image Credit: CFJC Today/KSACC

By Adam Donnelly

TUMBLEWEED TOYS

Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre wants your help to Trim the Toyroom

Dec 21, 2022 | 2:59 PM

KAMLOOPS — At the Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre (KSACC), the therapeutic playroom is an important space for the youngest and most vulnerable clients the centre helps.

“Children and youth, aged three to 18 come into this room for therapeutic play,” Melinda Baxter, Client and Member Support Coordinator for KSACC explains. “The toys really become their language and support them processing the things that come up for them in their therapeutic play sessions.”

There are a wide variety of toys, books, and games available in the playroom. For counsellors, playing can be a way to help their clients feel safe and open up about the trauma they’ve endured.

“The folks that are coming in here, the children and the youth, are often in a pretty vulnerable space. They may not have some feelings of safety that other children and youth may have,” Baxter says. “Having a space that is bright, that is stocked with toys that are in good condition, where they can build that safety and rapport with their counsellors, is critical in allowing them to process and create some room to work through those things that come up because it is very heavy.”

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For Tumbleweed Toys Owner Vanessa Gammel, supporting organizations that help kids in the community is why they continue to work with the Sexual Assault Counselling Centre.

“For children that have suffered sexual abuse, it’s really such a traumatic experience,” Gammel explains. “We want to make sure that KSACC has all the tools they need to help those kids.”

Tumbleweed Toys and KSACC have made it extremely easy for people to help trim the therapeutic playroom for the centre, both in Kamloops and in Chase.

“They’ve made a list of all the supplies and equipment that they need for their play therapy room,” Gammel says. “We’ll take that list, and the customers around the store and find whatever they need that’s within their budget.”

You can also grab a gift card, which allows the centre to pick out anything else it may want to help trim the toy room. Any donation will help make those kids and youth feel safe, which can make that healing process easier.

‘For adults, it might be a cup of tea and a smile. For kids, it might be a toy or a stuffy that they get to take home,” Baxter says. “As a non-profit, grassroots, feminist organization, we rely on donations of toys to engage those children, to keep them coming here, and to support them in those really heavy things they’ve experienced.”

You can help Trim the Toyroom until early in the New Year. Just stop by Tumbleweed Toys to make a donation.