COASTAL CHILDREN'S COUNSELLING & CONTACT SERVICES
COUNSELLING & SUPERVISED CONTACT SERVICES
We provide Counselling, Animal Assisted Therapy, Sandplay Therapy,
Parent/Child Interactive Therapy, Supervised Contact & Handover Services.
SANDPLAY THERAPY, COUNSELLING, ANIMAL ASSISTED THERAPY
Lisa Gray offers specialist counselling in Ballina for children & adults. Lisa is a qualified counsellor and sandplay therapist. She is an integrative therapist and uses different approaches according to her client's needs. These include child-centred play therapy, sandplay therapy, animal assisted therapy, solution focused therapy, cognitive therapy, expressive therapies & symbol work. These evidence based counselling methods support emotional healing of children and adults.
Play Therapy is children’s natural engagement in play which creates an emotionally safe therapeutic environment that encourages communication, attachment, self-expression and problem resolution for children. Play Therapy is fostering a healthy child development while applying or designing play-based interventions that help children meet their therapeutic goals. By using children’s natural play processes to assist them to form attachments and milestones in a healthy way it assists children and family challenges such as aggression, anxiety, attachment, depression, grief, abuse and neglect, traumatic events, autism spectrum disorders, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, oppositional behaviours, perfectionism, domestic violence and family breakdown.
Lisa uses sandplay therapy and counselling to help children & adults to explore issues such as trauma, family separation, autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, anxiety, attachment, grief & loss and post traumatic stress disorder. Lisa welcomes NDIS self-managed and plan managed children and their families. Progress reports can be provided so NDIS goals and personal goals are monitored and reviewed. Lisa provides services to children and young people in out of home care developing progressive reports and attending collaboration meetings tailored for each individual child's needs.
Animal Assisted Therapy sessions are available with Lisa's Labrador Bailey
Animal Assisted Play Therapy is defined as the integration of animals in the context of play therapy, in which counsellors and animals engage with clients primarily through systematic playful interventions, with the goal of improving clients’ developmental and psychosocial health while ensuring the animals’ emotional well-being and voluntary engagement. (VanFleet R, Faa-Thompson T, 2017) Animal Assisted Play Therapy is offered on selected days/times and assists children with regulating their emotions and developing the skill of identifying the social cues of others. Often children with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder, fetal disorder, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, oppositional defiance disorder, anxiety, attachment, grief & loss and post traumatic stress disorder have difficulties mis-reading the social cues of their peers and adults. As dogs provide children and adults opportunities to engage and interact with, can be quite playful, accepting and non-judgemental in their relationships with people. Dogs enjoy physical contact with people they also display some of the behaviours or social problems that clients do, such as hyperactivity, misbehaviour, anxiety, separation anxiety, shyness or difficulties with impulse control. This can prompt clients to assist the dog thereby helping themselves. Dogs live in the present moment, which is consistent with the engagement of play and aims to be helpful for those who worry about the past or future and whose anxieties prevent them from playing fully or living more in the present moment. As children engage in playful activities with the therapy dog, children can experience some relief from their anxieties as they learn and develop skills to be in the present moment. Dogs abilities to engage and connect with children aids therapists to build trust with the counsellor and other people in their lives.
Reference
VanFleet, R. Faa-Thompson, T. (2017). Animal Assisted Play Therapy. USA. Professional Resource Press
SUPERVISED CONTACT
Our primary focus is the safety and well-being of children & adults. We create opportunities for children to be with another parent or significant others in a safe, professionally supervised and positive environment. We recognise the significant value of both parent’s presence in a child’s life. Contact will be held in accordance with court orders / or by mutual agreement of the parties and within a neutral, non-threatening location. All supervised visits provided are monitored visitation. The accompanying supervisor will have to see and hear all exchanges where the child is involved. We will support & guide the parents positively through this process with implementation of a ‘service agreement’ tailored to the child/ren’s and their needs and in accordance with any current orders or parental agreements.
A comprehensive report of the supervised contact visit will be documented, securely stored and available for court purposes. We work with families to encourage positive interaction between children and their parents, and to support the strengthening of these relationships.
Member of the Australian Counselling Association
M. 14029
ABN: 41680336991
Our goal is to supervise contact between the residential parent/guardian and the visiting parent or significant other.
Supervisors will observe and take notes about the parties’ interactions, what is said, done and observed. Supervisors will directly intervene if a parent says or does something even unknowingly, that is not appropriate in some way. The nature and engagement varies and is influenced by the circumstances leading up to the provision of service.
We provide a playroom equipped with toys and games to facilitate a safe and calm environment for
contact visits.
Supervised Transport Services & Handover Services also available
Counselling modalities such as:- Sandplay & Expressive Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Family Therapy can assist children to develop life-enhancing qualities such as confidence and resilience.
Sandplay therapy is a nonverbal, therapeutic intervention that makes use of a sand tray, symbols, miniatures and sometimes water, to create scenes of miniature worlds that reflect a person's inner thoughts, struggles, and concerns.
Sandplay is a form of therapy that gives both child and adult clients the opportunity to portray, rather than verbalise, feelings and experiences often inaccessible or difficult to express in words. Sandplay also provides a balance to the extroverted, verbal, and outer-focused everyday world.
Sandplay for children and adults releases spontaneity, offers a relaxed place to work out inner conflicts and build resilience. Sandplay therapy is unstructured. It allows clients to experience healing through the therapeutic process. Children & adults can express what’s going on for them in the safety of the tray to be able to process it and heal it.
Counselling can provide children and adults with a kind of unbiased attention, empathy and space to express how things are really going for them. With the counsellor the child is able to process their feelings, voice their confusion and ask questions that they may not feel able to ask their parents. Counselling can act as a voice, if necessary and can monitor the well-being of children or adults during stressful times.
Animal assisted play therapy sessions with Bailey is available on consultation.
Our goal is to assist you navigate the process of family separation and provide educational, emotional & practical support about the impacts separation and contact arrangements can have on children.
Resolving and minimising conflict between parents has been shown to help children and protect them from the negative effects that come with parental separation and is important for their well-being and must be given high priority.
Lisa Gray
Coastal Children's Contact Services was established after 23 years of working within the welfare, trauma counselling, supervised contact and early childhood education fields.
Lisa holds qualifications in Counselling, Animal Assisted Therapy, Early Childhood Education, Child Protection & Community Services.
We provide supervised contact & counselling services.
Our key goal in supervised contact services is to help families make the transition to the safest option for the family.
We enable families in conflict situations to connect peacefully, in order to establish and maintain a positive relationship between children and both parents.
We facilitate the making of safe and positive arrangements for visits and pride ourselves in a high quality, professionals service which can be tailored to meet the different needs of each family.
Our contact supervisors are professionally trained and have both National Police Clearance and Working with Children Checks. They have a sound knowledge of child developmental needs and issues and hold qualifications in Counselling, Early Childhood Education, Child & Family Support and Community Services.
We are committed to delivering services of the highest standard. As a private service we voluntarily comply with guidelines and processes, required of children’s contact services guidelines.
Please contact Lisa Gray for further information on supervised contact, counselling, sandplay therapy & animal assisted therapy and to arrange a consultation.
Steps to apply for this service
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Complete new client application or counselling Form
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Gather information & signed documentation
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Quote provided
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Service agreement signed and payments agreed
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Contact | Counselling | Consultancy takes place
Intake & Assessments Applications
Testimonials
Lisa Gray provided invaluable expertise in play therapy. All the children that the therapist has worked with has benefited greatly from her input. The therapeutic work was an integral aspect of the work done to promote confidence and resilience, explore difficult and challenging scenarios in a positive way. The impact of her work was very apparent. Through the medium of play children were given the opportunity to express their feelings and understand the events that have taken place. This process offered children new skills to help them deal with their circumstances and move forward. Out of home care, Case Manager 2022
The child I referred to sand play therapy was referred because of his complex emotional and behavioural issues and in particular to give him the support that he needs to be able to explore some of his feelings and begin addressing some of his difficulties. This child has developed in leaps and bounds since he began to attend counselling. He explored some of his past experiences, making sense of his feelings and testing out ways to communicate these, addressing some of his controlling behaviours and anxieties, as well as for relaxation. Therapy dog Bailey assisted him to remain regulated and helped him to learn the social cues of others. This service has formed a key part of the child’s care plan. He has had a very unstable life over the past few years, such that he has not had the time and space to be able to address his previous traumatic experiences. He began play therapy at a time that he began to settle in a stable foster placement. This was seen to be a good time for the child to begin play therapy and the work he has done appears to have been pivotal in the progress that the child has made in relation to his development, his foster placement and within his school. It appears to have been the gentle introduction he has needed to address his issues while also giving professionals working with him some insight into his emotional life and welfare, something which had been previously very difficult for professionals to assess because of the child’s difficulties in communicating his feelings.
Out of home care, Social Worker 2022.
Parent/child interactive therapy has been a huge help. It has provided me with the right tools to move forward and away from continual tricky situations. The therapy has helped me and and my child to create a better understanding of day to day issues.
Before sessions I felt my communication with my kids was more about asking them to complete tasks rather than just enjoying my interactions and spending time to play with them. The sessions have taught me how to communicate with the kids in a way that opens up their emotions to me. I can see they are more relaxed and talkative with me and we now have a much stronger bond. Counselling, parent and children 4 years, 6 years & 10 years 2022.
Lisa is a gifted therapist with a warm, gentle approach. In the parent & child counselling consult Lisa explained the different approaches and techniques she uses. Lisa showed me some examples of sand tray therapy and how she uses this in a directed and non-directive way. I knew my child and myself would be in good hands. My eight year old daughter came to Lisa after experiencing difficulties at school that seemed completely out of character. My daughter’s self-esteem was rapidly declining and the school recommended Lisa’s counselling services. Lisa worked with my daughter to reclaim her confidence and trust in herself, as well as providing reassurance and support to me and giving strategies and valuable insight to her teachers. My self-assured, happy child has returned and I couldn’t be more grateful. Now my nine year old son is seeing Lisa. My son thoroughly enjoyed having therapy dog Bailey in his session and he can’t wait to go back. I couldn’t recommend her more highly myself.
Counselling, Mother of 8 year old girl and 9 year old boy 2021.
Lisa Gray is a very genuine person with a calm demeanour. She is committed to providing the best service for you and your family and the situation you may be facing. She is dedicated to ensuring your child is kept safe during any visitation and her reports are unbiased and fact based. Lisa is also very good with kids and my child was very comfortable in her presence. Her centre is also filled with any toy imaginable which was a thrill for my young one. It was a joy to use Coastal Children's Contact centre because Lisa was very flexible and able to provide an exceptional service amidst the border closures and virus restrictions. I would highly recommend using Lisa Gray as your supervisor for contact as she is genuine, calm, dedicated, unbiased and reliable.
Thank you Lisa!
CR, Contact Services, December 2020
"Lisa provided a welcoming, private and stress-free environment for supervised visitations, facilitating reconnection in a respectful and unobtrusive way in what was - and tends to invariably be - a hard time. She remained strictly impartial, maintaining a consummately professional disposition throughout the process. On several occasions Lisa drove out to accommodate specific border difficulties (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and provided consistent prompt visitation reports upon request. Having used one other contact service during the process that was no less than a full hour closer to me, I still found myself preferring the weeks when I needed to make the longer drive as the quality of the service and environment provided by Lisa radically outstripped the other, comparatively chaotic option. Having since finished requiring Lisa's service, I believe I will feel compelled in perpetuity to recommend her supervision and counselling services to anyone unsure of their best option."
- TJH, Contact Services, December 2020
I am a father to a four year old, and upon finding Coastal Children's Services I found the intake to be speedy and professional whilst also being thorough. The flexibility of the supervisor, Lisa, made it easy to find a suitable time for visits which were in a safe and warm environment and could also be held at facilities such as swimming pools and parks. The visits and subsequent reports made it much easier to transition beyond a third party supervision service due to the comfortable setting and the reports that followed, making all parties in the matters happy with the progress.I would highly recommend Coastal Childrens Services for any and all third party supervision needs. Supervised Contact Services, August 2020
Lisa has been the best thing that has happened to us. My son aged 10, is globally delayed with various diagnoses - some neurological disorders and some environmental inputs, has been very challenging - constantly asking & questioning myself “What am I doing wrong?” or “Why does he do this?” Meeting Lisa I instantly felt heard & understood & was able to also express to her some of my own struggles, which I felt were impacting myself & then in turn also impacting my son. As well as having all my son’s needs & inclinations clearly explained and emotions labeled, Lisa communicated very clearly with me. I was able to reflected on what she was seeing. Lisa has a maternal instinct & I feel from the start has really understood my son & myself. My son from the very start felt welcomed and was very eager & excited to get into Lisa room for some down time. Lisa also introducing her therapy dog Latte - made this all the more special. We love Latte. wish every child could have a Lisa in their life. Aimee, Counselling Services, June 2020.
This child focused supervised contact centre helped my family to facilitate a safe a positive interaction for my child. Supervised Contact, June 2020
Sandplay therapy has been absolutely amazing for my daughter, she was able to express her thoughts and feelings. I had trouble understanding her outbursts and Lisa assisted me with regulating her emotions and gave her the tools she needed to calm herself down. Parent, Counselling Services, August 2020
My daughter got referred to Lisa as she was struggling with the separation of me and her father, and had been witness to domestic violence. Lisa was patient, empathetic to both me and my daughter, warm and understanding. Lisa was fair and consistent with her boundaries, which my daughter responded really well to. I would recommend Lisa for support any day and am grateful for the help and change she created for my child. CB, Counselling Services, April 2020
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