Play Therapist Explains: The Benefits of Play Therapy
As a parent, you want what is best for your child. It is hard to see them struggling with mental health concerns or behavioral issues.
Seeking out therapy can feel overwhelming too. It’s challenging to know what services your child needs and could benefit from.
What Is Play Therapy?
Play therapy is a modality used by therapists who work with children. While there are Registered Play Therapists (RPT), many professional mental health professionals can provide play therapy or play based therapy interventions to children and families.
This type of therapy uses a child’s natural way to express and explore, play, to help process feelings or experiences. The therapist uses reflective observations and unconditional positive regard to support the child during a play therapy session.
Therapists can use books, puppets, dolls, a sand box with toys to go inside, art, and storytelling in play therapy. Themes that keep occuring, statements toys say, or types of books a child gravitates towards are all messages the child is sharing about how they are doing and what they need help with.
How Play Therapy Helps
Using play therapy with children has benefits for the child in therapy and for the family supporting this child. Having a natural way for a child to express and explore their feelings and experiences allows a child to work through these issues and gain a better understanding of their world.
It allows parents to be more attuned to their child during play and difficult situations, to help increase the cooperation and connection at home.
Since play is a natural experience for children, they are able to participate in it easier than traditional “talk therapy” which can be used for adults and teenagers.
Play therapy can be used to treat a variety of issues in children. Behaviors that stem from insecure attachment with caregivers can be addressed through play therapy where the caregiver is present in the therapy sessions.
Traumatic experiences can be processed through nonverbal play, imaginary storytelling, art, or books. Even issues with family relationships (such as between siblings or a caregiver) can be treated with play therapy, through letter writing, sandbox work or imaginary storytelling.
Examples of Play Therapy
What I use in play therapy with clients:
Board games
How it can be therapeutic: Observing a child’s tolerance for losing, changes in status in a game, or how important it is for the child to win give insight to a therapist about how their game play dynamics with siblings or peers are, and how they deal with disappointment.
These play sessions can be an opportunity for the therapist to teach emotional regulation and disappointment management skills.
People or animal figures
How it can be therapeutic: Asking the child to use the figures to tell a story, show what their family looks like, or share their worries with the figure are all ways to help a child process their experiences and feelings in a less direct way.
Art
How it can be therapeutic: It can relieve stress, help a child use their creativity and left side of their brain, if using coloring utensils in both hands, it can also stimulate both sides of the brain (bi-lateral stimulation) and help with processing feelings.
Art can be used to help a child show what a worry or feeling looks like to them with shapes, colors, textures.
Books
How it can be therapeutic: I have children’s books in my office that cover a wide range of topics. I display the books in my office so children can see the covers and titles and request to read or look at them if they are interested.
Reading books with specific topics like parent incarceration, death, or adoption, can help generate conversations with the child about their own experiences or thoughts about the topics.
Play is the Language of Children - See a San Jose Play Therapist
Play is the way children process their experience of the world and participating in play therapy can allow them to make sense of their experiences and feelings. It can help parents feel more connected to their children, because they are more attuned to what they are expressing through their play.
Play therapy isn’t just “playing in the therapy office”, it’s an effective modality of therapy for children to help them heal and thrive.
Looking for a Play Therapist for Your Child? Contact me for a free consultation today!
Play Therapy Resources
About Hannah, Child Therapist San Jose
Hannah is a Child Therapist and Teen Therapist that specializes treating children with anxiety, trauma, and attachment issues. Services she provides include Play Therapy for Children, Parental Coaching, and therapy for trauma. She also specializes in working with youth who are adopted or from the foster care system. She provides therapy in-person in San Jose, CA.
