Child-centered play therapy gives children a safe, developmentally appropriate way to express what they’re feeling when words aren’t enough. In this episode of the HerStory Podcast, Kylie King is joined by Nicole Nightingale, founder of Let’s Play SA Therapeutic Services, to explore how play becomes a child’s natural language for healing, emotional regulation, and connection.
Nicole shares how play therapy allows children to externalise challenges like anxiety, trauma, and behavioural struggles, helping them understand that they are not the problem – the problem is separate from them. Through toys, storytelling, and imagination, children can safely communicate experiences they may not yet have the language to describe.
The conversation also explores how play continues to benefit families beyond the therapy room. Nicole explains how parents can intentionally bring play back into everyday life, strengthening connection, building trust, and supporting emotional wellbeing at home. For business owners and parents alike, this episode is a reminder that healing doesn’t always come through talking, sometimes it comes through play.
What You’ll Learn in Episode 64
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Why play is a child’s natural language for communication and emotional processing
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How child-centered play therapy supports healing from trauma and anxiety
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The difference between play therapy, narrative therapy, and talk-based approaches
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How parents can use intentional play to strengthen connection at home
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Why slowing down and following a child’s lead builds trust and confidence
Guest: Nicole Nightingale
I am a South Australian social worker, play therapist, and solo mum whose discovered herself through rebuilding, resilience, and rising time after time. After surviving childhood abuse, and escaping a high-control religious organisation, I am determined to carve out a new path – not just for me, but for my two daughters and for the children and families I support every day.
Today, I am building a thriving private practice offering trauma-informed therapy to kids and young people, with a focus on play, creativity, and connection. Drawing from both professional expertise and lived experience, I love supporting children to navigate trauma, neurodiversity, and the foster care system, helping them reclaim their voices just as I have reclaimed my own.
I like making mental health support for children and families accessible, playful and real. I like to develop therapeutic resources that work for each individual and I am learning how to be more authentic in my online social presence. No matter what I do, I do it with honesty, heart and humour. Whether I am in the therapy room, the garden at home, tending my bees or facing the chaos of solo parenthood, I am doing it my way and making my business work for us.
What is important for me as a female in business is to not only write my own story but to completely smash the expected outcomes of women in business. I have courage and I care so much about creating something beautiful from what was broken and then supporting others to feel empowered to create their own beauty.
Named the inaugural Solo Mum in Business award winner at the I Did It Anyways Awards and a finalist in the *2025 Heart of Women Awards*, Nicole is passionate about making mental health support accessible, playful, and real.
From developing therapeutic resources to sharing snippets of her life and work online, Nicole blends honesty, heart, and humour in all she does.
Find Nicole:
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