About
Meet Keren
I'm an accredited Play Therapist and Supervisor registered with PTUK.
Before training as a Play Therapist, I spent twenty years as a teacher, including senior leadership roles — most of that time in schools for children with Special Educational Needs.
I have extensive experience working with children with autism, delayed development, and severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, and I continue to work one and a half days a week in two special school settings as a Play Therapist.
That background shapes how I work.
I understand how a classroom, an EHCP or a school system can feel from the inside — and how a child with SEN might need more time, more repetition or a different way in before they can express what's going on for them.
I adapt my approach accordingly, always following the child's lead.
I now work across Hampshire and Surrey with children and young people aged 4–16, in schools, foster placements and family settings — often supporting children who are looked after or adopted.
Alongside my Play Therapy and supervision training, I have trained in Environmental Arts Therapy, an approach pioneered by Ian Siddons Heginworth that brings the natural world into therapeutic and reflective practice.
Growing up in the Welsh countryside gave me a lasting appreciation of nature as a source of restoration and grounding. I bring that awareness of nature, seasons and cycles into my work with children and supervisees.
A little more about me
Outside of work, I’m a mum of two. We share our home with Phoebe, our small fluffy rescue dog. As a family, we love getting outdoors together, walking the countryside near us, heading to the coast when we can and making the most of family holidays.
Professional reassurance
I am registered with the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), hold Level 3 Safeguarding training, an Enhanced DBS check and appropriate professional insurance for my work as a Play Therapist and Supervisor.
WHY RAINBOW TURTLE?
I don't believe there is a single formula that works for every child. Every child brings their own experiences, personality, strengths and ways of communicating. My role is to create the conditions in which they can feel safe enough to explore those things in their own way.
My twenty years in education, including senior leadership and extensive SEN experience, give me an understanding of the wider world around a child — not just what happens in the therapy room.
Play, sand, symbols, art, clay, puppets, stories, music and imaginative play can all provide different ways for children to communicate and explore.
I follow the child's lead while remaining attentive to when gentle questions, reflections or more structured techniques may be helpful.
Where appropriate, I work alongside parents, carers, schools and other professionals so that the adults around a child remain connected and supported.