Follow :
All about All about kids
All about kids is a legacy to Carefree Kids, a small children's charity that was based in Walthamstow, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest. Regrettably, it closed on 30th September 2019 when they were unable to secure funding. It had been operating for 15 years and provided therapeutic play and other therapies to children in their own school. Please take a look at the short videos below, listen to a radio interview or read the documents to find out more about their valuable work. The archive CFK website is available online here.
Staff and volunteers talk about their work with vulnerable and troubled children.
A pro bono film by a leading advertising company shows the impact of CFK.
Animation by a 7-year-old demonstrating the value of therapeutic play sessions with CFK.
An interview on Forest Radio, a community radio station in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, with Adam Land, Chair of Carefree Kids at the time of closure. Adam talks about the history of CFK, its work, and the process of winding-up when future funding could not be secured.
In 2018 Carefree Kids published their first Impact Report. CFK was a remarkable community-based organisation that has been supporting the wellbeing and mental health of children and young people in and around Waltham Forest since 2004. In this report, they set out the benefits they delivered during 2013-18 and outlined some of the improvements they made to our core service over this period.
Carefree Kids' therapeutic work, informed by the principles of non-directive therapeutic play, provided emotional support, and training in emotional support, to children and adults who otherwise would be unlikely to be able to benefit and/or train from this method of help. They strived to combine a friendly, locally-based organisation with the highest possible standards and have high expectations of all the volunteers and trainees; hence this handbook which sets out these expectations.
An information sheet about play and play therapy. It contains a wide range of free resources, including online courses, videos, podcasts, websites and suggestions for further reading.
Carefree Kids has provided therapeutic play to children across Waltham Forest for the last 15 years. Their work has touched many lives, and helped hundreds to get back on track, grow and thrive; They are rightly proud of their huge achievements. Sadly, a shortfall in funding this year has meant they are unable to continue their work and so they've made the very difficult decision to close down.
​
On behalf of all those in Walthamstow who have benefitted from the work that Carefree Kids has done I want to say thank you to all those who have worked so hard for this charity- whether in a formal or informal capacity.
​
Stella Creasy MP for Walthamstow
eNewsletter August 2019
Further reading
If you would like to know more about child-centred play therapy, these books come highly recommended and were the three core texts that all CFK volunteers were required to read before commencing work with a child.
The book chronicles a series of play therapy sessions over a period of one year with an emotionally disturbed boy (Dibs) who comes from a wealthy and highly educated family. Despite signs that he is gifted, his mother, father, and most of his teachers perceive him as having an emotional or cognitive disorder. Dibs presents abnormal social behaviour by continuously isolating himself, rarely speaking, and physically lashing out at those around him. The book details the interactions between Dibs and Axline and utilizes actual session transcripts for dialogue.
An intensely practical book that gives specific illustrations of how therapy can be implemented in play contacts, and tells how the toys of the playroom can be vivid performers and aids in growth. As she did with Dibs in search of self, Dr. Axline has taken true case histories from the rich mine of verbatim case material of children referred for play therapy, choosing children ranging in age, problem, and personality. It's all here in an important and rewarding book for parents, teachers, and anyone who comes in contact with children.
Garry Landreth’s comprehensive text on creating therapeutic relationships with children through play. It details the Child-Centered Play Therapy model, which stresses the importance of understanding the child’s world and perspective. This approach facilitates the play therapy process while allowing therapist and client to fully connect. Professors who have taught a course based on the previous edition will be pleased to find the core message intact, but updated with a significant body of recent research. Expanded to cover additional topics of interest.