for young people:

The space has been set up just for young people to feel happy and good, where they can have fun and play.  When young people go through hard times it can stop them from having fun and playing because they are just trying to make it through each day.  Having fun and playing is really important while young people are growing up, it helps them feel good about themselves and about the important people around them.  The space is set up so that young people can do things that they missed out on if they want to.  Hopefully the space feels more like a cosy home than an office.  When young people have gone through hard times they sometimes show this in the way they act and people might say that this is “bad” behaviour instead of understanding that this is happening because the young person does not feel ok.  Being asked to see a counsellor could make young people feel like something is wrong with them, but young people are perfect and wonderful just the way they are, they just might need some help to feel better and playing and having fun in a nice and safe spot is a great way to feel better.  There is a counselling room where young people can talk about the hard times they have gone through and what might help, it is also a cosy place to feel close and connected to loved ones if they have come along for a chat too.  There is also a play space and an art space for working on hard things in a fun way.  Every spot is meant to be a safe place where young people can show how they are thinking and feeling in whatever way helps.         

for adults:

The space has been designed to be a therapeutic environment specifically for young people, and so it provides an environment for playfulness and fun.  When a young person is impacted upon by trauma they lose the capacity to engage in play as they become neurobiologically set for survival only; play is crucial for developmental processes and so many young people who have experienced trauma have missed out on stages of their development; the space is intended to respond to developmental unmet needs.  For this reason the space has been purposefully non-clinical so that it is experienced as a fun and inviting therapeutic environment for young people.  Many young people who present with trauma related behaviours can feel pathologised due to negative responses to their symptoms and so are resistant to engaging with professionals to access support, particularly counsellors, as this further indicates to them their sense of pathology, the playfulness of the environment is intended to counteract this experience.  There is a counselling room designed to facilitate processing work through Talk Therapies, though more importantly it is designed to support connection and comfort within relationships through Attachment Based Therapies.  In addition to the counselling room there is also a separate play space and art space designed to facilitate processing work through a diverse range of therapeutic activities, particularly through Theraplay and other Creative Therapies.   Every therapy room is intended to provide a safe environment where young people can express themselves in whatever way is helpful for them.