Why Play? Integrating play into your child’s therapy appointment.
Featured Author: Rachel DeMarco, Registered Social Worker
Deciding if enrolling your child in therapy can be a big, daunting decision. We often receive questions from parents like you such as “What will they talk about?” “What can they learn?” “What will they even do?”
One of the many tools available to therapists who work with kids is the use of play techniques. Play is accessible to children. They often use play to express themselves, as through play they can communicate what they may not be able to say verbally. It provides a safe space to process emotions and learn important skills. Alongside a trusted therapist, while even having fun (!!) and use their creativity, kids can process their feelings, learn coping skills, and more!
So what can therapy through play offer to your child? Let’s dive in:
What are the five benefits of therapy using play?
Using play techniques during therapy can provide children with:
A safe place to share their thoughts and feelings
A medium to recognize, understand, and process emotions
Learning of important coping skills
Space to emotionally heal
Building confidence and encouraging their creativity
How does play provide children a safe space?
It’s common for children to have feelings and thoughts that they feel they can’t communicate to their families. By using play in their therapy sessions children can build a positive, trusting relationship with their therapist with the bonus of having fun! There is so much that a child can say through play that they can’t express in words. A knowledgeable therapist can help children to comfortably engage while interpreting what the child is seeking to communicate. Having the space to safely share their thoughts and feelings can greatly help to improve children’s mental and emotional wellbeing.
How can play techniques help my child to learn about their emotions?
Through play, children learn to recognize, understand, and process their emotions. Children are naturally creative and often use toys to communicate their feelings and understanding of their world. The therapist works to interpret what the child is expressing. Therapists often use emotion cards, books, or beanbags to help children learn how to name and recognize their emotions (what those “big feelings” actually feel like!), and process these feelings. The therapist can then help the child to understand the healthy, appropriate ways to process and express emotions, which helps them cope when those big feelings come on.
What coping skills does play teach?
Throughout our lives, there are many times where we experience difficult emotions. It’s a common myth that children cope “better” or are more “resilient”—just like adults, every child has their own tolerances and limits, but unlike adults children do not have a lifetime of experiences to draw from or learned coping skills, so their feelings come out in ways our adult brains may have a hard time recognizing. A skilled therapist has trained their adult brain to recognize when children aren’t coping, and help them learn those coping skills, often using a safe medium such as play.
Learning healthy coping strategies allows us to manage our emotions in positive ways and this is important for our emotional and mental wellbeing. When children use play to express themselves in therapy, therapists help children to develop coping strategies according to their (and sometimes their parents’) goals. When children build healthy coping skills, they are better equipped to manage challenging feelings and situations that have already happened, may arise as they progress through childhood, and even into their adult lives, and this leads to an improved quality of life.
Play is a safe outlet to help children emotionally heal
Children’s brains are in the midst of development! Their learning brains can have a very hard time understanding adverse or traumatic early life experiences. Sometimes, children feel they need to hold their emotions in which can lead to a decline in their mental health. By being able to comfortably express their thoughts and feelings through play with a compassionate therapist, children can process their challenging experiences and begin to heal emotionally. Through therapy, children can learn more about themselves and what they have experienced and can in turn learn how to heal and cope with negative feelings and distress. Children can really begin to thrive when they are able to experience emotional healing.
Play is a confidence boost and creativity powerhouse!
When engaging in play, children can use their imagination and creativity to explore and learn about their emotions, thoughts, and experiences. Having a safe space and a trusting relationship with a therapist allows children to kick their creativity into overdrive to explore, express, and communicate their thoughts and emotions, and make important connections to how their thoughts and emotions impact their behaviours. Children have the choice to use a range of toys, such as dollhouses, loose parts, art supplies, sensory friendly objects, to create their own worlds and explore life experiences. This can also help to expand children’s cognitive and emotional capacity and improve their social skills.
Throughout therapy, children can start to understand more about themselves and their world, which can help them feel confident in who they are.
We all aim for our children to thrive and succeed throughout their lives, and a big key to that happiness is through emotional intelligence, positive coping skills, and self-confidence. As a parent, you should trust your instincts, as you know your child well and will often sense if something is wrong.
Therapists often provide free consultations where you can ask any questions and ensure that the therapist you are seeking is the right fit for your child. We encourage you that you explore your options for child therapy, to help you decide what therapist and therapy approach is best for your needs. We all want the best for our children and attending child therapy can help your child see improvement in their mental wellbeing, so they are able to get back to enjoying life.
Want to learn more? Read Rachel’s bio, and check out her availability below:
References:
BetterHelp. (2024, January 23). 17 Benefits of Play Therapy That May Help Children. BetterHelp. https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/therapy/play-therapy-for-children-17-benefits/
Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. (2023, March 8). Therapy to Improve Children’s Mental Health. Centers for Disease and Control Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/parent-behavior- therapy.html
Higa-McMillan, C.K., Francis, S. E., Rith-Najarian, L., & Chopita B. F. (2016). Evidence base update: 50 years of research on treatment for child and adolescent anxiety, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 45:2, 91-113.
Kaminski, J. & Claussen, A. (2017). Evidence base update for psychosocial treatments for disruptive behaviors in children. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 1-23.
Limiere Children’s Therapy, Inc. (2022, January 26). 5 Benefits of Play Therapy. Lumiere Child. https://www.lumierechild.com/blog/5-benefits-of-play-therapy/