Tell me a bit about Play Therapy...
Play therapy is a type of therapy that is geared towards children, usually between the ages of 3 and 12, to help resolve their problems. Play therapy can help children process through emotions, improve communication patterns and articulate issues. Children often express themselves through play, so therapists can observe a child’s thoughts and feelings that are unable to be expressed by words but through play.
Play therapy does not involve distracting a child to get them to discuss and process issues or simply just playing games with them. A therapist will have a specific reason why they choose activities or games to play with the child. Play therapy should only be used by qualified individuals. A qualified individual will have had specific training in play therapy modalities and is either under supervision of a registered play therapist or have completed all the required supervision hours or the individual has obtained the status of registered play therapist (RPT).
A qualified individual using a play therapy modality will be using various media such as puppets, games, sand, role play, etc. to observe metaphors and theme’s a child may play out to steer them in a direction of resolution on the child’s terms.
Play is an effective mode of treatment because it works with a child’s natural language, play. This can put less pressure on a child to speak and make sense of an issue or trauma but rather let them problem solve it on their terms. It provides the safety of physical distance between the issue and the child as to help them resolve an issue with an object rather than themselves directly. It provides a safe environment for children to work through their issues using self-discovery.
A child can be referred for play therapy for issues such as:
Anxiety
Anger/Aggression
Trauma
Divorce
Stress
Depression
Self-esteem
And many more……
If you feel your child could benefit from this type of therapy, please feel free to contact us to talk more about how we can help!