I’m a Play Therapist AMA

[Playdy]

Just that really.

Watching with interest as I want to take a look at this direction. I’m currently a children’s social worker and burning out drastically with the work load.

How did you get into it / what route did you take?
do you work for local authority? Schools? Hospital/NHS, camhs?
what’s the most rewarding part about your job?

Is it for adults or children?

Can you get play therapy for adults? My colleagues and I have often thought we would like it.

Do you use particular games or models to find out particular information or is it a way to help the child talk about things in a gentle nondirected way? Or possibly both?

How do you record what happened in a session?

How much of what a child says to you is confidential and how much do you have to report back to a parent?

Do you work for the NHS or privately or perhaps both?

What’s your usual number of sessions? I asked this because I think that the NHS limits them?

Do you help children with particular difficulties or who have been through particular forms of abuse or trauma, or do you deal with whatever is referred to you?

What was your training and background that led to you becoming a play therapist?

Is play therapy useful for a child with speech and language delays? How useful is play therapy if the child has limited communication skills. What strategies do you employ with children who have these needs?

what’s it used for

What qualifications do you have?

Ooh so many questions! I will answer them when I can in between clients! Bear with me …

I have a degree and two post grad diplomas.

To do play therapy I did a post grad certificate and then diploma.

To support children who are facing challenges in life eg anxiety, bereavement, merit divergence, friendship issues, divorce etc.
Essentially any reason why a grown up might seek counselling, the same could be said for a child needing play therapy.

I don’t actually know what it is despite hearing the term used fairly often.

is it talking and therapy alongside something open ended and relatively mindless like building Lego or play dough

or is the play itself the therapy eg you set up a game where a “lesson” or skill is taught, or issue worked through. Eg) modelling a healthy relationship using two dolls are anre sisters have an issue about something, and you try and model kindness, resilience etc.

or something else entirely?

The kind of play therapy that I do is non-directive, child led and play based, so I could work with a child with little to no ability to verbally communicate. Often there’s very little verbal communication because children use play as their communication. For example a child may show me that they feel lonely by placing a group of mini figures in a huddle and one being excluded over in a corner.
What and how the child plays tells me everything I need to know to be able to hold that and reflect that back for the child.

I am non-directive so I don’t typically have an agenda at all. I wait to see what the child brings to me rather than me directing the child. The child knows what it is they need to work on and will show me with the things they do, say and play. Some other therapists might by be more directive and I am sometimes, if it feels right. It’s a bit of a spectrum. I generally find the relationship more comfortable when I focus completely on accepting the child exactly as they are rather than trying to direct change (they will drive that inner change themselves).

Throughout sessions I am modelling regulation, naming feelings, showing emotion, holding feelings, listening, being consistent being present etc. so lots is being taught but through modelling and in subtle and un conscious ways.

It’s not commonly used for adults but I am certain it would be beneficial and I am working towards (training as a counsellor) being able to offer it to adults too as a hybrid of creative and traditional talking therapy. I honestly think using creative methods with adults is powerful.

The process is confidential so very little is shared with parents/school. I typically share how a child is engaging, body language, eye contact, items they are drawn to etc but not what was done with the objects or what was said. The child needs to know they can do/say pretty much whatever they want to do/say in session without it getting back to the person e.g. I hate my teacher or Mummy made daddy leave etc. They would be mortified if that info went beyond the play room and would inhibit their own freedom of expression.

Safeguarding policies are followed if disclosures are made however and this is explained to the child.

We have one overarching rule: to keep the child safe, the therapist safe and the room safe. Other than that anything goes.

12 weeks MINIMUM but 18 is ideal. Some kids need longer and some much much longer. It can take 6-8 weeks to build trust, and we are often battling for funding!

I was a burnt out teacher that realised I really cared about kids and wanted to do more. A child in the throes of divorce cannot be expected to make progress in reading and it felt futile. I wanted to be the person that helped the child to process and heal to then become teachable again. I trained through PTUK and it has been the best move for me. I love my job and it is so rewarding. I like showing up for kids and being consistent (when their world probably feels scary and unpredictable).

I take a range of referrals including work for charities, schools and other private referrals funded by parents, school or a local authority. It’s surprising how many pockets of funding are available once you start digging around!

Sorry would ever use this it sounds like a load of mumbo jumbo to me and totally immeasurable in terms of results

Is there an ideal age when play therapy is most effective?

My son (now diagnosed with adhd) has had some and really enjoyed the process but we didn’t see as much change as I had hoped for. Currently trying to decide whether to go for another block….

How many hours/ months/ years of training did you have to do to become qualified? And do you feel it should be a protected title coming under the jurisdiction of the HCPC?

This is really interesting, OP! I’ve seen in my own kids how they use play to sort of reenact or prepare for scenarios that they’ve been or are nervous or upset about. DD1 especially uses role play with toys or even with me/little sister for this type of thing.

I read a really good book called Playful Parenting which has a lot of interesting insights about the power of play in building relationships and resolving conflicts and it really made an impression on me, so I try to implement more play now.

Will read with interest!

Yep it can feel a bit mumbo jumbo sometimes. In the same way counselling can be too. How can building a relationship heal a person? But it does work. It’s evidence based. We do use measurable assessments such as an SDQ (which gives the child a score depending on their Strengths and Difficulties). We have therapeutic aims and review therapy regularly to ensure it is having an impact and continues to benefit the child. So it can be measured.
There are lots of other measurable changes that a child/parent/school might see eg a child is finding it easier to go into school, child has stopped self harming, child no longer shouts and throws furniture but employs X strategy instead.

100% should be a protected title. We often see courses advertising to become a play therapist in a day and it really doesn’t work like that. Certificate was approx 18 months and 100 clinical hours and diploma was approx 20 months and a further 100 clinical hours needed. So by the time you’re qualified you’ve done a minimum of 200 hours of client work. If you are considering play therapy please find one that’s registered with a professional body eg PTUK or BAPT.

Ah, so you’ll have a room set up with lots of different things I assume. Toys, drawing etc and you’ll literally just see what the child wants to do, wants to talk about?

Yes that’s right. I have a ‘toolkit’ either a room set up for purpose or a trolley of stuff that I take with me into settings. I offer puppets, arts and crafts, a sand tray, Lego, games, dress up, fiddle toys, babies, small world figures and other symbols for the sand tray among other things. The list is exhaustive really!
The child can use anything to creatively express how they’re feeling or what’s going on for them. We use symbolism to try to see what might be going on for the child and we might ‘wonder’ things about what they’re doing.

We do use models to help us with more direct work or questioning. We often work in the subconscious. Role play is fabulous for this as they can embody a character and tell us so much about themselves by how the character presents.

How does a child know that they are in a place where they a start to express their emotions through play? Is it something that happens organically?

What were they called? Im interested in this line of work.