Child and play therapy for families in County Kilkenny

Kilkenny is the furthest of the counties we work with, and the honest starting point is that weekly in-person therapy from Kilkenny city is a long-term ask.

Kilkenny city to Kildare Town is over an hour each way. That is a two-and-a-half-hour evening, every week, for months, with a child who is already finding things hard. Some families do it and do it well. Many find it wears out before the work does.

So for teenagers, the answer for Kilkenny is usually online. For younger children it is more complicated, and we would rather lead with that than sell you a drive.

Online sessions, for teenagers and for parents

We offer psychotherapy online for teenagers and older children, and online support sessions for parents and foster carers. For most Kilkenny families with an older child, that is the route that makes weekly work sustainable.

It is not a lesser version. For teenagers in particular it is often easier to talk from their own room than in an unfamiliar building an hour from home.

Play therapy for younger children is in person only. The sand tray, the figures and the room are the work, and a young child on a screen is being asked to talk, which is the one thing play therapy exists to avoid. So if your child is young and needs play therapy, the journey from Kilkenny is real and unavoidable, and there may well be someone closer to you who suits better. We will say so if we think it.

If you do want to come in person

Castlecomer is the closest part of the county, around fifty minutes. Kilkenny city is a little over an hour. Thomastown, Callan and Graiguenamanagh are further again.

A pattern that works for some families with a teenager: the first few sessions in person, so the young person meets the therapist properly, then online once that relationship is established. Parent sessions can be online while a child comes in.

What we offer

Play therapy for younger children and psychotherapy for older children and teenagers, ages 4 to 18. Fifty-minute weekly sessions. Work with parents and foster carers alongside, either separately or through our co-working model.

No referral is needed.

​For professionals in Kilkenny

Distance matters far less for training and consultation than for weekly therapy. A day's training for a foster care team or a residential staff group is one journey, not thirty, and it reaches every child those adults are working with rather than one.

We also take individual referrals from Tusla, GPs, schools and SENOs, with online delivery for teenagers where travel is not realistic. For younger children needing play therapy, be aware the work has to happen in the room.

Get in touch

Ring 085 711 5668 or email contact@safesteps.ie. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit at that distance.

Where we work: Kildare · Laois · Carlow · Offaly · Dublin · Wicklow · Mullingar and Westmeath · Online sessions