You’ve been concerned about your child’s emotions and behaviors. Maybe, their school and your friends and family members have expressed concerns as well. You have tried to help them and implement different discipline approaches just hoping to get a good result, but nothing has worked.
Play Therapy Can Help Your Child Regulate Their Emotions and Cope with Distress
Play therapy is the treatment of choice for young children. It uses play, the natural language of children, to provide each child with an opportunity for emotional expression, the development of coping skills, and the growth of self-esteem. Also, play therapy helps a child develop responsibility, decision-making skills, and self-control in a safe, non-threatening, therapeutic manner.
If you ever wondered why therapists focus on play for therapy. New research shows it takes approximately 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain – unless it is done with play, in which case, it takes between 10 and 20 repetitions!” WOW! This means, children learn faster through play. So, question is, why would we ever teach a child a new skill without using play? As adults, we naturally process the world through words; it’s how we express our emotions. Children work through their emotions almost entirely through play. Play therapists understand how to help a child process their emotions in this manner, and even learn how to “speak the same language.”
Many children can benefit from play therapy. Some common challenges that play therapy can help include:
Respecting limits and boundaries
ADHD
Anxiety and/or depression
Children who have experienced a trauma, including grief, car accident, parental divorce, etc. Actually, play therapy is THE treatment of choice in helping these kids overcome these challenges.
Frustration tolerance and anger outbursts
Social difficulties and/or autism spectrum disorders
Heights Family Counseling’s Approach to Play Therapy
Heights Family Counseling has child therapists who specialize in many different forms of play therapy, including traditional client centered play therapy, sand tray therapy, expressive arts therapy, and filial therapy. We tailor our approach to meet the needs of each client and family.
Sand Tray Therapy:
Sand Tray Therapy is another form of play therapy that can be used for preschool aged clients through adulthood. Sand tray therapy uses therapeutic sand and miniatures to promote healing. Sand tray therapy can help bring to light conscious and unconscious problems. Clients can tell stories through the figurines/miniatures and are given the option at the end of a session to make any changes to their story. This allows for insight into one’s problems, as well as the control to make changes in one’s life! These stories tell therapists a lot, and they can use it to help children recognize where changes can be made to solve problems.
Child Centered Play Therapy:
CCPT is one of the most popular forms of play therapy. It was pioneered by Gary Landreth, PhD (fun fact, Dr. Landreth is a professor at the University of North Texas). In child centered play, the belief is that a child can work through difficult emotions, learn healthy coping skills and limit setting, and express themselves in a healthy manner
Filial Therapy:
Filial Therapy is a parent-training program to help strengthen the relationship between a parent and a child. During filial therapy, parents are taught to have special structured 30-minute playtimes with their child using a kit of carefully selected toys in their own home. Parents learn how to respond empathetically to their child’s feelings, build their child’s self-confidence, help their child learn self-control and responsibility, and set therapeutic limits during these special playtimes.
Trust Based Relationship Intervention (TBRI):
TBRI is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is especially powerful in children who have experienced trauma. TBRI uses principles of attachment, sensory processing, and neuroscience research, and focuses on connection.
Play Therapy During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Play therapy is becoming even more necessary during the pandemic. Children are having to adjust to huge changes in their lives. They may be experiencing anxiety because of the constant talk of the virus, depression as they cope with not seeing their friends or behavior problems. We now offer online play therapy and in-person play therapy. We use careful sanitation procedures, mask protocols, and air purifiers to help your family feel safe during this difficult time. We also have a HIPAA-approved platform and training curriculums to offer online play therapy.
Begin Play Therapy in Houston, TX or San Antonio, TX:
The child therapists at Heights Family Counseling are passionate about helping children overcome the challenges they’re having in their life. We firmly believe that play therapy is a powerful therapeutic tool to help them feel better and cope with distress. Follow these steps to begin counseling in Houston, TX or San Antonio, TX:
Contact our counseling clinic to set up a free phone consultation,
Meet with one of our child therapists,
Begin play therapy and help your child heal.
Recent Posts
