CREATING SAFE SPACES
A Safe Place to Be HEAL: How Play Therapy is Helping NEWPORT Children
Some children arrive at school carrying far more than a school bag.
Hidden beneath the surface can be experiences of trauma, bereavement, family breakdown, anxiety, separation, neglect or loss. These experiences often show themselves in ways that can be misunderstood. A child may withdraw completely. Another may become angry or impulsive. Others simply lose confidence in themselves and the world around them.
At the Alfie Nick Foundation, we believe every child deserves the opportunity to feel safe and understood.
That's why we're proud to partner with Luna Play Therapy and St Woolos Primary School in Newport, funding specialist therapeutic support for children experiencing some of life's most difficult challenges.
Every Child Has Their Own Story
The children supported through this project have all faced very different circumstances.
Some have experienced bereavement or significant family loss. Others have lived through parental separation, anxiety, attachment difficulties, neurodiversity or instability at home. Each child arrived carrying their own unique experiences and emotional needs.
While every story is different, they all have one thing in common.
Every child deserves someone who will take the time to understand them.
Healing Begins with Trust
One of the most striking themes emerging from the project is the importance of the therapeutic relationship itself.
Before any significant progress could be made, each child first needed to feel safe.
Across every case, the children's play therapist, has carefully built trust through patience, consistency and acceptance. Children who initially avoided eye contact, spoke very little or tested every boundary gradually became calmer, more relaxed and increasingly willing to communicate, explore and connect. That growing sense of emotional safety became the foundation for everything that followed.
Watching Confidence Grow
One of the most remarkable patterns we have observed is how children's play changed over time.
Many began by choosing solitary, sensory activities that reflected themes of family, nurture, loss, confusion or insecurity. As trust developed, their play became increasingly creative, cooperative and imaginative.
Children started inventing games, creating their own rules, taking healthy risks and confidently explaining their ideas to others. Those changes may appear small, but they represent something much deeper: growing confidence, increasing autonomy and a belief that their ideas matter.
For one child, this meant moving from almost complete silence to engaging confidently in conversation.
For another, it meant replacing chaotic, dysregulated behaviour with calmer, more thoughtful decision-making. Others developed stronger friendships, greater resilience and a growing willingness to explore new ideas and experiences.
Looking Beyond Behaviour
A powerful lesson from this partnership is that behaviour is often only part of the story.
When children are given a safe environment, trusted relationships and the freedom to express themselves through play, remarkable things can happen.
Confidence grows. Self-esteem develops. Relationships become stronger. Children begin to explore, communicate and believe in themselves in ways that previously felt impossible.
These aren't simply improvements observed within therapy sessions - they are foundations that help children engage more positively with school, friendships and everyday life.
Creating Opportunities to Thrive
At the Alfie Nick Foundation, we know lasting change doesn't always begin with big interventions.
Sometimes it begins with one trusted adult. One conversation. One place where a child feels completely safe.
Through this project, we've funded a dedicated play therapy room at St Woolos Primary School - a calm, welcoming space where children can begin to process difficult experiences through play. It's a space where trust can grow, confidence can flourish and children can simply be themselves.
We hope this room will continue to be a place of healing for many years to come, supporting countless children who need the opportunity to feel safe, understood and valued.
Changing a child's story can begin with the opening of the door to a room where they know they belong.