Child & Play Therapy
Virtual and In-Person in Collegeville, PA
Where Play is the Work.
Kids don’t talk about their feelings. They play them out. Play therapy at coeo gives your child a language they already speak, so the hard stuff (the big feelings, the hard transitions, the things they can’t quite put into words yet) has somewhere real to go.
Why Play Therapy?
For kids, play is how thoughts get organized, feelings get processed, and the world starts to make sense. We’re not going to ask your seven-year-old to sit on a couch and talk through their childhood. That would be boring. It would also be pretty ineffective.
Adults talk things through. Kids play things through. A sand tray, a puppet, a pile of blocks, none of that is a distraction from therapy. That’s the therapy.
At coeo, we don’t see your child as a problem that needs a diagnosis attached to fix it. We see them as a human learning to navigate a very big, very loud world.
Our play therapy space is built for exactly that. Sand trays and figures, art supplies, sensory materials, puppets, dress-up, books that meet kids where they are, even when where they are is grief, trauma, or a feeling they don’t have a name for yet. Every piece in that room has a purpose: helping your child feel safe, seen, and understood, so they can make sense of what they’re carrying and start building trust in themselves again.
Our Approach to Play Therapy
We use Child-Centered Play Therapy as our foundation, an approach grounded in the belief that kids already carry the capacity to work through what they're facing. Our job is to build the kind of relationship that lets that capacity show up. That means following your child's lead in the room, not directing it, while staying attuned to what they need.
A few things that shape every session:
Trauma-informed. We understand how trauma shows up in a young nervous system, and we move at a pace your child’s body can actually tolerate.
Neurodiversity-affirming. We draw on AutPlay Therapy and similar frameworks so neurodivergent kids are met as they are, not corrected into someone else.
Developmentally attuned. What works for a 5-year-old and what works for a 10-year-old are not the same thing, and we adjust accordingly.
Strength-based. We start with what’s already working, not just what’s hard.
Culturally humble. We show up curious about your family’s story instead of assuming we already know it.
Mindfulness-integrated. Breathing, body-based grounding, and simple mindfulness tools get woven in when they fit.
What a Session Might Look Like
No two sessions look the same. Some days it’s the sand tray. Some days it’s puppets working through a hard moment from school, or clay in small hands while something big gets processed underneath. Here’s some of what shows up in our room:
- Sand tray therapy
- Puppet play and storytelling through dolls
- Art expression and clay modeling
- Music and movement
- Board game therapy
- Dress-up and role play
- Building blocks therapy
- Nature collection play
- Emotion cards and journal drawing
- Water play
For kids working through anxiety or big stress, we’ll also bring in tools built specifically for calming a busy nervous system: glitter jars, calm-down corners, breathing exercises, and a portable calm kit your kid can actually take with them when session ends.
What a Session Might Look Like
No two sessions look the same. Some days it’s the sand tray. Some days it’s puppets working through a hard moment from school, or clay in small hands while something big gets processed underneath. Here’s some of what shows up in our room:
- Sand tray therapy
- Puppet play and storytelling through dolls
- Art expression and clay modeling
- Music and movement
- Board game therapy
- Dress-up and role play
- Building blocks therapy
- Nature collection play
- Emotion cards and journal drawing
- Water play
For kids working through anxiety or big stress, we’ll also bring in tools built specifically for calming a busy nervous system: glitter jars, calm-down corners, breathing exercises, and a portable calm kit your kid can actually take with them when session ends.
What Play Therapy Can Help With
Play therapy supports healthy development, helps kids process emotions they can’t yet articulate, and builds the trust that makes any of this work possible. It’s a place to build problem-solving skills, reduce anxiety and stress, and work through behavior that’s been hard to understand from the outside.
It’s also a place for the harder conversations about things like grief, death, divorce, trauma. The things that don’t come up naturally at the dinner table but need somewhere to land.
Who This Is For
Ages 3 and up, wherever they’re starting from.
Whether your child is navigating a big life change, working through something hard that happened, or just needs a space to be a kid while the adults figure things out around them, play therapy meets them there.
Meet the Humans in the Room
Leia (she/her)
Before stepping into the therapy room, I spent years in the classroom as an early childhood educator. That time taught me something fundamental early on: people, no matter how small, don’t need to be fixed or forced into rigid molds. They just need to be seen, understood, and met right where they are. My work is grounded in a deep love for humanity, cultural humility, kindness, and a steady commitment to justice. I genuinely believe every person carries an innate strength and resilience, even when life feels overwhelming or messy.
I specialize in working with kids and adolescents, helping them navigate the big, complicated feelings and transitions that come with growing up. Because younger clients rarely process their world through standard “sit-and-talk” therapy, I lean heavily into play therapy. Play is a child’s natural language. It’s how they work through emotion, build confidence, and make sense of what’s happening around them. My sessions are warm, collaborative, and judgment-free, giving kids and teens room to explore, play, learn, and grow at a pace that actually feels safe and natural for them.
Sarah (she/her)
Sarah grew up in what she’ll cheerfully call “a complicated family system,” which is a nice way of saying she learned early and often how much our relationships shape who we become, for better and for worse. That lesson turned into an actual career: understanding attachment, why we bond and rupture the way we do, and how those patterns keep showing up years later at the dinner table, or in a relationship we swore this time would be different.
She works with kids, adolescents, young adults, and adults navigating anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, eating disorders, and the family or relational stuff that never fits neatly into fifty minutes. While she pulls in her experience from her prior career as a teacher, she’s not a hand-you-a-worksheet-for-homework kind of therapist. She’ll let a session breathe and follow wherever it needs to go, because insight tends to show up faster when nobody’s being rushed toward it.
Why we Partner with Parents
We don’t believe in the drop-off model of therapy. You can’t send your child into a room for fifty minutes, have them magically fixed, and hand them back into a home and world that hasn’t changed alongside them.
We partner closely with parents. We’ll help you understand your child’s nervous system and how to co-regulate with them when they’re spiraling. The goal is for the tools we use in our office to make it to your kitchen table, your car rides, and your bedtime routine, not stay behind in our playroom.
Investing in Private-Pay Therapy
We’re private pay because we believe access to a better life shouldn’t have to run through a diagnosis first. To bill insurance, a therapist has to give your child a formal diagnosis, often before that first session even ends. But kids don’t come to therapy because something is wrong with them. They come because life got big. A divorce. A move. A hard year at school. A little brother who takes up more space than they know how to handle. Play therapy gives them a way to work through all of that without needing a diagnosis to explain why they’re allowed to be there.
When insurance is involved, so is an insurance company. They decide how many sessions your child gets. They can request notes about what happened in the room. They have opinions about what progress should look like on their timeline, not your kid’s.
Here’s what private-pay offers:
- Privacy. What your child shares through play stays in that room. It doesn’t end up in a permanent record they didn’t ask for.
- No forced labels. Your child doesn’t need a diagnosis to be sad, or scared, or acting out in ways that don’t make sense yet. Sometimes a kid is just having a hard time, and that’s enough of a reason to help.
- Their pace. Play therapy works because kids set the pace, not a spreadsheet. No session caps handed down by someone who’s never met your child.
A diagnosis was never going to explain your kid to you. Time, patience, and a therapist who actually gets down on the floor with them will. Private pay just makes sure nothing gets in the way of that.
A Note on Superbills
While we don’t let insurance dictate our care, we’re happy to provide you with a Superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for potential out-of-network reimbursement. You get full control over your care, and your insurance can help foot the bill on your terms.
Investing in Private-Pay Therapy
We’re private pay because we believe access to a better life shouldn’t have to run through a diagnosis first. To bill insurance, a therapist has to give your child a formal diagnosis, often before that first session even ends. But kids don’t come to therapy because something is wrong with them. They come because life got big. A divorce. A move. A hard year at school. A little brother who takes up more space than they know how to handle. Play therapy gives them a way to work through all of that without needing a diagnosis to explain why they’re allowed to be there.
When insurance is involved, so is an insurance company. They decide how many sessions your child gets. They can request notes about what happened in the room. They have opinions about what progress should look like on their timeline, not your kid’s.
Here’s what private-pay offers:
- Privacy. What your child shares through play stays in that room. It doesn’t end up in a permanent record they didn’t ask for.
- No forced labels. Your child doesn’t need a diagnosis to be sad, or scared, or acting out in ways that don’t make sense yet. Sometimes a kid is just having a hard time, and that’s enough of a reason to help.
- Their pace. Play therapy works because kids set the pace, not a spreadsheet. No session caps handed down by someone who’s never met your child.
A diagnosis was never going to explain your kid to you. Time, patience, and a therapist who actually gets down on the floor with them will. Private pay just makes sure nothing gets in the way of that.
A Note on Superbills
While we don’t let insurance dictate our care, we’re happy to provide you with a Superbill that you can submit to your insurance company for potential out-of-network reimbursement. You get full control over your care, and your insurance can help foot the bill on your terms.
Let's Connect
Fill out our contact form, and a coeo team member will reach out to learn more about what you’re looking for. We’ll schedule a free 15-min consultation or connect you directly with a therapist
Frequently Asked Questions
What is play therapy, exactly?
How is this different from just playing with my kid at home?
You already play with your kid, and that connection matters. What’s different here is intention. Every toy in our room, every activity, is chosen to help your child express something specific, whether that’s processing a hard experience, building trust, or working through big feelings. Our therapists are trained to notice what’s showing up in the play and respond to it in ways that support real healing.
What age is play therapy for?
Play therapy typically works well starting around age 3-4, once a child has enough language and imaginative play skills to engage with the process. There isn’t a hard ceiling. Some older kids and preteens still connect best through play rather than sitting and talking, and we’ll always meet your child where they actually are, not where a chart says they should be.
Will I be in the room during sessions?
Usually not, and that’s by design. Kids open up differently when a parent isn’t watching, even a parent they trust completely. We’ll check in with you regularly outside of session so you’re never in the dark about how things are going.
If I'm not in the room, how do I know what's happening?
We’ll keep you looped in on themes, progress, and anything you need to know to support your kid at home. What we protect is the specific content of your child’s play, the exact stories, the exact words. That privacy is often what makes a kid feel safe enough to actually go there in the first place. If something raises a safety concern, you’ll always be the first to know.
How many sessions will my child need?
It depends on what they’re working through. Some kids move through something specific in a handful of sessions. Others, especially with trauma or bigger life changes, need more time. We’ll talk openly with you about what we’re seeing and adjust as we go, not stick to a number just because it’s the number.
What if my kid doesn't want to come, or won't talk?
Completely normal, and not something you need to fix before the first session. Play therapy doesn’t require your kid to explain themselves or want to be there. Our job is to build enough trust that showing up starts to feel okay, at their pace.
Do you work with neurodivergent kids?
Yes. Our approach is neurodiversity-affirming, meaning we meet your child as they are instead of trying to shape them into a more “typical” mold. If your child is autistic, has ADHD, or processes the world differently, that’s not something we’re working to correct. It’s something we’re working to understand.
What if my child has been through something traumatic?
Our approach is trauma-informed from the ground up. We move at a pace your child’s nervous system can actually handle, and we never push a child to talk about or replay something before they’re ready. Healing on their timeline, not a treatment plan’s.
Do you take insurance?
We’re a private-pay practice, which means your child’s care isn’t shaped by an outside company’s rules about how many sessions they’re allowed or what diagnosis has to go on their permanent record. We know that’s a real financial question, so we offer a sliding scale for sessions with our clinical interns, and we’re always happy to provide a superbill you can submit for potential out-of-network reimbursement.
What should I tell my child before their first session?
Keep it simple and low-pressure. Something like, “we’re going to visit someone who has a whole room of toys, and you get to play while we talk.” You don’t need to explain therapy or prep them for anything specific. Curiosity is a great place to start from.
How will I know if it's working?
You might notice it before we tell you. Fewer meltdowns, easier transitions, a kid who seems a little more like themselves. We’ll also be checking in with you regularly, because you know your child better than a session ever could, and your read on things matters to how we shape the work.
