Bonnie L. Compton - APRN, BC, CPNP - Child & Adolescent Play Therapist

Bonnie Compton is a child and adolescent therapist/play therapist who specializes in both parenting and behavioral issues.  She has had many years of experience with children and families and is a mother of four adult children.  She finds it very rewarding to partner with kids and their parents to cultivate the family and home life they desire.  Find your way to a better relationship with your kids!

Bonnie Compton is a fully trained play therapist.  This is the focus of her practice.  In the following discussion,  Bonnie shares her philosophy of play therapy.

As we observe children interacting in their world, we often see them playing.  Play has been referred to as the “work of children”.  Through play, a child is able to master various developmental stages and work through difficulties that they may be experiencing in their everyday lives.  Children experience many emotions throughout their day, but often cannot language their feelings. 

A natural way for children to communicate feelings and work on problems, is through play.  We often trivialize play and dismiss it as something that children do just for fun, but it also serves an important role in therapy.  Therapeutic play serves many purposes.  Initially, it may serve to help the child feel comfortable and relaxed in a therapy session.  After all, play is something very natural to children and something that they engage in everyday.  Additionally, play therapy allows a child to express feelings through play.  There are many tools that we use in play therapy such as clay, puppets, artwork, sandtrays, expressive writing, and role-play.

As a play therapist, I have found play therapy to be an effective way to work with children.  It allows me to see their world in a very different way.

Bonnie received her undergraduate degree in nursing and both of her master’s degrees from the University of Maryland, School of Nursing.  She also completed formal training in play therapy.

Bonnie is excited to be part of HeartLight Healing Arts, which makes available many forms of therapy to patients and their families.