Children rarely have the words for what’s hardest, and play is where they already do their thinking.
I’m Kristina. For more than twenty years I’ve sat with children while they work through some of the hardest feelings of their young lives, and with the parents who love them and want to help.
A lot of what happens in that room is much quieter than you’d expect it to be.
Kristina Dixon, MC, RCC, RCC-ACS, BCRPT. Registered Clinical Counsellor and BCACC Approved Clinical Supervisor (BCACC #14861), BC Registered Play Therapist with the BCPTA, and Certified Synergetic Play Therapy Supervisor. Play therapy for children in Penticton, and online across British Columbia.
Does any of this sound familiar?
- Worries, stomach aches, and not wanting to leave your side.
- Meltdowns that don’t seem to match what set them off.
- A child who feels everything, in a world that’s too loud.
- Friendships or school that have become hard to face.
- A loss, a move, or something frightening that happened.
- Sleep that has quietly fallen apart.
You’re in the right place, and most parents arrive worried they’ve done something wrong. You haven’t.
Why play, and why it works
Long before a child can explain a feeling, they can show it: in a story, in a sand tray, in a game replayed over and over until it comes out differently.
I follow your child’s lead rather than steering, because a child who feels genuinely in charge of the room is a child whose body finally settles enough to work. That’s a deliberate and trained choice rather than an absence of a plan. My registration as a play therapist and my advanced work in Synergetic Play Therapy are, in large part, the study of how to stay calm and present next to a child while they move through something big.
There’s no fixed programme and no set number of sessions. What we do depends entirely on your child. You’ll always know what’s emerging and what helps at home, because you are the most important person in your child’s life and nothing I do works without you.
Hi, I’m Kristina
Children have been my focus since the very beginning of my career: a degree in Child & Youth Care, a Master of Counselling in attachment and family systems, and more than twenty years alongside kids and their parents.
What that means for you is someone experienced enough to have sat with almost any worry you might bring, and specialized enough to work only with children and the families around them.
Fees, and funding you may already have
$150 / 50 min, child or individual
$175 / 50 min, family or parents
Most extended-health plans cover counselling with an RCC. Autism Funding can be used here too: up to $22,000 a year for children under 6, and up to $6,000 a year for ages 6 to 18. I’m registered with CVAP.
In person in Penticton, or securely online anywhere in BC. Parent-only sessions are welcome, and you don’t have to bring your child along to begin.
You don’t have to know what to say
Most people write two lines, which is plenty, and we can work the rest out together. If you’d rather talk first, we can set up a free 15-minute call with no obligation and no paperwork.