Therapy company claims to go into liquidation as customers chase refunds

This Australian company promised refunds. Then it backflipped and months later, there’s still no answers.

A business owner has blamed her company’s inability to pay back refunds on her messy divorce and legal troubles — leaving customers owed thousands of dollars.

Western Australia-based Interplay Family Therapy Pty Ltd provides play therapy training courses to customers, a creative counselling method to help children with psychological issues, especially those with trauma.

But at the beginning of last year, the company suddenly cancelled all its workshops.

A month after that, Interplay said it was going into liquidation and customers should ask the liquidators about refunds. Nobody was ever appointed, however.

The company is still registered and has recently posted on its social media, although its director claims it has ceased trading.

Narelle Smith, a full-time carer for her severely autistic son, who is on the NDIS, spent $530 on an Interplay course that was cancelled.

“I had no idea how to deal with his trauma,” she said, explaining her decision to sign up for the courses.

The Melbourne woman has been chasing a refund for more than 18 months and has got nowhere.

Ms Smith, a mum of two, says the money Interplay owes her would go a long way but instead it’s gone into a black hole.

She only receives $150 a fortnight in carer payments for her non-verbal son and her husband works “crazy” hours to keep the family afloat.

Narelle Smith has been waiting for a refund for 18 months.

Donna Berry is the sole director of Interplay Family Therapy Pty Ltd.

In an email sent to customers in April last year, Interplay said that Ms Berry had been involved in a divorce and a “strenuous legal battle”.

“Donna has been left with no choice but to initiate the process of liquidating Interplay Family Therapy Pty Ltd. Consequently, we are required to cease all trading activities immediately,” the email read.

“As the liquidation process unfolds, any refunds or financial matters are no longer within Donna’s control. We sincerely apologise for any disruption this may cause to your plans or commitments with us.

“We understand this news may come as a shock, and we deeply regret any inconvenience this may cause to you, our valued clients.”

But at time of writing, the company is still registered on ASIC and has never been in liquidation.

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At first, Interplay cancelled courses and promised refunds.

A month later, customers were told the company was liquidating and that refunds were out of their hands.

Tony and Sian Vallance, a couple who run their own play-based health clinic in Victoria, had their own bizarre clash with Interplay.

Mr Vallance signed up as a student of one of Interplay’s courses run by Ms Berry and said he was struck by how she was “very charismatic, very open, very vulnerable”.

Students of the course role-played therapy sessions and were encouraged to share their own personal traumas.

“Everyone is encouraged to share pretty intimate details because people are under the assumption that it’s a safe space,” Mr Vallance recalled.

He disclosed “some pretty private stuff” involving his family.

But months later, someone visiting his workplace told him she recognised him from the videos.

“What videos?” he responded.

Mr Vallance said he gave permission for the session to be recorded believing it would simply be distributed to anyone who hadn’t been able to make that particular class.

Instead, he learnt the recording was sold as an online course to two other groups of students.

“To monetise that is utterly egregious,” Mr Vallance fumed.

“Basically it’s profiting off other people’s trauma,” said Mrs Vallance of her husband’s experience with the business.

They made a formal complaint to the Australian Play Therapists Association (APTA) about it.

Several others news.com.au knows of have also made complaints to the APTA. In response, Ms Berry said “APTA has not raised any issues with me in connection with any complaints made to it. My understanding is that there is a small group of individuals who are making

repeated attempts to discredit me, although their reason for doing so are unclear.”

Donna Berry is the sole director of Interplay Family Therapy Pty Ltd.

Records show that Ms Berry was bankrupt from mid 2018 until mid 2021 over a $300,000 debt to 14 creditors.

When news.com.au contacted her for comment, she claimed she was in the process of declaring herself bankrupt again.

Despite having told customers the Interplay would liquidate, Ms Berry told news.com.au she had decided not to liquidate the company, but said it had ceased trading.

News.com.au pointed out that Interplay continues to post online as recently as August last year.

“The creation dates of my social media accounts predate those of the company, demonstrating my independent ownership,” Ms Berry responded. “I have full control over these platforms and will continue to post on them as I see fit.”

The Interplay boss said only a $99 course and an overseas retreat had been cancelled and that these refunds would be given “in due course” – despite it already being close to a year since these cancellations.

“All services we offered were made available to customers, with accommodations provided for any unavoidable scheduling changes,” Ms Berry insisted.

But customers, like Ms Smith, who is still waiting for a $530 refund for her cancelled course, disagree.

Interplay was advertising retreats to Bali before it shut down.

Living on the outskirts of Melbourne, Ms Smith had been travelling 90 minutes each way taking her son to see a trauma specialist in the city, and so started to explore options to learn how to him herself.

As a result, she signed up to several Interplay courses.

In August 2023, she received an email that Interplay had cancelled one of the courses and she wrote back asking for a refund.

Interplay agreed she was entitled to $530 back, but it never came.

“Because (the company) was based in Western Australia, there wasn’t a lot I could do,” Ms Smith told news.com.au.

“It was going to be a lot more expense and time that I just thought (companies) like this know the system well enough where little people like me give up.”

Ms Berry said to news.com.au that Ms Smith’s refund “was approved” but gave no indication of when it would be paid.

Customers still have no clarity on what’s happening to their refunds.

Meanwhile, Sian Vallance had known and worked with Ms Berry for years at a previous business practice called Play Therapy Australia.

“I’d been presenting with her the scientific aspect of her course to give it validity,” Ms Vallance said.

When Ms Berry started her own company, Interplay, she asked her old colleague to work with her again.

“All the problems started when she split and started her own brand,” Ms Vallance said.

She didn’t realise this at the time and agreed to make a presentation to some of Interplay’s students.

In a similar incident to her husband’s, Ms Vallance claims the Interplay boss asked for her permission to record the presentation and she consented, believing it was for students who couldn’t attend the session.

Later, she learnt the recording was sold to students and demanded that Interplay remove the content.

She also engaged an intellectual property lawyer but ultimately decided not to pursue it any further.

In July 2023, Mr and Ms Vallance complained to Interplay about both their negative experiences.

They were surprised to receive separate legal letters from a lawyer representing Interplay.

Speaking to news.com.au, Ms Berry said that Mr and Ms Vallance both given their permission for Interplay to record and that their concerns were “unsupportable and not valid”.

Jess Sudiacal, 29, spent thousands of dollars completing Interplay courses.

Ms Sudiacal was shocked to learn that her course wasn’t recognised under a peak professional body.

Julia Underwood, 41, from Mandurah in Western Australia, said she paid thousands for a number of Interplay’s courses but said what she got was more like a group counselling session.

“It almost became like a four-day trauma dump,” she said of one of the programs.

After being left unsatisfied with that program, Ms Underwood ended up spending a further $2500 on another Interplay course.

But when the company changed the dates, she wasn’t able to make it as she was moving interstate with her mum, who has terminal cancer.

Interplay refused to provide her with a refund.

“I asked what the criteria was and it was either if a family member died or I was critically ill myself,” she said.

Then there’s Jess Sudiacal, 29, from Queensland’s Ipswich, who in 2022 was a “struggling new grad” but put forward around $6000 to complete the Interplay modules.

Ms Sudiacal spent this much on one Interplay course.

Ms Sudiacal said she thought the money was worth it as she believed she would receive registration with the main play therapy body, the Australian Play Therapists Association (APTA), which was advertised on Interplay’s website.

However, APTA withdrew its endorsement of Interplay’s courses in 2023 over concerns of the limited face-to-face contact hours in the course.

Ms Sudiacal ended up needing to do another 70 hours of modules through another company to meet the requirements.

Kylie, who did not want to share her last name, is a single mum who spent around $10,000 on Interplay’s courses.

“It was supposed to be an income and a half,” the 44-year-old had hoped it would lead to a second stream of income to support her kids.

The woman had signed up for a week-long face-to-face with Ms Berry and used her long service leave to do this as she has a job difficult to take time off outside of set periods. 

However the last day was cancelled and then rescheduled to a date she couldn’t attend so she was forced to watch it over a video call.

She later learned she was not accredited under the APTA.

Kathryn Yew claims she is owed over $5000 from Interplay.

Donna Berry denies that Interplay owes Ms Yew money.

Kathryn Yew, 35, a full-time nanny who signed up for Interplay courses to upskill herself, claims she has been left $5000 out of pocket over the ordeal.

“I want people to know that this is not okay,” she told news.com.au.

Ms Yew was provided the personal bank account details of Ms Berry to make the $5000 payment.

“This money was paid into my Donna Berry ABN business account, as the company’s accounts team were off on holiday,” Ms Berry said in response.

Ms Yew signed a licensee agreement with Interplay — essentially an Interplay franchise — where she would receive training, marketing, branding and other support to use on her own clients, as well as networking events in the future.

She was also promised that Interplay would cover her public liability insurance for up to $20 million.

When Ms Yew learned that the company was shutting down, she was concerned.

“The licensing material that was provided to me is effectively useless. It doesn’t have any legitimacy or standing especially if the company isn’t trading,” she said.

“I don’t want my personal branding getting caught up with a company that’s caught up in liquidation, or otherwise unreliable or untrustworthy.”

Adam Glezer is a consumer advocate trying to help people to get their money back. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Ms Berry promised the nanny that the company’s closure wouldn’t impact her ability to open her own business as she could still carry on and use Interplay’s logos.

“I tried to explain this to people but for some reason everyone decided to listen to a group of people who have no idea,” Ms Berry wrote to Ms Yew in an email.

In a statement to news.com.au, Ms Berry rejected that Ms Yew is entitled to a $5000 refund, saying she got what she paid for and that further workshops were offered.

“We cannot shed any further light on why Kathryn (Yew) chose to complain rather than continue with and complete the course, other than she does not like me.”

Ms Yew lodged a complaint with Western Australia’s consumer protection agency but they were unable to mediate and suggested she take her own legal action against Interplay Family Therapy.

Adam Glezer of Consumer Champion has been contacted by a number of upset Interplay customers and is trying to get their money back.

“Most people don’t know where to turn for help in situations like these,” he told news.com.au.

“Unfortunately, to get justice in Australia, the only real option is to take the matter to court or tribunal. Both options are extremely overwhelming for the majority and court can also prove to be a costly exercise.”

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Originally published as Therapy company claims to go into liquidation as customers chase refunds