What is Play Therapy?
What is Play Therapy?
A common question asked by parents before their child commences play therapy sessions is, What is Play Therapy?
The type of play therapy provided by Bloom Play Therapy is Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT), which is a child-led approach and an evidence-based intervention that was inspired by the person-centred counselling approach.
In CCPT sessions, the therapist carefully selects toys, art and sensory materials and aims to create a safe environment by reflecting qualities of being caring, accepting and understanding. The careful selection of materials and the way the play therapist communicates these qualities encourages the chid to express a variety of emotions and to explore their thoughts, feelings and experiences through their play actions. In Child-centred play therapy, instead of the therapist diagnosing the child, the therapist acts as a facilitator and focusses on the therapeutic process rather than on the behaviours of the child.
Communicating through words alone can be challenging for children, so play therapy sessions focus on allowing children to freely express and process their thoughts and feelings through their play actions. As play is a child’s natural language, children naturally want to play and have fun. In CCPT, there is the belief that play is the universal language of the child and that the child is the key focus in play therapy sessions. CCPT emphasises the importance of the relationship between the therapist and the child and considers play as the common language between the therapist and the child. Children are accepted, respected, encouraged and supported in play sessions, allowing them to be themselves and freely express themselves so they can process their thoughts and feelings, allowing them to learn about themselves, discover who they are, and learn more about their relationships with others.
Play therapy sessions aim to assist children to develop a variety of skills and strengths. For example, CCPT has been found to be a developmentally and culturally responsive counselling intervention for a variety of emotional and behavioural challenges experienced by children. Through engaging in play therapy sessions, the child is developing skills such as being more accepting of themselves, developing social skills, making their own decisions, improving their self-esteem, regulating their emotions, feeling in control, being more trusting of themselves, having an improved self-concept, improving their self-esteem and developing skills to improve their relationships with their caregivers and other people in their lives. CCPT can also be beneficial for children who experience challenges such as trauma, as well as helpful for children who experience all forms of anxiety, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Play therapy sessions can also support children to improve skills to develop relationships with others, such as parents, siblings or friends.
References:
Landreth, G. (1993). Self-expressive communication. In C. E. Schaefer (Ed.), The therapeutic powers of play (pp. 41–63). Northvale, NJ: Aronson.
Lin, Y., & Bratton, S.C. (2015). A meta-analytic review of child-centred play therapy approaches. Journal of Counselling & Development, 93, 45-58.
Ray, D.C., & Landreth, G. L. (2019). Child-centered play therapy. Play Therapy, 18-19.
Sweeney, D.S., & Landreth, G.L. (2011). Child-centred play therapy. In Schaefer, C.E. (Ed.), Foundations of Play Therapy. (pp. 129-152). John Wiley & Sons Inc.