Krista Heller, Art Therapist, helps assemble play therapy kits
So many things have changed because of COVID-19 including how we treat the youngest of our patients. One of the best tools clinicians like to use when visiting the office with these young patients are Expressive Therapy. During COVID-19 this transformed into “play therapy tool packets” shown in the photo.
The kits help children deal with behavioral health issues through expressive play therapy usually conducted in our offices, in schools and other settings. But with the restrictions due to coronavirus, we cannot do that safely. Crayons, Play-doh, fidget toys, kinetic sand and other children’s toys used in this type of therapy are all toys that we cannot keep on hand because of how much they are handled and how difficult it would be to keep clean.
When the virus hit, our clinicians immediately came up with the idea of play therapy tool packets to send to homes. They filled these bags with the important play items to help these children in need. The toys were delivered to families to be used during therapy which, of course, is conducted virtually.
We appreciate our thoughtful team members who developed this idea, assembled the kits and made the deliveries! In fact, everyone at Tri-County Mental Health Services has had to be innovative in its delivery of services during the past few months during coronavirus restrictions and we can’t thank our staff enough.
When we wrote our budget for this year, we did not plan for COVID-19 and the vast amounts of cleaners and masks and other items like these kits that we need to deliver services under these new circumstances. Our community needs us, and we will be here but we need a helping hand from our supporters to continue to provide superior services especially in this unprecedented time. We hope you’ll consider an online donation to help support our programs during this health crisis.
It’s safe and simple to donate online to Tri-County. Thank you for your support, and please stay healthy.
