PLAY PRESCRIPTION®
You don’t need to be a therapist to support a child’s healing and growth.
Play Prescription® brings the child therapist lens beyond the therapy room. A practical framework grounded in play therapy, psychology and child development.
Learn the complete framework through Play Prescription® Certification and make it work for your specific role with children and parents.
WHY PLAY PRESCRIPTION® EXISTS
The therapist's lens shouldn't stay locked inside the therapy room.
For decades, the understanding of how children heal and grow has lived with trained therapists - while the parents, teachers and professionals who are actually with children every day have been left with strategies, advice and information that doesn't hold up in the real moments. Play Prescription® exists to change that. It takes the child therapist lens - the one therapists train for years to develop - and makes it practical and useable beyond the therapy room. Because the child in front of you will meet the child inside you, and true transformation happens when we have the tools to heal and grow alongside the children we care for. One framework. Multiple applications. Grounded in evidence.
Read Our Story
CREATOR OF THE PLAY PRESCRIPTION® METHOD
About Dr Sam
When children’s behaviour leaves you second-guessing your next step, you need more than another strategy. Dr Sam Casey is a Child & Family Therapist, Registered Play Therapist and Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with a PhD in Psychology focused on play therapy.
Her work brings the child therapist lens and the power of play therapy beyond the therapy room: helping you look beneath behaviour, build connection through therapeutic play, and support children where everyday life happens.
Dr Sam created the Play Prescription® Method to bring this together in a practical five-pillar framework for understanding the child, the adult and the environment around them. Through Certification, you can learn the complete method and apply it in your own work.
More about Dr Sam →THE FIVE PILLARS
The five Play Prescription® pillars
A complete framework for understanding children, parents and yourself—and bringing the child therapist lens beyond the therapy room.
PILLAR 1
Childhood Experiences
Understand how your early experiences shape the way you see yourself, children and parents.
PILLAR 2
Needs Underlying Behaviour
Look beneath behaviour with curiosity. Understand the need and stand with the child against the problem.
PILLAR 3
Self-Commitment
Build the capacity to respond intentionally, with both self-compassion and accountability.
PILLAR 4
Role of the Environment
Understand how your environment works for you or against you—and what you can change so it supports you.
PILLAR 5
Therapeutic Play
Use play therapy principles to choose therapeutic play for the child's needs and your role.
WHO IT'S FOR
PLAY PRESCRIPTION® CERTIFICATION
Become certified in the Play Prescription® Method
Learn to think like a child therapist—and make it work for your role with children and parents.
The five pillars bring together Childhood Experiences, Needs Underlying Behaviour, Self-Commitment, Role of the Environment and Therapeutic Play.
- Learn the complete framework. Work through 16 weeks of content at your own pace, with five-pillar resource packs.
- Apply it to your role. Use the Method in the setting, role or business you already have.
- Reflect and bring it together. Complete a marked assessment and receive personalised written feedback from Dr Sam.
Other ways to work with Dr Sam
1-1 THERAPY
Get to know your child more deeply.
Learn child-centred play therapy skills in one-hour Child–Parent Relationship Therapy sessions with Dr Sam.
Practise with your child at home, then bring your notes, reflections or recordings back for individual feedback.
Initial one-hour consultation: $225 AUD.
CONSULTING
Bring the child therapist lens into your team's work.
Consulting for professionals and organisations working with children and families.
Focus on trauma-informed practice, therapeutic play or reflective practice. Look at what children and parents need—and what shapes the way your team responds.
Speaking, team training, case consultation and consulting.
EVIDENCE
Grounded in research. Built on practice.
The Play Prescription® Framework is built on a PhD in Psychology, evidence-based play therapy principles, and over 20 years of clinical experience with children and families. Research consistently shows that when parents and professionals apply therapeutic play principles, outcomes for children improve significantly.