OUR
HISTORY
The Melbourne Play Studio was created by Dr Emma van Daal as a mental health practice that would support children and women in a play-full and relational way.
Tired of the pathologising rhetoric surrounding mental health and emotional well-being as something to be “treated” or “fixed”, Dr Emma understands healing from trauma is not just psychological work ‘done’ by a client. It is about feeling, sensing, and perceiving being safe, a felt-sense of belonging, and being understood in the body as well as in our relationships with others our connections with the wider world.
Dr Emma set out to change this by creating a practice with people who would attend to the relational, psychological, sensory, and affective aspects needed in trauma healing and recovery.
She assembled a team of experienced practitioners who provide attuned relationships and ‘get’ the lived experiencing of trauma and psychological distress beyond symptoms and deficits. As Play Therapists, Arts Therapists, and Child Psychotherapists, we work alongside, not inside, the medical and education models, enabling a focus on elevating the inherent strengths and capacities of all children.
Dr Emma created a bespoke environment purposefully designed using the principles of trauma-informed design to further promote a felt sense of safety, calm, and belonging—elements intrinsic to good mental health and emotional well-being.
OUR
PHILOSOPHY
At The Melbourne Play Studio, we have a modern vision of therapy founded on the idea play and play-fullness are fundamental in how we engage, respond, and overcome problems, challenges, and difficulties. For us, we live and practice by this philosophy not just in the therapy room, but in our personal lives too.
Play or being playful teaches us to be curious, have compassion, and seek connections with the world around us. It can be central to the process such as play and art therapy, but it also relates to how we think about problems, express ourselves, and approach relationships. In this way, the art of play is foundational in discovering the self and the cornerstone of therapy so children and adults can grow and develop into the best versions of themselves they can be.
OUR GALLERY
