By: Courtney Miller
What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is a form of therapy in which the therapist uses play, toys, art, and games to help the child safely and easily express feelings. Children often have a difficult time sitting and discussing what happened and/or knowing exactly how to describe what happened. Play therapy is a perfect way for children to play out what they have witnessed, and what has happened; many things they play out to stand for something and not the exact thing. For example: placing a toy in bed and then an evil monster at door or over bed does not necessarily mean that. For this child, it could be the child has been harmed by their parent. As an adult can hopefully understand that in these situations it is easier for a child to play out than verbally discuss. Play therapy is often used when something life-changing happens and the child does not appropriately know how to handle it. Play therapists are continuously trained as new things are found and not everything works with every child.
HOW DOES PLAY THERAPY WORK
Play therapy allows clients to openly play out what is on their minds without fear of being interrupted. While doing this in the strength of the relationship with a therapist the client can begin feeling safe and have the ability to not only work through the trauma but find ways to cope outside of therapy. Children view the world from an experiential way play is language. Play therapy is split into two main sections of therapy: non-directive and directive.
Non-directive Therapy
Non-directive therapy allows clients to come into the session, pick what they want to play with, and go from there. It is designed to help clients work out what is bothering them and find a coping mechanism all while they are in charge during sessions. The therapist is only involved if the client asks them to play, otherwise, they point out what they are seeing. The child directs the play-gives the child sense of empowerment/control. The important thing to remember is that the therapist needs to always be in the same mindset as the child-fantasy play (this happened/is happening). For example, a child that was abused and saw abuse chose to be the abuser. To some this may not make sense, however, to gain control the client wants to feel that they have the strength and can harm the person back (which that is how they viewed the therapist).
Directive Therapy
Directive therapy is slightly different than non-directive. With directive therapy, therapists plan sessions before the client comes in. Some believe this helps for structure-“structure play therapy”. Some use directive therapy for attitude. For example, if a child has anger issues there are projects that can be set up by the therapist to help. The therapist can help the child make a thermometer and list what causes what emotions. The therapist can also have children draw pictures of themselves when mad and where feelings start when the emotion begins, they can then begin deciding ways client can work with it when those feelings first begin. At the beginning of each session therapist can check in with the client on what moods they experienced (showing mood faces), what caused them, how they handled them, and if it should be changed. A therapist can also discuss positive and negative things that both experienced and how they handled them. This usually includes things parents tell the therapist about and would like to be focused on; a therapist can then say something similar happened to her and then a lot of times client will say it happened to them too.
SANDBOX/SANDPLAY
One of the most famous forms of non-directive therapy is the sandbox. Children use the sandbox as a free and protected space to create complete scenes of things that happened-how they remember or how they would like it. Clients view sand as their “skin”, it is them emotionally. Clients especially like it because they are able to “hide” things in the sand, and “protect them”. Client’s also see sand as a way to “cleanse”. They find the sand as a way to “re-claim” their identity-putting specific colors on their hands and feet and face.
DOLLHOUSE
Another famous form of non-directive therapy is the dollhouse. Children use this to express what they are experiencing at home in one way or another. When children play out in fantasy, they feel brave enough to express what has happened and/or is happening to them. This allows them to find ways to cope with what has happened and continue a healthy, strong, and happy life.
OTHER COUNSELING SERVICES OFFERED AT WELLMINDED COUNSELING
Therapy for depression isn’t the only service we offer. WellMinded Counseling offers the following counseling services:
