1. Play Therapy In Schools 2013 CCPA Annual Conference
Presenter: Don Chafe

2. Play Therapy
Why Play?
Why Therapy?
Why work with children?

3. Why Play? Most children readily engage in play.
Play is believed to be the natural language of childhood.
Children (and often adults) may lack the verbal ability to describe inner experience.
Play taps “magical thinking” ability.

4. Why Therapy? Therapy is a corrective experience.
Therapy is about change.

5. Why work with children? Children are embedded in a social context:
Children in families
Children in schools
Children in communities
Some schools of play therapy deal with these various levels.

6. Why work with children?
Children have internal psychological processes.
These processes can be explored and altered in the therapeutic relationship.
This workshop will focus on therapeutic relationships with children.

7. Some “schools” of play therapy
Non-directive Prescriptive
Psychoanalytic Family
Sand play Group
Filial Therapy Object relations
Jungian Phenomenological
Cognitive-Behavioral Fair Play
Adlerian Time Limited
Theraplay Dynamic
Ecosystemic  >>>>>>>>>>>>

8. Non-directive play therapy
Belief system:
Child driven
Child is having difficulties because he /she does not feel accepted / respected
Cure is unconditional positive regard

9. Non-directive play therapy
Therapist behavior and therapeutic techniques:
If you are using a technique you are not doing non-directive therapy
Therapist concentrates on active listening:
Tracking
Reflection of feeling
VERY limited questioning

10. Tracking What do we reflect? Play sequences Child-toy interaction
Project child into play
Child's behavior

11. Tracking How do we reflect? NOTE:
Intensity of the therapist's involvement can be varied from light to intense
NOTE:
Reflection of feeling can be similarly varied.

12. Practice
Practice non-directive techniques

13. Non-directive practice
Reflect
Set limits
THE END

14. Setting limits What limits do we set?
How do we let the child know the limits?
How do we enforce the limits?

15. Gestalt play therapy Based on the adult work of Frederick Perls
Gestalt is an “experiential” therapy

16. Gestalt Play Therapy Violet Oaklander (1978). Windows to Our Children
Felicia Carroll (student of Oaklander)
Gestalt Theory can be taught
Heady / esoteric ideas
Gestalt Therapy must be experienced
Ideas meaningless without experience

17. Gestalt Play Therapy Belief system: Therapist driven
I / thou relationship
Therapist encouraged the child to experience all aspects of the self while being totally present in the session
Children experience problems because they lack contact with some aspect of the self or the environment
Cure comes from having child establish contact

18. Gestalt Play Therapy Therapist behavior and therapeutic techniques:
Experiencing
Sharing
Changing perspective
Identifying with elements
Amplifying
Using non-verbals
Owning emotions

19. Practice
Practice gestalt techniques

20. More info
Canadian Association for Child and Play Therapy (CACPT) Play Therapy International