Welcome
Changing Childrens and Families Lives Through Supportive Play
Child Family Therapist - Tony Wheeler
CertIVDis, BPsychSC, GDipPsych (Adv),GradCert Family Therapy, MChildPThy.
Child Play Therapy
Play therapy is an evidence-based psychotherapy using a therapeutic approach incorporating play. A children’s most natural form of expression and learning, as a way to help them communicate, explore, identifying their feelings, and consequently making sense of their lived experiences.
Directive Play Therapy
Directive play therapy centres on the child’s view of the world and their place within it, using guided activities to encourage self-discovery, support decision-making, and nurture a positive sense of self. It also aims to build confidence through a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship with the therapist.
Learn to play
The Learn to Play program is a structured, directive approach that has proven effective in promoting pretend play in children. Pretend play—using imagination to explore objects, activities, or roles—supports key developmental skills, including self-regulation and impulse control.
Humanistic Play Therapy
For children who have faced challenges or trauma, expressing their thoughts and emotions verbally can be difficult as their brains are still developing. Non-directive play therapy offers a supportive way to bridge this gap, helping children process their experiences and emotions in a safe and natural way.
Child Centered Play Therapy
Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) a Modelity of humanistic play therapy builds on a child’s natural capacity for play, providing a safe and supportive space where they can explore and make sense of their thoughts and emotions. This approach highlights the healing potential of play, with the therapist taking on the role of a compassionate and supportive guide.
Systemic Play Therapy
Filial Play Therapy
Filial therapy supports children’s emotional and behavioral needs while also strengthening the parent–child relationship. Filial therapy uses psychoeducation to guide parents in engaging in one-on-one play therapy interactions with their children. This approach supports children in developing and strengthening relationships through non-directive play activities—experiences that are not focused on problem-solving but instead allow the child to explore their world and emotions at their own pace.
Child Parent Relationship Therapy
This approach is grounded in the principle that parents can serve as key agents of lasting therapeutic change. Collaborating with the therapist, parents work to strengthen their relationship with their children, enhance communication regarding emotions and social challenges, and cultivate a deeper mutual understanding and appreciation.
Family Therapy
Family therapy provides a safe and supportive environment for family members, couples, and loved ones to express and explore challenging emotions, gain insight into each other’s perspectives, acknowledge each other’s needs, and strengthen their relationships. The primary goal is to help everyone in the family understand and support one another. This approach can be especially valuable when families feel overwhelmed, sad, or angry, when they are uncertain about how to move forward, or when they find themselves stuck in repeating harmful patterns. Family therapy can also assist families navigating significant life changes, including illness, mental health or substance use issues, unemployment, moving, aging, divorce, trauma, or grief and loss.
Counselling
Counselling is a confidential and supportive process where trained practitioners work with clients to promote mental wellbeing, increase self-awareness, and help resolve personal challenges. Counselling offers a caring and supportive space to help people navigate life’s challenges. It can provide guidance and understanding for managing emotions like stress, anxiety, or grief; coping with major life changes; strengthening relationships; healing from trauma or loss; addressing mental health or behavioral challenges; nurturing personal growth; supporting families and parenting; and embracing and understanding neurodiversity.
About
Tony Wheeler
Tony brings over twenty years of experience working within the disability and mental health fields. Throughout his career, he has supported children, adolescents, and adults with Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Intellectual Disability (ID), Acquired Brain Injury (ABI), and individuals experiencing co-occurring mental health challenges.
Tony has worked across a range of settings, collaborating closely with families, schools, multidisciplinary teams, and community services. His extensive experience has given him a deep understanding of the complex needs of neurodiverse individuals and the importance of tailored, developmentally appropriate, and family-centred support.
In addition to his extensive experience in the disability field, Tony has worked with a broad range of psychopathological presentations across diverse settings. He has been providing counselling services since 2011, supporting members of the general public with a variety of psychological wellbeing concerns.
Tony’s professional work and ongoing study led him into the youth justice system, where he worked with some of the most complex and challenging behaviours presented by children and young people within the state of Victoria. This experience fostered a strong clinical interest in child development, trauma-informed practice, Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and a wide range of other psychological and behavioural presentations commonly observed within this system.
During his time in youth justice, Tony worked closely with carers and youth justice staff in his role as a Therapeutic Practice Leader. In this capacity, he supported the therapeutic management of children in protective care through comprehensive assessments, relationship-based interventions, and the facilitation of reflective practice sessions. His work involved collaboration with care teams, families, and frontline staff to promote consistency, safety, and positive developmental outcomes for vulnerable children
Tony continued his work as a Therapeutic Specialist within residential care settings, supporting carers, families, and multidisciplinary care teams. His role focused on helping children move away from antisocial behaviours and toward positive, prosocial activities. This work involved conducting comprehensive assessments, implementing targeted therapeutic interventions, and working directly with children, parents, and carers to support emotional and behavioural stability.
Throughout this period, Tony worked extensively with children presenting with trauma-related symptomatology and associated developmental and behavioural challenges. Over several years, this experience deepened his interest in trauma-informed care, Child Play Therapy, and Family Therapy, which continue to inform his therapeutic approach today.
More recently, with the completion of a Graduate Certificate in Family Therapy and a Masters of Child Play Therapy. Tony has worked as a Clinician supporting foster families with the goal of maintaining and preserving stable family structures. He remains deeply committed to working with children, families, and carers, while also delivering training on therapeutic practice and trauma to professional colleagues. Tony is dedicated to ongoing professional development and continues to expand his clinical knowledge through further study with various universities.