Is Play Therapy effective and worth the investment of time and money? Yes. For children, play is the most effective tool in a counseling office. Children understand more words than they can productively use. So, while a child may understand what is being said to them, they may have no idea how to respond, with a resulting natural reaction of nothing at all.  However, when we use the avenue where children are most comfortable—play—instead of dialogue, therapy is most productive.

For children, play is their work.  They often repeat a play scenario and then, as adults see it, randomly move on to another scenario.  However, the motion is rarely actually random.  Play allows them to process their experiences with the world until they have integrated them.  Our children are regularly expected to integrate into the adult world and figure out how they are supposed to interact with adults.  Play is the opposite.  It allows them to bring the adult into their world and integrate into their language (which is often a lack of language).  Play is a child’s communication through parallels, allegories, symbolization, dramatizations, and imagination.  As an adult, to be invited or included in this world is a privilege.

Play therapy takes at least five sessions to establish a relationship between counselor and child.  If a parent attends a session with their child and just observes, there may need to be a private conversation with the therapist afterwards to clarify what was happening in the session.  Parents need to be aware that while play sessions may be triggering for them, they can be neutral for the child.  The child is the creator of the story—they are in charge, they instinctually know what needs to be done and how fast it should be done, and the intensity they can handle.  The counselor may give the child suggestions for direction, question the directions they receive from the child, or stop a session that seems to be going off track.  In essence, with play therapy the counselor is the guardian of the child’s safety.

If you are more interested in the process of play therapy, we suggest that you search online for “play therapy techniques” for a list of good resources.