help parents understand and accept their child
  • Help parents respond more effectively to their child’s needs
  • Help parents limit problem behaviors
  • Help children develop self-control
  • Help children process their emotions
  • Help children improve their problem-solving ability
  • Reduce parental stress

Who is CPRT for?

  • Parents of children ages 2-10 who are experiencing social, emotional, and relational disorders

How is CPRT delivered?

  • In a series of 10 weekly structured group or individual parent coaching sessions
  • In a casual setting
  • With guidance from a licensed professional
schedule a consultation
Sand tray therapy featuring Houston Child therapist Melanie Gregg

Frequently Asked Questions About Play Therapy

Everything you need to know about bringing your child in for play therapy at B Well Counseling Center.
What is Child-Centered Play Therapy and How Does it Work?
Child-Centered Play Therapy is a research-informed approach where children use play as their natural language to express thoughts, emotions, and experiences. In CCPT, the therapist follows the child’s lead and creates a safe, supportive environment where the child can explore, communicate, and build confidence at their own pace.

In CCPT, children are given a carefully prepared space and a variety of toys that help them express feelings, solve problems, and practice new ways of coping. The therapist uses attuned, nonjudgmental support and reflection to help the child feel understood, develop emotional awareness, and strengthen self-regulation over time.
What is sand tray therapy, and how does it relate to play therapy?
Sand tray therapy is a creative, play-based approach where children use miniature figures and a tray of sand to express thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a hands-on, visual way. In child-centered play therapy, sand tray can be one of the tools available in the playroom, giving children another way to communicate when words feel hard. It can be especially helpful for kids processing anxiety, transitions, grief, or stressful experiences because it supports emotional expression, problem-solving, and a sense of control in a safe, supportive setting.
Why choose B Well Counseling Center?
B Well Counseling Center is made up of highly skilled clinicians across a wide range of specialties so you are always in good hands no matter what brings you to therapy. Our genuine desire is to understand and acknowledge that all emotions are information. Once the cause of the emotion is uncovered, healing can begin.  We are here to listen and guide you with respect and dignity to embody your optimal emotional health and be well. We are honored to join you on your journey to wholeness.
How do I know if my child needs play therapy?
Play Therapy can support children experiencing anxiety, sadness, behavioral challenges, emotional outbursts, difficulty with transitions, social skills struggles, grief, trauma symptoms, and stress related to family changes. It can also help children who have trouble putting feelings into words.Many people start noticing small shifts within the first few sessions, especially once you feel understood and you leave with a clearer plan. More meaningful change often builds over 8–12 sessions, though the timeline depends on your goals, what you’re working through, and how consistently you’re able to practice new skills between sessions.

Play therapy may be a good fit if your child is experiencing

  1. Big emotions
  1. Frequent meltdowns
  1. Withdrawal
  1. Sudden behavior changes
  1. Sleep issues
  1. School refusal
  1. Increased worries
  1. Difficulty adjusting to life events (moving, divorce, loss, a new sibling)

If you’re unsure, a consultation can help you decide.

What can I expect in a play therapy session?
Sessions are designed to feel safe and predictable. Your child will enter the playroom, choose activities, and lead the play. The therapist will track and reflect emotions, support expression, and help your child build skills through the therapeutic relationship.

Parent involvement is an important part of supporting progress. Depending on your child’s needs, this may include parent check-ins, guidance on strategies at home, and parent-focused sessions designed to strengthen connection and support emotional regulation.
Do you offer Child-Centered Play Therapy in Houston?
For child therapy, we strongly recommend in-person sessions whenever possible. Kids communicate through movement, play, and nonverbal cues, and being in the same room allows the therapist to build trust faster, respond in the moment, and use hands-on tools like toys, games, and sand tray in a way that’s hard to replicate on a screen. In-person child therapy also creates a consistent, distraction-free space that helps children feel safe enough to open up, practice regulation skills, and make steady progress over time.
Have additional questions?

Head over to our FAQ page for general questions about our practice, including:

  1. Information about Rates & Insurance
  1. Our cancellation policy
  1. and more!

Visit our Frequently Asked Questions Page