Play Therapy . . . it actually works!

I'm gonna tell you a little story about Play Therapy. Keep in mind this story is about an actual client I had so I have to keep details to a minimum. Sometimes when doing play therapy it is easy to start to wonder what the difference is between play therapy and just play. It can start to look, feel, and even sound the same to anyone watching, and to the therapist you can start to wonder if you are actually helping or just playing with a little kids for fun.

I had a young client who came to me with suspect of some abuse, possibly sexual, and who likely witnessed some domestic violence as well. They were in a safe stable environment when they came to see me,  but having some behavioral and emotional issues that are common for children who have come from abusive situations. I began doing some play therapy with this client and it was actually fun. They were sociable, playful, talkative, and just plain cute so I always looked forward to them coming in. In the midst of the play therapy some stories and themes were obviously related and the client was able to work some of those things out and I could speak to those issues through their play, but there was one story that was always present every week. No matter what else played out, there was always this one thing that would happen in the story that I couldn't figure out. It was random and seemed unrelated to everything else. The weeks went by and while things did start to improve with this client, this story was still present in the play every time. I kinda figured there was something to it, but I waited and didn't come out and ask, which I am glad I did. One week while acting out this story, they stopped mid play and told me what the story meant and how it related to their life. The light went off, Ah hah! There it was, it made so much sense now, and here is the best part. After that, I only saw the client 2-3 more times and they never played that story again. They improved significantly and no longer needed counseling services. Amazing, right! Almost textbook perfect. They processed this event in there life and it took several months, but once they had processed it, they moved on!

You read about how play therapy works and how children use it to process traumatic events and to just process life. As a therapist you use it to help them process these things and to help them rewrite a happy ending. It was so helpful for me to actually see it work.  While it just felt like playing, to that young client it was a part of the healing. Sometimes I wish it was that easy for adults, that we (or I) could be that resilient and process our life through play. Then again we sometimes do, but through experience, life, and our relationships.

On that note, I went camping this weekend and being outdoors is typically the way I process my life. I feel more at peace with God and myself when I'm in nature, so I'll leave you with a picture from my trip. It was taken at a beautiful place called Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia. Please feel free to comment below on your own play therapy success stories or perhaps how you like to process things in your life.