Post-lockdown play therapy in schools

Aim

We are helping vulnerable and distressed children settle successfully into primary school after the coronavirus lockdown.

The children we support

The children we work with are those who have experienced trauma, or who have lived with personal or family difficulties (such as disability or illness) and have emotional and developmental challenges as a result. They struggle to make the most of family life, school and nursery. They are the children whose behaviour is difficult to manage (angry, aggressive) or who are anxious and avoidant of everyday relationships and activities.  Their relationships are difficult at home and in school and learning is a huge challenge.

What lockdown has been like

We know, from supporting the children and their families through the lockdown, that they are going to struggle to manage in school when they go back.  Throughout the lockdown we have played over video link.  We have made ill toys better, acted out scenes of chaos and upset,  talked about worries about relative's health, played about being scared to go out, listened to frustration at not having anywhere to go out and play, and talked about not being able to sleep and worrying that the virus is in the house.  All this is led by the children – we just meet whatever they bring each week.  We know that family circumstances during lockdown have been stressed with financial and health worries, and that home-schooling and keeping busy has been a huge challenge for many.

The challenges the children face

The children we support have learnt from their early experiences that the world can be a scary place, that huge things can go wrong very quickly, that people they care about can be taken away, that people can be unkind and unpredictable.  They see threat or danger in places and people that others might not and struggle to regulate the big feelings they have when they feel this danger.  As a result, these are the children in school who might avoid trying school work for fear of feeling huge shame, who see attack in a gentle instruction and shout or storm off, who worry so much about what is happening at home that they can't concentrate or battle with constant anxious feelings.  

How we want to help
With this money we want to expand our usual school-based services for the period following the children returning to school. We want to offer additional drop-in sessions for children who are struggling, for 4 weeks in 6 primary schools in Midlothian. Our team are placed in schools and nurseries as well as working from our office base. In schools a therapist is known to the school, the children, their families and the community. With additional available sessions we can "scoop" the children who are worrying, anxious, angry and aggressive and give them a space to play out what is going on in their heads. Offering this support should help the children to express what is unsettling them and allow them to get back into the routine of being at school.

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This project successfully funded on 22nd July 2020