Welcome to the play express
*rendering metal health and psychosocial support to children and families*
About the play express
Are things a bit “off the rails” at home or at school?
Is your child going through a difficult time, struggling to express him or herself, or displaying challenging behaviour?
Growing up isn’t easy and can even be overwhelming at times. Life’s expectations and challenging circumstances can have a great impact on a child’s emotional and social development, which can leave a parent feeling discouraged and unsure how to best support their child.
the play express believes in empowering children and families with the skills necessary to overcome their challenges and enhance their social and emotional well-being through the use of child coaching, play therapy and parenting support in a safe environment.
the play express offers its services in English, Dutch and Afrikaans to children between the ages of 4 to 18 years old. It is a mobile children's practice, which means that the play express will travel to your doorstep to render the services at the comfort of your home or an agreed upon location.
Please feel free to contact the play express for more information.
the play express can help your child to:
develop a positive self-esteem and sense of self
work through traumatic experiences
adapt to a new or challenging situation
build confidence and a sense of competence
develop resilience and assertiveness
develop and improve problem-solving abilities
improve emotional and social skills
explore, become aware and express emotions
discover his/her talents, inner strength and potential
We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” - Charles Schaefer
Services
Child coaching is a positive motivational approach aimed at empowering children and equipping them with skills they need to overcome the challenges in their lives.
Play therapy is a form of psycho therapeutic intervention for children, where play is used to help children when they are experiencing challenges in their socio-emotional development.
Parenting support provides parents with practical advice and skills to enhance the parent-child relationship and support their children.
The 7 ROSES Empowerment programme (Seven Recovery Orientated Survivor Empowerment Strategies) supports the recovery process of individuals/groups who have witnessed or experienced a life changing, distressing or traumatic event.
Online services including: parenting support, 7 ROSES empowerment and individual counselling via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, email or telephone are now available.
The Wise Eye Reading programme helps poor readers become better readers and good readers to become exceptional readers. Offering reading services from pre-school to adulthood.
News
May 2020 - August 2020
Fresh from the press: "Implementing the 7 ROSES empowerment programme at Centurion Haven of Hope in Pretoria, South Africa.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, two temporary shelters were set up for homeless people and vulnerable families living in the Centurion area. the play express collaborated with the non-profit organisation, the Centurion Haven of Hope, to render psychosocial services to the homeless and vulnerable families, and implemented the 7 ROSES empowerment programme with two groups of participants at the shelter. There were a total of 9 sessions that took place, including the introductory and closing sessions and the discussion of the 7 themes. Being homeless presents its own unique set of challenges and even more so in the time of a global pandemic.
The focus of the programme was to provide a safe space for the participants where they could express and share their fears, hopes, feelings, and offer the chance to make connections with others facing similar challenges. In addition, the participants gained new insights, self-awareness and skills to improve how they respond to difficult thoughts, situations and relationships with family and community members. They also learned coping strategies for handling stress, anxiety, depression, emotions, and overcoming their daily challenges.
"I feel like I am a different person. I have learned so much about myself and why I react the way that I do. " - participant
"The breathing exercises really helped me to calm down and manage my stress levels" - participant
"This programme really helped me to get new insights and has helped me to restore some relationships with my family" - participant
"I liked the theme about Identity. I didn't realise that I had so many strengths and it was really helpful to learn how to use them" - participant
May 2020
Fresh from the press: "the play express now also offers online services including: parenting support, the 7 ROSES Empowerment programme and individual counselling."
Life as we knew it, has changed drastically due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. We have to adapt to the "new" normal and this can have a great impact on our mental health and psychosocial well-being.
Are you or your child struggling to cope with the current circumstances?
We are here to help you and your family to build resilience and thrive during these challenging times!
the play express now provides some of our services online via Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp, email or telephone.
Online services are an effective alternative to in-person sessions.
Please do not hesitate to contact the play express and inquire about our newly launched online services.
April 2020
Fresh from the press: "the play express now offers a new service - the 7 ROSES Empowerment programme (Seven Recovery Orientated Survivor Empowerment Strategies) to groups or individuals.
Shocking events can be very disruptive and cause distress. In order to regain a sense of control in your life, you need to become of aware and rediscover your own strengths. The 7 ROSES Empowerment programme supports the recovery process and focuses on identifying support networks within your environment, building resilience, restoring social connections, restoring hope and giving meaning to what happened. The programmes discusses empowers the participant/s with new knowledge and practical skills that forms a part of the recovery process.
January 2020
Fresh from the press : "the play express is going to Southern Africa to support community projects through the biking for more play time initiative!
The initiative is to raise funds and support community projects in Southern Africa. We aim to cycle from Cape Town, South Africa to Harare, Zimbabwe. The goal is to cycle 3000 km! We will support 4 community projects: the Ha Matela Youth Centre in Lesotho, the John 3:16 trust projects in Zambia (secondary school) and Botswana (creche), and our main project is the start up of an early learning centre in Harare, Zimbabwe.
biking for more play time! An initiative to support community projects in Southern Africa. Our goal is to raise €1,- for every 1 km that we cycle.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 restraints, the biking for more play time initiative is placed on hold. We were able to cycle 1000 km from Cape Town, South Africa to Aussenkehr, Namibia, and then various lock downs came into effect. We were able to raise funds to support the community projects with their immediate needs during these challenging COVID-19 times! Thank you for your ongoing support!
November 2019
Fresh from the press: "the play express supports the Tjeko Foundation in Uganda"
Since May 2019 the play express have been volunteering at Tjeko in the Netherlands, developing content for the Tjeko Live programmes and material for their “Creativity is everywhere” series that they implement in schools in Uganda. Tjeko is a social profit organisation that promotes the importance of play in developing countries. In November 2019, I had the opportunity to go with Tjeko to Uganda to meet the Ugandan staff and present a three day workshop on the use of play techniques when working with children.
