Jumping Mouse Children’s Center © All Rights Reserved.

Web site design and Administration by English Specialty Arts

The Sandplay Area
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Consists of a wet and a dry tray, and numerous miniatures. The miniatures are conscientiously selected to represent families of animals, birds, and humans, different symbolic images (for instance, snakes, totems, witches), and many mythic images. A collection also includes representatives of the elements: fire, earth, air, water. An effort is made to have enough for a child to represent his or her feelings in story form.

The Consultation - Discussion Area
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We consult with parents monthly while we are serving their child in therapy. We are building an educational library that will respond to the concerns and needs of parents.

Our Puppet Collection
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This collection was gifted to us by our Rotary Club of Port Townsend. Puppets become very real to children, and take on the many feelings and voices that are alive within the child. The use of puppets makes the work a child must do one step removed from the self, so that the child won't be re-traumatized while letting the therapist know the child's truths.

The Painting Area
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Children use many art materials to express their inner perceptions. Art both expresses and re-organizes the child's feelings, while allowing the therapist insights into the child's attitudes and perceptions. Art provides that "safe place" for exploring a separate self.

The trays of a young pre-adolescent girl
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This child did a series of 20 trays. Her process remained very metaphoric. The theme remained the same: a gradual expansion of self-identity as she reached into her deep confusion and feelings. The story included an old woman mentor who over three sessions built a home on the edge of the sea. The old woman then assisted the mermaid in testing and discovering self-healing options in her world. The mermaid represented this changing child, who faced both healing child sexual abuse and looking forward to an increasingly complex self. At the end of her process, we celebrated her mysterious changes together.