Psychology and Play Therapy Australia is committed to ensuring the rights of children to access developmentally appropriate mental health, trauma recovery, family support, and education services to heal, grow and reach their potential. We seek to honour children's experiences by promoting child-sensitive and trauma responsive therapeutic practices across all setting in which children live, learn and play.

We are at the forefront of integrating best practice psychological and play therapy approaches that focus on the healing powers of relationship and play, structured in a neurobiologically sensitive manner to meet the specific therapeutic needs of individual children. We recognise play as central to how children come to learn about themselves, their relationships, and their world.

There are two arms to our service:

1) Professional services - supervision, training & consultancy

2) Therapy services - clinic based in Hobart & telehealth offered Australia-wide

Psychology and Play Therapy Australia has established itself as an inspiring provider of supervision, training and consultancy services for professionals and organisations across the mental health, play therapy, child protection and Out of Home Care, education, and child and family organisation settings. We deliver these services Australia-wide and internationally. Our services are targeted to supporting psychologists, play therapists, counsellors, social workers, and organisations working therapeutically with children and families.


Our clinical service is based in Hobart in a private practice setting, and also provides telehealth services Australia-wide. We provide psychology and play therapy services in response to a broad range of presenting issues and referral sources. In addition, our Trauma Therapy Service provides dedicated trauma responsive care to children living in Out of Home Care, supporting their recovery from the effects of abuse and trauma.

We invite you to explore our website to learn more about our professional background, play therapy, upcoming professional development opportunities, and details about our range of supervision and consultancy services for you and/or your organisation.

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”.