Children and Adolescents
Play Therapy
Play therapy is a well-researched and effective therapeutic approach. When provided by an experienced, trained therapist, play therapy is proven to be a highly effective approach for helping children and adolescents resolve distress and improve interpersonal relationships. Play therapy enables children to communicate their feelings, experiences and ideas through play, their natural medium of expression. Therapeutic play empowers the child to overcome challenges without demanding words, explanations, or adult reasoning.
Specialized play therapy approaches can be used with infants and toddlers to restore or develop parent-child attachment. Play therapy with preschoolers and school age children may focus on parent-child attachment, trauma resolution or preparation for challenging events (such as surgeries, chronic illness, changes in family dynamics). School aged children and adolescents may use play or expressive arts therapy to help deal with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, family conflict, addictions, trauma, loss, interpersonal relationships, and communication difficulty.
Play therapy utilize many mediums besides toys. This can include (but not limited to) art making, storytelling, music, dance, sand-tray work, models, puppets, and board games. Through these many mediums, the child has an opportunity to explore, express, and process their thoughts and feelings without having to worry about judgement or language.
The play therapist will often work with the child’s parents to increase insight and communication skills with their child. As understanding increases and communication approaches shift, there is often a reduction in the child’s concerning behaviors.
You can learn more about Play therapy here.
Sandplay Therapy
Carl Jung wrote that “often the hands will solve a mystery where the intellect has struggled with in vain.” Sandplay therapy is a non-directive, non-verbal, expressive, sensory based and projective mode of psychotherapy.
Sandplay uses sand and a variety of miniatures that can be placed in the sand tray to create a scene or image. In this very simple act of creation, the sand world provide a means of expressing and processing experiences and feelings that bypass the analytical brain and access more of the subconscious.
Sandplay focuses on intra and interpersonal issues through the use of play and the creation of miniature three-dimensional worlds that illuminate unconscious material such as challenges and struggles the person may be facing. This form of therapy is conducted in the protective presence of a trained therapist.
Sandplay with children is highly beneficial; while imagery and symbol is the deepest language of the psyche for all of us, children in particular use symbols (i.e., the miniatures) as their language. Though they may have no words for what they need to express, the miniatures provide a clear means of communication.
You can learn more about Sandplay Therapy here.
Somatic Experiencing™ (SE™) with Kids
Somatic Experiencing in children and adolescents follows the same principles as SE in adults but with more play and games.
It involves the therapist tracking the child’s nervous system through directed games and play to increase their capacity for difficult behaviors and feelings.
During the session, The children will become an expert in the way energy moves around their body. They will be able to tell when their system is highly activated or shutdown.
Since SE is a bottom up approach, it means that there is less talking and more observing of what is going on in the nervous system. By slowly and gently bringing the child’s awareness to his/her body sensations, the SE practitioner can guide the child to gradually release that pent-up energy which is responsible for so many physical and emotional discomfort and pain. The release and ensuing relief are entirely natural and the child is supported to help his/her nervous system to come back to a place of stability and regulation.
You can learn more about SE here.