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"Helping families, children and adolescents
grow well."
Play Therapy
What is play therapy?
Young children are usually uncomfortable talking about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Children generally do not have the cognitive ability to view themselves objectively or to understand how others view their behavior until early adolescence.
Fortunately there is another way to understand how children see themselves and their place in the world!
Play is a child's natural form of communication, just as talking is an adult's natural way to communicate.
Children, even children who are quite talkative, express themselves more fully through their play.
Strong emotions are especially difficult for children to understand and talk about.
Through play, children can take on the role of a loud dragon, a brave super-hero, or a sneaky
mean guy as a safe way to show how they sometimes feel.
Why do people consider play therapy?
Parents often consider family play therapy
because they are concerned about their child's or young adolescent's behavior. The child/adolescent may seem
extra angry, uncooperative, or hurtful.
Another child/adolescent may seem overly timid, anxious, or fearful.
The child/adolescent may have experienced some type of trauma or challenge that they are unable to understand or
recover from.
Parents might be concerned that their child is not thriving, and/or have concerns about how the
child's behavior is disruptive in school or at home.
How does play therapy help children?
Fortunately, children
have a natural ability to explore and make peace with difficult emotions through play. Through
pretending, or retelling the story, or fantasizing the child can experience what he or she would
like to see happen—and the key thing is that the child is in charge.
Play is the way
that young children naturally process their feelings and experiences, explore different ways to
respond, make sense of what is happening to them, and recover from life's traumas.
Play is also
an area where many older children and young adolescents feel most comfortable in talking about feelings,
exploring problem solving, and practicing new behaviors and ways of thinking. For all children,
play is the most important way they communicate, experiment, practice, heal and learn.
Can I use play therapy at home?
Absolutely!
I encourage parents to observe and participate in family play therapy in session so that they can continue
these beneficial experiences at home.Here are some tips for understanding and participating
in family play, in therapy and at home:
In family play therapy, you are free to join your child as a play "partner."
I will explain the limits and consequences for misbehavior, so you can relax and not worry about being the "disciplinarian."
- In family play therapy and at home: the basic limits are that no one gets hurt and nothing gets broken.
- All feelings are okay. Play is a time when children follow their impulses, and difficult emotions may be safely expressed.
Family play therapy is a good way to express these feelings and not feel judged or corrected.
- You may sometimes feel confused about what is being expressed in your child's play. When this happens, focus on what
your child is feeling (example: "You seem to like being the mean guy who puts the animals in the fire.")
Continue to follow the child's lead and improvise. You will eventually have a greater understanding of your child's
emotions and thinking.
- In the early stages of family play therapy, I will be establishing a relationship with you and your child.
This may proceed slowly, depending upon how easy or difficult it is to build trust.
- I will create opportunities in the family play therapy session to discuss issues that are important to
both parents and children, in language that is adapted to the children's age(s).
- You will have the opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns which we
"de-brief" alone at the end of the play therapy session. You may also want to schedule some appointments
alone with me for parent consultations to learn about parenting skills that would benefit you and your child.
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