What Is Play Therapy and How Can It Help Children?
Updated: 5 days ago
Adults usually communicate their experiences through words. For children, particularly younger children, this isn't always possible.
Children may not yet have the language, emotional awareness or developmental capacity to sit down and explain what they're worried about, why they're angry, or what has been happening for them. Instead, children naturally communicate and make sense of their world through play.
Play therapy provides children with a developmentally appropriate way to express themselves and work through emotional, relational and life experiences within the safety of a therapeutic relationship.
Why can play be therapeutic?
Play is sometimes described as a child's natural language.
Through play, children can explore experiences, feelings, relationships and worries without needing to explain everything directly. They might use toys to recreate situations, experiment with different roles, express feelings, explore relationships or work through themes that are important to them.
In Child-Centred Play Therapy, the child leads the play rather than the therapist deciding what they should talk about or what activities they should complete.
The therapist pays close attention to the child's play, emotions and communication, responding in ways that help the child feel understood and accepted while maintaining clear and predictable boundaries.
Over time, this therapeutic relationship can support children to develop a stronger sense of themselves, greater emotional awareness and expression, confidence in their own capacities, and different ways of responding to difficult experiences.
Who may benefit from play therapy?
Play therapy can be helpful for children experiencing a range of emotional, behavioural and relational difficulties, including:
anxiety, worries or fears
grief, loss or significant family changes
difficult or overwhelming experiences
big emotions or changes in behaviour
difficulties with transitions or separation
friendship or relationship difficulties
low confidence or difficulties expressing themselves
Sometimes parents seek play therapy because something specific has happened. At other times, they simply know that their child is struggling but their child isn't able, or doesn't want to, talk about what is happening. Play therapy gives us another way of listening.
What can parents expect?
Parents are an important part of the therapeutic process.
Before beginning play therapy, I meet with parents to understand their concerns, their child's history and development, what is happening within the child's wider world, and what they hope might change.
Parent consultations continue throughout therapy. These conversations provide an opportunity to think together about what your child might be communicating through their behaviour, understand their emotional and developmental needs, and consider how you can support them outside the therapy room.
While I can talk with parents about broader themes and the therapeutic process, children's privacy within their sessions is also important. Protecting that space helps children develop trust in the therapeutic relationship.
Is play therapy right for my child?
Not every child who is struggling needs play therapy, and play therapy isn't necessarily the right approach for every child. A child's age and development, what they are experiencing, their individual needs and the concerns bringing them to counselling all help determine the most appropriate approach.
If you're unsure where to start, a parent consultation can be an opportunity to talk through what you've been noticing and consider whether play therapy, another form of child counselling, parent support or another service might be most helpful.
I offer Child-Centred Play Therapy and child counselling from my practice in Wheelers Hill, Melbourne, as well as parent consultation via Telehealth across Australia.
