What Is Play Therapy?

Play Therapy is the use of specific and varied toys to help children to communicate, express feelings, heal and work through bottled up emotions such as anger, anxiety, sadness, fear, worry, and stress.

Toys are to children what words are to adults. Adults can make meaning out of words. Talking and processing thoughts on a cognitive level can  help adults to process feelings and resolve their problems. THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR CHILDREN. Research has shown that children (typically under age 12) who have not yet developed the higher executive brain functioning that adults or even older adolescents have, cannot achieve this release through talking, identifying feelings or being told how to do things.

The therapeutic bond between child and therapist is the MOST essential part of therapy as it allows the child to feel safe and to be open enough to respond to therapeutic interventions. Without this bond, almost any therapeutic technique will be ineffective.

Because of this, children are best helped in an environment that accommodates their needs, is relaxed, playful and can allow them to communicate in the ways that they feel comfortable. Most of the time this is achieved through playing with various toys, artistic/creative expression, or sensory expression.

Some example of themes that children present through playing with toys are violence/anger/aggression, worry/fear, nurturing/love, sadness/grief,  and joy/happiness.

Play Therapy can help your child:

• Become more responsible for behaviors and develop more successful strategies.
• Develop new and creative solutions to problems.
• Develop respect and acceptance of self and others.
• Learn to experience and express emotion.
• Cultivate empathy and respect for thoughts and feelings of others.
• Learn new social skills and relational skills with family.
• Develop self-efficacy and thus a better assuredness about their abilities.

While children do communicate and express themselves during their individual/solitary play at home, it is not the same as Play Therapy. Kim is trained to elicit feelings and themes by using certain language and prompts. She helps your child to identify their feelings in a non verbal way and also helps them to promote independence throughout play and build self esteem through various tasks and language. Kim also is able to remain completely neutral and accepting no matter what your child demonstrates or acts out in play This helps your to child feel accepted and validated throughout the session, even though they may be communicating private thoughts/feelings or things which they normally are unable to communicate for various reasons. I can often find out a tremendous amount of information about how a child feels, thinks and acts by interacting with them during Play Therapy.

Parenting is hard (Trust me, I know and we often want a quick fix so that our lives and hoemes can return to a calm and relaxed place. Unfortunately there is no overnight solution to our chldren's problems. It takes time and patience for your child to get to a good place. 

The goal of Play Therapy is not to necessarily reveal all of the child’s private thoughts and feelings to the parents. This defeats the privacy and security of the child/therapist relationship and can often create a barrier to progress. While Kim will explain general themes, observations, thoughts and recommendations to parents during parent sessions, which we will schedule ever 4-6 sessions. Kim will not go through a detailed account of each session, activities or statements made by your child as this may be a breach of their confidentiality and may not be easily translated into helpful information for you. Kim will schedule parent sessions every 4-6 session and explain general themes themes, observations and make suggestions and recommendations for your support your child at home.

Be open minded to Play Therapy and the methods that are used in the process. If parents are judgmental or critical of Play Therapy it is very likely that your child will be resistant to engage and little progress will be made.

Be consistent and encourage your child to attend sessions regularly. Regular and consistent play therapy sessions is important to the progress and growth of your child.

Resist the urge to ask your child what they did in session or if they had “fun”. Sessions are your child’s special time and they should feel free to express themselves at their own pace without the worry that their parents will know exactly what happened. Your child’s therapist will share important themes and suggest meaning of play during parent sessions.

Don’t ask your child to ‘”be good” or ask Kim about what happened during the session. Your child should feel free to express their feelings in an uncensored way.

Don’t insist that your child share certain things with their therapist (positive or negative.) Instead, share your joys and concerns with Kim either by communicating through the client portal, email, or at scheduled parent sessions. Please do not discuss joys or concerns with the therapist in front of your child.

Try to make sure your child can experience their session without interruptions. Provide your child with a snack before arrival and encourage them to go to the bathroom before sessions.