What is Play Therapy?

Play Therapy is a mode of therapy that helps children understand painful experiences and upsetting feelings. As play is a child’s natural form of expression, it can allow them communicate at their own level without having to put it into words. Play allows the child to release needs, fears and wishes. It also helps them to address emotional and behavioural difficulties.
Play is vital for every child’s social, emotional, cognitive, physical, creative and language development. Play Therapy uses a variety of approaches, interventions, media and activities appropriate to the individual child’s needs.

Play is the natural language of children that enables complex thoughts and feelings, ideas and perceptions to be brought into focus. Children can work through traumatic or difficult life’s experiences. Through play they can make sense of their past and cope better with their future. Children may also learn to manage relationships and conflicts in more appropriate ways. It provides the child with emotional support while the child learns to understand more about their own thoughts and feelings.

How can Play Therapy help my child?

Play Therapy can help in many different ways.

• It provides children with emotional support to enable them to identify and express emotions in appropriate manner

• It can help children make sense of life experiences by playing them.

• By allowing children to make sense and understand their feelings it will in turn help them cope with the future.

• It can help children to deal with conflict/angry feelings in more appropriate ways.

• Increased concentration and academic achievement

• Improved self-esteem and confidence

• Improves problem solving and coping skills

The basic principles that underpin the Play therapist are Virginia Axline’s principles the therapist:

• Must develop a warm and friendly relationship with the child.

• Accepts the child as she or he is.

• Establishes a feeling of permission in the relationship so that the child feels free to express his or her feelings completely.

• Is alert to recognise the feelings the child is expressing and reflects these feelings back in such a manner that the child gains insight into his/her behaviour.

• Maintains a deep respect for the child’s ability to solve his/her problems and gives the child the opportunity to do so. The responsibility to make choices and to institute change is the child’s.

• Does not attempt to direct the child’s actions or conversations in any manner. The child leads the way, the therapist follows.

• Does not hurry the therapy along. It is a gradual process and must be recognised as such by the therapist.

• Only establishes those limitations necessary to anchor the therapy to the world of reality and to make the child aware of his/her responsibility in the relationship.

Sessions take place the playroom where the child feels safe and where there are few limitations. The therapist may use techniques that involve:

• creative visualization

• storytelling

• role-playing

• toy phones

• puppets, stuffed animals, and masks

• dolls, action figures

• arts and crafts

• water and sand play

• blocks and construction toys

• dance and creative movement

• musical play

Sessions typically last 50 minutes and are held once a week at the same time. How many sessions are needed depends on the child and how well they respond to play therapy.