— “Play Therapy? How will play help my child?

My child plays at home all day anyway!”

 

I have heard this or similar statements about play therapy more than once over the years. It’s an understandable sentiment, but it asks for more information about the healing power of play that can unfold in a neutral and focused setting supported by an experienced professional.

 

Getting help as a parent

Unfortunately, I am currently unable to accept new clients for play therapy. However, if your child is exhibiting challenging behaviours, you may want to consider booking a consultation to review some parenting strategies and get support for yourself and your family. You can book an individual session here. 

The purpose of play

Children are still developing their verbal skills, but it is safe to say that children know how to play very well! Play comes naturally to children and is the most important language available to them to express their inner and outer world.

As such, children process their themes through the roles and characters in their play, be it traumatic experiences from the past, current worries, or dreams about their future.

Of course, the child can also access happy memories through play. This can strengthen self-esteem and/or self-efficacy.

Play is empowering

Play can be very concrete, but also very abstract and symbolic. In any case, it reflects the child’s experiences, perceptions, struggles, needs and hopes.

In play, everything can be acted out safely, because it is play and not an exact replica of reality. Children understand the difference very well. Under the safety umbrella of pretense, the child has the innate permission to bring out even the darkest and most frightening stories and characters.

As with acting, children can slip into any character, good or bad, and explore the corresponding thoughts feelings, and behaviours of their characters.

In pretense play, children do not have to fear any real consequences for their character’s good or bad behaviour. The child therefore has the opportunity to freely express, review, and release their own emotions during play.

 

 

Children also try to solve problems in their play, and sometimes it can take many attempts for a child to come to a resolution, especially if they have had several traumatic experiences at a young age.

 

And while the child may be working (or playing) their way through difficult scenarios, they still enjoy playing. This is due to the well-known FLOW effect, in which children immerse themselves in their activity and become so absorbed in it that they enter a state of energized concentration.

The role of the play therapy room and the therapist

Carefully selected therapeutic materials and objects are available to the child in the therapy room: dry and wet sand, many different miniatures with accessories, houses, hand puppets, natural materials, materials for expressive arts and much more. 

The therapist plays a key role in the child’s process. It is the objective, non-judgmental, all-accepting and undivided attention of the therapist (all-accepting within safe parameters) that supports the child in their process in a way that a family member naturally can not match. 

This bonding experience is particularly relevant for children with a complex trauma background. Developing secure attachment is crucial for healthy and happy relationships later in life. Building and experiencing a safe and trusting relationship with the therapist is an important step in this process.

As the relationship with the therapist develops, there is also the opportunity to heal attachment wounds. This healing process is strongest when the child is able to transfer what they have learned in therapy onto other relationships in their life. Therefore, it is ideal if the parents and/or other important adults are consistently available to the child in an attuned and predictable manner throughout the process.

 

Interested in booking a Play Therapy Session?

My play therapy sessions usually last 50 minutes. I ask parents or guardians to stay on site in case the child needs their support during the therapy time. Also, I typically have an intake meeting with the caregivers prior to the child’s first session. 

Further, it is also my policy to inform parents/guardians about their child’s progress in therapy. This information is deliberately kept general in nature in order to avoid a breach of trust between myself and the child. In situations where family dynamics have a significant impact on a child, parents or guardians may be asked to participate in counselling (either individually or with the child).

The duration of play therapy can vary greatly. For example, it may take 3 to 5 sessions to sufficiently process a single traumatic event. However, in cases with a complex trauma history, approximately 25 to 30 sessions may be required to achieve an improvement in the child’s symptoms and behaviours.