{"id":39,"date":"2020-06-06T07:43:06","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T07:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/?page_id=39"},"modified":"2026-02-10T06:50:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:50:49","slug":"about-the-therapist","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/?page_id=39","title":{"rendered":"About the Therapists"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex_column av_one_full  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_one_third  avia-builder-el-first  \" style='border-radius:0px; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Poornima Ranchhod<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_one_third  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding first  avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_one_full  el_before_av_two_third  column-top-margin\" style='border-radius:0px; '><div  class='avia-image-container  av-styling-    avia-builder-el-3  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  avia-align-center '  itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"  ><div class='avia-image-container-inner'><div class='avia-image-overlay-wrap'><img class='avia_image' src='https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Poornima-new-headshot-websize.jpg' alt='Poornima Ranchhod' title='Poornima Ranchhod' height=\"419\" width=\"300\"  itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\"  \/><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<div class=\"flex_column av_two_third  flex_column_div av-zero-column-padding   avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_one_third  el_before_av_button  column-top-margin\" style='border-radius:0px 0px 0px 0px ; '><section class=\"av_textblock_section \"  itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/CreativeWork\" ><div class='avia_textblock  '   itemprop=\"text\" ><p>My name is Poornima Ranchhod. I am a play therapist, educator, presenter and founder of Play Sense. I\u2019ve spent many years working with children, young people with complex psychological issues (e.g. depression, anxiety, attachment disorders, family problems) and difficult life experiences (e.g. family stress, divorce, bereavement).<\/p>\n<p><b>Experience &amp; Training\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>My specialities include working with challenging behaviour, intellectual disabilities, Autism, ADHD, and Asperger\u2019s Syndrome. I have worked and offered therapy for various intellectual disability services in the UK, such as NHS (National Health Service).<\/p>\n<p>As a Health Practitioner-Specialist Assessor for Richmond New Zealand Trust, I worked with Oranga Tamariki to help establish a service for children, young people and adults with a disability and\/or mental health diagnosis. I have also worked with IDEA Services as part of their Autism Spectrum Disorder Service and facilitated the delivery of the Mates and Dates sexual violence prevention programme for RespectEd.\u00a0 I am also currently working with Stand T\u016b M\u0101ia.<\/p>\n<p>I am trained in child development, attachment (the bonding process), and the use and understanding of play as a child&#8217;s natural form of expression and communication.<\/p>\n<p><b>Qualification &amp; Memberships<\/b><\/p>\n<p>I hold a BSC (Hons) in Psychology and a Postgraduate Diploma in Play Therapy from the British Association of Play Therapy (BAPT).<\/p>\n<p>I am an international member of the British Association of Play Therapy and an affiliate member of the New Zealand Association of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapists.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div><div  class='avia-button-wrap avia-button-center  avia-builder-el-6  el_after_av_two_third  avia-builder-el-last ' ><a href='https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/contact\/'  class='avia-button   avia-icon_select-no avia-color-custom avia-size-large avia-position-center '  target=\"_blank\"  style='background-color:#ed9600; border-color:#ed9600; color:#ffffff; ' ><span class='avia_iconbox_title' >Contact Us <\/span><\/a><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-39","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511,"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/39\/revisions\/511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playsense.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}