“We put water in the playroom with children who have experienced floods. They place toy people on toy boats and show them scared of falling off; other times, they will just pick up all the animals and throw them into the rain,” explains Play therapist Nicky Nilsson.
“Sometimes they will paint a sky that has a little bit of rain and then suddenly very dark, foreboding clouds with a massive amount of rain. Even just the sound of rain can increase distress in a child who has been through a flood,” she told the Western Plains App.
Play therapy is a mental health intervention that supports the emotional well-being of children and is increasingly being deployed to help bush kids bounce back from natural disasters…