When children can’t always tell us what’s happening, there are other ways to listen.
Three days of experiential, face-to-face training for professionals working with children aged 3–12.
Learn to create and hold a safe, child-led space where play can communicate what words cannot.
You’ll develop the relational understanding, practical skills and confidence to facilitate structured Therapeutic Messy Play groups within your own setting.
The child leads. You hold the space.
View Dates & Book Your Place
INTRODUCING THERAPEUTIC MESSY PLAY FACILITATOR TRAINING ...
You want to help. But sometimes you’re not sure how to reach them.
You know the child, the one who becomes overwhelmed when something doesn’t go to plan, who finds transitions, boundaries or uncertainty hard.
Who struggles to find the words for what they’re experiencing. Who withdraws, shuts down or becomes highly activated when demands increase.
Who seems to experience relationships, sensory input, communication or play differently from the children around them.
And when you can see they’re struggling, you naturally want to help, all while questioning...
How do I reach this child?
What do I do when talking, explaining or another strategy isn’t working?
How do we meet their needs while also protecting the safety, learning and wellbeing of everyone around them?
Therapeutic Messy Play Gives You Another Way to Respond.
"Play is how children try out and learn about their world, play is therefore essential for healthy development."
Violet Oaklander
What is Therapeutic Messy Play Facilitator Training?
For professionals supporting children aged 3–12.
Therapeutic Messy Play facilitator training is a structured programme that helps you support children who struggle to communicate, manage uncertainty or access interventions, giving you the skills to create safe, child-led play spaces where children can explore, express and connect without needing to find the right words first.
This course helps you understand what sits beneath the child’s experience, without rushing to interpret, diagnose or fix.
Through Therapeutic Messy Play, you learn how to notice more, stay curious and respond with greater confidence when a child is struggling to communicate, becomes overwhelmed, finds relationships difficult or cannot easily access support.
By playing alongside children within a safe, structured and child-led space, you gain a different view of how they explore, respond, relate and communicate, helping you support them with greater awareness, sensitivity and skill.
Our three-day programme focuses on:
Exploring how safety, predictability, connection and the adult-child relationship shape the experience. You’ll look at how to stay present, communicate empathically, hold appropriate boundaries and reflect on your own responses without taking over the child’s process.
Helping you become more curious about what a child may have capacity for in the moment. You’ll explore how stress, environment, communication, sensory experience and individual difference can influence what a child is able to manage, and how you can adapt your pace, language, expectations and environment accordingly.
Exploring why child-led, messy, sensory, embodied and imaginative play can offer children another way to communicate and explore. You’ll learn how to follow rather than direct, maintain safety and boundaries, and put the practical skills of Therapeutic Messy Play into action.
By the end of the programme, you’ll have the:
Knowledge, Practical Skills and Relational Framework
needed to facilitate your own Therapeutic Messy Play Groups.
You’ll leave better equipped to support children who may struggle to find the words, manage uncertainty, cope with demands or engage with more adult-led approaches, while giving them a space where they can begin from where they are.
What Therapeutic Messy Play Makes Possible...
Build practical skills that benefit the child, the practitioner and the wider school or organisation.
Sarah Lowe
“Really enjoyed the balance of theory and experiential learning... a lot of relevant content delivered in a way that made it accessible – never overwhelming – thank you!”
Integrative children’s Counsellor
Toni Mcgregor
“A fabulous course with great strategies that can be used in our day to day practice. Super delivery of different attachment styles – really useful!”
Relax Kids Practitioner
Claire Damson
“Loved every aspect of the training, so insightful and informative. Excellent knowledge from facilitators, who were warm-hearted and genuine!”
Teaching Assistant
What Therapeutic Messy Play Makes Possible
“Create safety. Lead with empathy.
Hold with acceptance. Set limits with care.”
How does Therapeutic Messy Play training work?
Therapeutic Messy Play combines three days of face-to-face experiential training with practical resources and online learning support, so you can build your understanding, practise the skills and take what you have learned back into your own setting.
Throughout the programme, you will develop the knowledge, relational skills and practical tools needed to become a Therapeutic Messy Play Facilitator.
You will receive:
- Three days of face-to-face experiential training focused on the Power of Relationships, the Power of Stress and the Power of Play.
- Practical skills practice to help you develop confidence in holding a child-led space, maintaining boundaries and using SEAL in practice.
- Your own online members training area with supporting resources and additional learning materials you can return to after the course.
- Downloadable templates and practical resources to support the preparation, delivery and reflection involved in running Therapeutic Messy Play groups.
- Guidance on setting up and facilitating groups safely and appropriately within your professional role.
- Reflective exercises and practice activities to help you notice your own responses, strengthen your relational skills and develop greater confidence in the facilitator role.
- A Certificate of Completion on successful completion of the programme.
More than training you can understand it is training you can use.
The aim is not simply to give you information about play.
It is to help you leave with a clear framework, practical skills and resources you can take back into your school, organisation or practice and use to create and skilfully hold Therapeutic Messy Play groups for children aged 3–12.
The Child Leads. You Hold the Space.
WHEN & WHERE IS THIS COURSE?
Next Course: October 2026
Our next Therapeutic Messy Play Facilitator Training will take place over
Three face-to-face training days in October 2026.
Dates: Exact Dates TBC. October 2026
Location: IntraQuest Wellbeing Center
Format: 3 days, face-to-face
Booking through a school or organisation?
Email [email protected] to reserve your place and arrange payment by invoice or Purchase Order.
Is Messy Play Right For Me?
Therapeutic Messy Play is designed for professionals who already work with children and want a more skilled, relational way to support them when talking, explaining, or when our strategies are not enough.
You do not need to be a therapist.
You do need to be someone who wants to understand children more deeply, respond with greater confidence, and create safe, child-led spaces where they can explore, communicate, and be supported.
Yes, Messy Play works for …
Teachers, Teaching Assistants, SENCOs, Learning Mentors & Pastoral Staff
If you are supporting children who become overwhelmed, struggle with transitions, find relationships difficult or cannot always communicate what is happening for them, this programme gives you another practical way to respond.
You will develop the skills to create and hold a structured Therapeutic Messy Play space, maintain clear boundaries, notice what a child may need in the moment and support them without constantly directing, fixing or taking over.
For schools, this means developing greater therapeutic capability within the staff who already know and support your children every day.
Counsellors & Therapeutic Practitioners
If you already work therapeutically with children and families, Therapeutic Messy Play can add a structured, child-led, messy, sensory, and relational approach to your existing practice.
You will explore how to follow the child’s initiative, protect their agency, communicate empathically, and hold clear boundaries while staying within the scope of your professional role.
The programme is therapeutically informed, but it does not train participants to become Play Therapists or provide psychotherapy.
Family Support, Early Help & Community Practitioners
If your role involves supporting children and families through emotionally complex situations, Therapeutic Messy Play can give you another way to build connection and support children who may not easily engage through conversation alone.
You will learn how to create a predictable, accepting and safely held space where children can explore through play, while you remain responsible for the boundaries, safety and relational environment around them.
What Our Clients Are Saying...
Nathan Lewis
“A well balanced course and very engaging...Looking forward to using it all in a real session!”
Early Help Professional
Samira Patel
“My mind is blown. The detail of this course is outstanding! Not only did I gain a deep understanding of how children use play to communicate their emotions, but the self awareness training and attachment styles was so useful for my work”
Counsellor
Lucy Broadhurst
“Fabulous course with two great leaders. Learned so much – mind blown! Excited to put this into practice!”
Teaching Assistant
Who Teaches Messy Play?
Meet Jenny Westwood Co-founder of IntraQuest
*Leading Expert Play Therapist, Global Industry Trainer, and Co-founder of IntraQuest*
Jenny Westwood is a distinguished figure in the field of Wellbeing services. As a leading expert in Play Therapy and the co-founder of IntraQuest, she has spearheaded transformative initiatives and played a pivotal role in shaping the landscape of mental health and well-being within the UK.
Her extensive and varied skill set incorporates diverse therapeutic modalities, including MBTI, CBT, NLP, Filial Therapy, AUTPlay Therapy, and Animal Assisted Therapy.
Her mastery of these diverse approaches allows her to tailor her services to the unique needs of each individual and community she serves.
Meet Kate Jackson,
Senior Play Therapist
Kate is IntraQuest’s Senior Therapist and brings more than 20 years of therapeutic experience of her own.
Her work combines extensive therapeutic experience with a practical understanding of what supporting an actual child looks like when things aren’t straightforward.
Together, Jen and Kate bring more than four decades of therapeutic experience into the room.
More than training. Practical learning you can take back into your work.
IntraQuest has supported more than 10,000 professionals across its wider training programmes, including educators, frontline practitioners, counsellors, managers and leaders working with children and families.
Our training is designed to go beyond theory.
You learn from experienced practitioners who understand what it is like to support children in real settings, with real pressures, real uncertainty and no simple answers.
Therapeutic Messy Play brings that experience into a practical, relational programme that helps you build the confidence, understanding and skills to support children in a different way.
You will learn how to create and hold a safe, child-led play space, respond with greater curiosity, maintain appropriate boundaries and support children who may struggle to communicate or engage with other.
Leave with more than knowledge.
Leave with a structured approach, practical tools and a clearer understanding of how to be alongside children when words are not enough.
Enrol in Therapeutic Messy Play and learn how to create the kind of space where children can feel seen, supported and safely held.
GET STARTED TODAY!
Everyone’s journey is different. Find the right package for you:
Booking through a school or organisation?
Email [email protected] to reserve your place and arrange payment by invoice or Purchase Order.
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