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You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. - Plato
Play therapy refers to a wide variety of treatment methods, all of which incorporate the use of play. Play therapy is based on the belief that play is an essential part of children's lives and critical to healthy development. Play is the language of children. Children, especially younger children, naturally try to resolve psychological conflict by engaging in play. Similar to the way dreams may help resolve unconscious complexes, play therapies offer children a safe place to explore, relive and find creative solutions to challenging or traumatic experiences. Play therapists are trained to assess and understand the metaphorical content of children's play.
Through play, children can learn about their own capabilities and limitations, social rules and the difference between fantasy and reality. They can rehearse new skills and come to master difficult situations. Play helps children find words for their experiences so that their peers and the adults in their lives can better understand them. In play therapy, children are able to "play out" their concerns at a safe psychological distance within a protected play environment. This helps the child to discover creative solutions or uncover inner resources.
Play therapists use their understanding of play to increase children's coping skills and to share their understanding of the play to parents, caregivers and educators involved in the child’s life. In the playroom under the guidance of a play therapist, children can confront their problems in a safe environment in order to identify, confine and master them.
Parents are an integral part of the play therapy process. Therapists meet or consult regularly with parents to support and enhance the work the child is doing in play therapy sessions. Parents are crucial in providing feedback to the therapist about changes at home. The therapist then translates the child's play for the parents and gives suggestions on how to support the child's therapy in the home environment.
Play therapy has been effective with children whose problems are related to life stressors, such as divorce, death, relocation, hospitalization, invasive medical procedures, chronic illness in self or family, domestic violence and natural disasters. Without having to depend on words, children can increase their capacity for expression through play. While many childhood upsets are healed without therapeutic intervention, play therapy offers a natural, safe and noninvasive method to foster and hasten recovery from common distressing events as well as major traumas.
