Clarissa Smith

Playful Nurture exists to support children in need, be they struggling with social, emotional or behavioural issues. I am committed to co-creating meaningful and safe strategies with children and young people that will enable them to move forward in their life journey in such a way that they can identify, value and use their strengths to work with their difficulties.

Playful Nurture aims to offer children a ‘face, place and space’ to both express and explore their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Our aim is to provide an authentic, warm and nurturing therapeutic relationship that can hold challenging and complex lived experience, enabling and empowering children to play out and through what's troubling them.

I use play and creative arts therapies alongside talking to support children to express and explore what is happening with, to and for them. Playful Nurture offers Trauma informed (Tavistock and Beacon House trained) and SEN aware practice ( Play Therapist at Outstanding Complex Needs School).

Sometimes, children and young people may need a way of working that helps them to put into words, their thoughts feelings and experiences, Play and the Creative Arts therapies are evidenced based ways of doing just this. And sometimes play and the creative arts enable a child to process what has happened without words and this is especially valuable for young children and children with SEN needs.

I hold additional accreditation in Post-Adoption Therapy for Children and Young People, AutPlay Therapy, Child Parent Relationship Therapy, Multi-Modal Attachment Therapy, Sandstory Therapy. I have led teams, developed services, delivered training and have been a trustee of a National Charity.

I am able to offer additional support with therapeutic parenting sessions and creative counselling to young people and adults. I can offer individual, couples and group sessions.

I have over thirty years experience supporting children and families with mental health, complex needs and infant feeding issues.

I am currently undertaking Creative Clinical Supervision Training and am able to offer creative clinical supervision.