"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." - Plato
Janet Braun is a member of the American Association for Marriage Family Therapist (www.aamft.org) and Association for Play Therapy (www.a4pt.org) a national professional society that advances Play Therapy.
What is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is a structured, theoretically based approach to therapy that builds on the normal communicative and learning processes of children (Carmichael, 2006; Landreth, 2002; O'Connor & Schaefer, 1983). Therapists strategically utilize play therapy to help children express what is troubling them when they do not have the verbal language to express their thoughts and feelings (Gill, 1991). Through play, therapists may help children learn more adaptive behaviors when there are emotional or social skills deficits (Pedro-Carroll & Reddy, 2005).
Why Play Therapy?
- Play comes natural to children. Play Therapy is a method of building trust reduces anxiety while promoting creative thinking and problem-solving through play.
- Play therapy is an effective way to address cognitive, behavioral and emotional challenges.
Play Therapy helps children:
- Become more responsible for their behaviors while developing successful strategies and coping skills.
- 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.
Families play an important role in children's healing process and the therapist will collaborate with the caregivers regarding how and when to involve some or all members of the family in the play therapy sessions (Wright, 2007)
How Long Does It Take?
Each play therapy session varies in length but usually lasts 30 to 50 minutes. Sessions are usually held weekly. Research suggests that it takes an average of 20 play therapy sessions to resolve the problems of the typical child referred for treatment. Of course, some children may improve much faster while more serious or ongoing problems may take longer to resolve (Landreth, 2002; Carmichael, 2006)