Play Therapy: Speaking a child’s language
Many children don’t have the language skills and emotional intelligence to express what they’re feeling through words (many adults also struggle here, so imagine how hard it can be for a child).
Instead, children act out their thoughts and feelings in play. In a therapeutic setting, play therapy works to help the child express their emotions, uncover hidden thoughts, and work through problems in the way that comes most naturally to them — play.
What is play therapy?
Play therapy is very simply letting children play. As a licensed professional counselor, I’ll watch as well as play along with them, and sometimes the family even joins in. There are a lot of options for play therapy, from role-playing with dolls and doll houses to gardening and arts and crafts.
But play therapy isn’t as simple as it appears. (Making it seem like “just fun” is part of how it works.)
Play therapy is a structured, theoretically based approach that works with the way children naturally express themselves. As my littlest patients play, I watch for certain patterns and actions that tell me more about what’s going on in their heads.
Plato spoke of the importance of play, saying “You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.”
And he’s right.
Why it works
One of the biggest benefits of play therapy is its non-threatening nature. So many children’s first thought about going to a doctor is “Oh no! I’m getting a shot!” So going to any kind of specialist/therapist can have elicit the same negative reaction.
But when kids show up at my office and see toys everywhere, and then we sit on the floor and just play, they relax. They open up. It’s too bad there isn’t more play therapy for adults.
Outcomes of Play Therapy
Research shows that play therapy helps children with all sorts of life stressors and issues, including learning issues, autism, ADHD, divorce, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, chronic illness, and more.
While in the process of play therapy, I help my patients work on:
- Developing better coping strategies
- Creating new solutions to problems
- Cultivating empathy and respect for others
- Learning better social skills for better relationships
- Learning to express and experience emotions in healthy ways
Are families involved in play therapy?
I truly believe that healing a child means healing the whole family. It really does take a village. To that end, when I do play therapy with my young patients, there is a blend of family involvement and counselor-only play. Of course, when parents and family are not involved in the play therapy directly, they will still be very much involved in the process and kept abreast of the progress their child is making.
What’s the purpose of play therapy?
Play therapy can be used to both diagnose and treat mental health issues in children. For example, how a child plays with a dollhouse family can reveal problems at home or school. As we play, we work on ways to deal with problems and feelings in healthy ways.
Lots of kids think “I can’t make a mistake or adults will get mad at me.” In play therapy, we talk about and make mistakes, and I tell them adults make mistakes all the time. I remind them, “The kids that fail the most are the kids that learn the most.”
We work on developing a “growth mindset,” meaning “I haven’t gotten it yet.” Instead of a “fixed mindset” that means “I’m not good at something” or “I can’t do something.”
I tell my kids basketball players miss more shots than they make.
Schedule your FREE 45-minute session today!
I’d love to get to know you and help you work through whatever’s holding you back. To schedule your FREE 45-minute session, give me a call at 706-864-7790 or visit me online at www.IntoTheWoodsTherpaies.com today.