Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is based on the premise that children are inherently driven toward wellness when they are given enough space within an encouraging, reinforcing therapeutic environment. Sessions inevitably include some limits that are set once they are needed, but an important tenet of CCPT is that children are given the opportunity to lead, make choices, explore, discover, and ultimately work through the challenges that are blocking them from reaching their full potential. Therapy sessions are individualized and developmentally informed, so a play therapy session with a three-year-old would look quite different from a therapy session with a teenager.

Even if a child has clear issues that need to be addressed, the reality is that every interaction that a child has during the week between sessions can either reinforce or undermine the child’s progress in therapy. For this reason, I make it a regular practice to work closely with parents and even teach them some of the techniques play therapists use in sessions so that parents can begin to mirror these strategies at home. Parents feel empowered to no longer wonder if they are handling a situation in the best way, because I help and support parents, give specific advice, and work with parents as they begin using the new interactional skills I have taught them. I also offer a more structured, in-depth training for parents who believe they would benefit from the additional guidance and support.

Sure! Play Therapy is highly individualized and can look different, depending on a child’s personality, developmental level, age, interests, and other factors. The ways in which play is incorporated into sessions can also vary, depending on these factors. While younger children use play as their means of communicating (their “language”), teenagers tend to use play as a way to feel more comfortable, break down walls of resistance, to soothe themselves, and/or give their hands something to do while they talk. Teenagers sometimes prefer to talk more than play (which is absolutely fine!), but it is quite common for even these adolescents to grab some slime, play dough or some other item to work with busily while they talk. There are neurological and developmental reasons for this preference (that I won’t get into here), but the important thing is that it works. There are also principles of Child-Centered Play Therapy that can and do apply to children of all ages. For instance, whether a child is four or fourteen, he or she can feel confident and empowered/capable or underconfident and incompetent. A play therapist is trained to notice the signs and indications that a child is struggling in a given area and to work on these areas within the sessions.