“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation”
Plato – 427–347 BC
Happy National Play Therapy Week to all the play therapists out there, and clients who are receiving play therapy services!! What a great opportunity to celebrate how powerful play therapy is. Anyone who has met me knows how passionate I am about this field. What is Play Therapy? For me, as a Registered Play Therapist, play therapy is the way that I’m able to help children, adolescents and families. Play therapy helps me reach children using developmentally appropriate theories and techniques to help them through whatever they are struggling with. Need a more detailed explanation? Check out this video from APT! Andrew Video, from Association for Play Therapy
Are you a lawyer, a parent, or a caseworker and you’re not sure that you buy into this whole “play therapy” scene? I encourage you to check out my play therapy page, for a more descriptive explanation. If you still have questions, I would love an opportunity to invite you to my playroom and have an opportunity to address your concerns. At the office, I also have a binder full of research articles on the effectiveness of play therapy when working with children. Some of these research articles can also be found here: MAPT
When looking for someone to work with children, I highly recommend finding someone with the credentials of a Registered Play Therapist or someone who’s under supervision for that credential. What exactly is that? The credentials of a Registered Play Therapist are conferred by the Association for Play Therapy (APT); a professional organization that helps advance play therapy by sponsoring credentialing, as well as promoting research and training. Play therapists can be licensed counselors, clinical social workers, psychologists and certified school counselors. For those who are unfamiliar with this credential, to become an RPT, one must have earned either a masters or doctoral degree in mental health and have the clocked hours of play therapy training and clinical experience under supervision. Recently, APT has also added a new credential SB-RPT (School Based) which recognizes our amazing guidance counselors and the work they do with children. For me, that clinical experience under supervision was what helped me develop into the play therapist I am today.
In our office we have 4 therapists who use play therapy with children. Below are some pictures of our office playrooms. Everything is in these rooms are for a reason. We have specific toys, with specific themes.
Happy Play Therapy Week!