Retrofitted Bus Brings Mental Health Services to Kansas City Kids
The Children’s Place on Wheels is rolling into our community, bringing mental health services to young children throughout Kansas City. A traveling mental health therapy playroom in a new minibus expertly retrofitted for this purpose, The Children’s Place on Wheels eliminates the barrier of transportation and brings mental health services directly to young children at schools, early education centers and more.
Reducing Obstacles to Mental Health Care
Families have long asked The Children’s Place to provide mental health therapy services outside our building. The Children’s Place on Wheels overcomes so many barriers to pursuing mental health care, including:
- Finding time in families’ busy schedules
- Navigating caregivers’ changing work schedules
- Finding childcare for other children
- Expense of weekly sessions
The Children’s Place on Wheels will travel directly to schools, early education centers or other community partners to meet the children where they are. Children can receive the mental health therapy they need to heal from their past experiences and thrive.
Mobile Play Therapy
Our community partners have often requested to have our therapists on-site to assist with meeting the mental health needs of the children they serve, but one of the greatest challenges of doing this is identifying a room appropriate for play therapy. Play therapy is a therapeutic modality that gives children the chance to communicate about their experiences and feelings by using play. For play therapy to be most effective, it’s important to have a playroom that provides a safe space for children to create, reenact, pretend, yell—whatever they need to do—all while remaining private. The Children’s Place on Wheels is carefully designed so that it is truly like stepping into a playroom at The Children’s Place.
Consistency is extremely important in play therapy so that children can know what to expect in the playroom to be able to talk through their experiences on the road to healing. Play therapy spaces have a range of toys to help children express feelings, show nurturing or to tell the stories of past traumatic experiences. Other toys allow children to express curiosity or pursue mastery of a skill. When a child enters a play therapy space, they know that they have autonomy and can do what they need to do in that space, a rare chance for children who have much of their world ordered for them.
A State-of-the-Art Therapy Space
The Children’s Place on Wheels is completely unique to the Kansas City area, and, in fact, only one such play therapy bus exists nationwide. Beyond the reworking of the interior, the bus has other features, including a solar-powered heater and air conditioner to control temperature while parked, heated floors, and voice-activated lighting to create a comfortable therapeutic environment.
Staffed with a registered play therapist and a driver, the bus will park outside a center to meet with children for appointment-based therapy sessions. These clients will still be referred through The Children’s Place and begin their journeys with an initial developmental assessment along with a meeting between the caregiver and therapist. From there, the child will have a weekly appointment on the bus, with both the therapist and bus driver on the vehicle during sessions to ensure safety for all. Interns or fellows who are pursuing careers in the mental health field will also join at times to learn from our experienced therapists and develop an understanding of community-based mental health.
Learn More
Learn more about The Children’s Place on Wheels and opportunities to partner with local schools or community organizations by filling out the form below:
Frequently Asked Questions
The Children’s Place on Wheels partners with schools and early education centers throughout Kansas City to bring mental health services to the children at those locations. When The Children’s Place on Wheels begins a partnership at a school, the school sends home a flier for families to learn about this new opportunity. Families who think that their child would benefit from mental health therapy are invited to contact The Children’s Place, where they will then schedule an in-office developmental assessment to learn more about their child’s needs then discuss if therapy would be a good fit at their child’s school through The Children’s Place on Wheels.
Our bus parks outside the school, and school staff bring children out one at a time for scheduled therapy sessions. A clinically licensed therapist meets with the child, and our Driving & Safety Coordinator also stays on board to ensure the safety of all. At the end of the session, children are walked back inside the school and checked back into their classroom.
While the therapy sessions through The Children’s Place on Wheels take place while children are at school, therapists stay in frequent communication with each child’s caregiver to discuss the child’s progress on their treatment goals.
The Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County provided underwriting for the expense of therapy on The Children’s Place on Wheels, ensuring there is no cost for families.
Thank You Donors & Vendors!
This new program is possible thanks to generous support from CAPTRUST, Fore The Kids Foundation the Philoptochos Society and Eleanor Shutz Memorial Fund. We’re grateful for the Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County for underwriting the expense of therapy and ensuring there is no cost for families.
Thank you to the following talented vendors who helped bring our vision to life: Master’s Transportation, Stay In Your Lane, Tire One Wraps & Apparel, and Brookside Toy & Science.
