What is Play Therapy?

Play therapy is a structured, theoretically based approach to therapy that builds on the normal communicative and learning processes (Carmichael, 2006). People use play to experience themselves in a variety or imagined situations, especially children.

Positive relationships that develops between therapist and child during play therapy sessions can provide a corrective emotional experience necessary for healing (Moustakas, 1997)

Play Therapy can also promote cognitive development and provide insight and resolution of inner conflicts or dysfunctional thinking.

Counselor develops warm, friendly relationship and accept clients exactly as is; meeting where they are;

Respect clients’ feelings and thoughts; importantly, their ability to solve problems themselves

Counselor only set limits that ancho clients to reality, and do not attempt to rush the process

What is the difference between play and play therapy?

Therapeutic intent and objective is the main difference between play and play therapy!

-The Association for Play Therapy (2016) defines play therapy as: A systemic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development.

Benefit of Play Therapy

• Diminish autonomic arousal: first via facilitated or co-regulation then

increasing our student’s self-regulation skills

• Enhance emotional expression: focus on mindful awareness of

feelings and body sensations, labeling them rather than interpreting

them, inhibiting impulsivity, developing thoughtful and adaptive

responses to traumatic activation

• Increase cognition: engaging cortex for down regulation

• Focus on strengths: emphasis on facilitating experiences in which

arousal is optimal; using resources as a way to increase the window of

tolerance for stress and affect