Our Story
Psychology and Play Therapy Australia Pty Ltd was founded initially in response to demand from mental health, community services and education professionals supporting children and families for supervision, training and consultancy in the areas of play-based interventions and trauma-informed care. Psychology and Play Therapy Australia was born, with our professional services arm established.
Our Founder and Director, Katherine Olejniczak, has been at the forefront in Australia of integrating the latest neuroscience into psychology and play therapy practice, and a regular presenter of these innovative practices at key conferences throughout the country. As Katherine shared her knowledge and work throughout Australia, it resonated strongly with many professionals in the field, also gaining increasing international attention and publication.
With Katherine being based in Hobart, Tasmania, our clinical services arm was then established in 2019. We provide psychology and play therapy services to our southern Tasmanian community and now, also Australia-wide via telehealth.
At Psychology and Play Therapy Australia, we are passionate about ensuring children’s experiences are honoured, and they have access to developmentally appropriate mental health services.
Why? Because that’s what children have taught us they need!
Katherine began her journey as a psychologist providing therapy to children with a diverse range of presenting issues, and she explored numerous therapeutic approaches and models.
The children soon taught Katherine that they were best able to participate in therapy when it allowed them to express themselves through their most fundamental means – play!
Play therapy became Katherine’s primary theraeputic modality, utilising an integrative play therapy approach and the Play Therapy Dimensions Model (PTDM; Yasenik & Gardner, 2012) to guide clinical decision-making. Katherine recently proposed enhancements to the PTDM that integrates principles of neuroscience of psychotherapy, focusing on the role of affect regulation and the therapeutic dance. Katherine is now a published author, with this work being published in a book in 2019 – “Turning points in play therapy and the emergence of self: Applications of the Play Therapy Dimensions Model”.