Written by Amy Baillie, Synergetic Play Therapist / Children’s Counsellor / Parent Coach
Play therapy , and particularly non-directive or child-led play therapies can sometimes look like the therapist is just playing with your child. Your child may even tell you that they got the therapist to play a game with them that they play at home. This may lead you to be curious and ask…. How is playing with my child in the therapy room any different from me playing with my child at home?
Play Therapists are trained to identify how different types of play communicate social and emotional challenges in children. They can see under the play and identify expressions such as anxiety, grief, confusion, feelings of not being good enough, and even challenges which actually acknowledge their own internal feelings. Through witnessing these challenges, they can then participate in your child’s play in a way that helps them question and explore these themes and overcome them.
The therapist’s play is made up of a range of statements or reflections to the play they are engaged in. Each type of statement aims to draw attention to or trigger different areas of the brain to help with integration and understanding. (Dion. 2015) When engaged in play, the therapist completes a dance between statements that help in areas such as:
- Bringing the child’s actions and expressions to their awareness;
- Helping name previously unnamed feelings;
- Growing awareness of body sensations related to feelings;
- Drawing attention to thoughts or cognitive functions;
- Emphasizing relationships;
- Reflecting greater meaning; and
- Building new templates and skills.
Your therapist will combine their knowledge of your child’s expression within play and their expertise to determine which types of statements best support their progress.
As well as having a specific way of interacting with your child in session, the therapist can be of benefit to the parents by being a new support person on the team. This can give parents space to just be mum or dad, rather than:
- Feeling they need to be able to do it all;
- Finding time and space to try and run their own therapy sessions; and
- Feeling as if everything they say to their child, all day, needs to be therapeutic.
By engaging with a play therapist, your child can have the opportunity to engage in therapeutic play sessions in clinic. This may help them express and explore what they need to in a safe environment. It may also allow them to leave certain types of play just for their special play time. Play at home can be allowed to remain being about fun and enjoying time together.
For some families there may be reasons why the parents or guardians choose to take on the role and learn to become their child’s play therapist. This is called Filial Therapy. Filial therapy may be used to support families where the following is beneficial:
- Focuses on building the parent/ child connection as they work together to support the child;
- Allows the family to carry the skills and intervention into the future, even when they have disengaged from the therapeutic service; and
- May allow parents to adapt therapeutic skills for use in everyday scenarios, not just during sessions.
In a filial therapy program the therapist works directly with the parent and would not always have contact with the child. The parents are guided to be the ones conducting 45 minutes play therapy sessions with their child at their home. These sessions are video recorded so that the therapist and parent can review them together to support the therapist in refining the new skills they are learning.
Both therapist led play therapy and filial therapy programs can offer benefits for children experiencing social and emotional challenges. To explore which approach may be right for your family and child, please reach out and contact us.
The information provided in this blog should be used for education and informational purposes only. It should not replace the therapy or the therapeutic relationship. If you require parenting or mental health support for your child, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at CoRe Kids Therapy.