How Does Play Therapy Work?
Play is a child’s natural and age-appropriate form of communication and a vital part of their development. Play therapy is different from ‘just playing’ and differs from the play your child might engage in at home, daycare, or school.
Non-Directive Play Therapy: This approach uses carefully selected toys and play materials and encourages the child to take the lead, giving them the freedom to choose how they engage with the materials provided. The special playtime allows children to express their struggles, worries, and feelings, helping them see things differently and make sense of their experiences. It focuses on the therapist-child relationship and allows the child to go through the therapeutic process at their own pace.
Directive Play Therapy: Approaches such as Theraplay® based therapy and Autplay® involve the therapist guiding activities to support specific skill development. These sessions often include active parent participation, which helps reinforce the skills learned during therapy.
The choice between non-directive, directive, or an integrated approach is based on the individual needs of the child and family.
How Can Play Therapy Help Your Child?
Benefits of Play Therapy
- Empowers children to problem solve and build new coping skills
- Allows children to express and process their emotions in healthy ways
- Promotes self-acceptance, self-confidence and empathy
- Enhances the ability to connect and relate to others in authentic and meaningful ways
- Builds capacity, resilience and skills to navigate the world around them
- Provides a safe environment to process trauma and difficult experiences
Play Therapy Process
Parent Intake Session
Before therapy begins, a 90-minute parent-only session will be scheduled to gather information about your child’s developmental history, strengths and needs and to learn about your family context. This session helps to determine the goals for therapy, and the likely approach.
Initial Sessions
Following the parent intake session, if you feel comfortable proceeding, play therapy will begin with four initial sessions scheduled weekly at a consistent day and time. These early sessions are typically non-directive, giving your child the freedom to explore the playroom at their own pace. This helps them build trust, feel safe in the therapeutic environment, and become familiar with the process. During this stage, the therapist also gains valuable insight into your child’s perceptions, feelings, and inner emotional world.
Parent Consultations
After the first four play therapy sessions, a 60-minute parent consultation is scheduled with parent/s only, to discuss how your child is responding to therapy, share insights from sessions, and finalise therapy goals and the play therapy approach moving forward. Ongoing parent consultations are then scheduled after every 4–6 sessions with your child.
Session Scheduling
Play therapy is considered a medium to long-term therapy approach. The duration of therapy varies for each child, depending on their unique needs, goals and circumstances. On average, the process typically ranges from 12 to 24 sessions. Some children begin to show meaningful progress and positive shifts within 12 to 14 sessions, while others may benefit from longer term therapy. Therapy is generally conducted weekly. Consistency with sessions is an important factor in the effectiveness of play therapy. The frequency of sessions and a regular session day/time will be determined with you. Therapy sessions are typically 45 - 50 minutes.
Parent Involvement
Therapy sessions usually take place directly between the therapist and child, with parents requested to remain nearby in the waiting room. However, in dyadic parent-child play therapy and more structured approaches such as Theraplay® and AutPlay®, parents actively participate in the sessions. Regardless of the approach, regular 60-minute parent consultations are an essential part of the therapeutic process. These sessions support collaboration, provide valuable psychoeducation, and at your request, may also include joint meetings with educators/teachers to best support your child’s growth and progress.
Next Steps
If you’re considering play therapy for your child, we invite you to reach out to Playful Minds via the Contact page or email (admin@playfulmindstherapy.com.au). We are here to answer your questions and guide you through the process. Get in touch with us today or click the button below to find out about our fees.