User:Justiceross 20/Play therapy

Play Therapist Training

Frequently counselors in the play therapy field address a number of obstacles when it comes to helping children. The vast majority of counselors starting off lack the basic knowledge needed to be an effective play therapist. Training for these counselors is done through many different techniques such as university counselor education programs, workshops in hopes to meet the various needs of the children. Different studies are also performed to further assess the progress of the counselor's skill set based on which type of training they pursued. Studies have shown that those that studied play therapy through the university level have displayed higher levels of skills, attitudes and knowledge. The children that need play therapy deal with many different disorders and behaviors and it is imperative that the therapist have these main skills in order for play therapy to be effective. Understanding the stages of child development and how play can help assist them with it is an important step to their learning process.

Question: What type of certification or training is needed for a play therapist?

'''- Due to many counselors not having much experience in the field of play therapy, there are a number of university counselor education programs that assist them with the skills needed to fulfill this position. A Play therapy knowledge and skills survey is a self-reported form of data collection to recruit potential candidates.'''

Child Mental Health
Mental health and wellbeing are essential aspects of a happy life. In most cases, mental health is discussed in regard to adults who have already gained a sense of how to properly deal with their emotions and feelings. The topic of children's mental health is often overlooked by many, causing a detrimental decrease in the emotional and mental stability. According to the authors, in 2005, the World Health Organization stated that 20 percent of children worldwide suffer from disabling mental health problems. At a young age, it can be difficult to properly verbalize and express feelings and emotions to properly discern whether or not their actions after dealing with them are appropriate. When adults are faced with adversity, in addition to dealing with these issues in their own personal ways, they are aware that counseling is available to assist them with their problems. Due to children not being developed in these areas, it can be difficult to recognize certain gestures and cues that indicate trauma, learning disabilities and overall mental health instability. There are many different situations and experiences children have to overcome or continue to deal with. Many people have childhood experiences they have not worked through, as a result, it often leads to issues that are more difficult to resolve in the latter stages of one's life. The importance of therapy for children is significant. This specific therapy is known to help young children deal with various issues such as childhood trauma, disorders and difficult experiences or situations during their adolescent years. Play Therapy has shown how it benefits a kid. There are many case studies that show in what ways it has helped a kid, from learning to express themselves, gaining self confidence learning social skills and more. Play Therapy not only can be helpful for a kid at the moment, but can be an experience that will have a positive effect on them for the rest of their lives.

What is Play Therapy
Play Therapy is a form of Therapy in which children play different games, activities or with toys and more, while a trained therapist observes how they interact while they play. Play Therapy aims to help children that have disorders or have been through difficult experiences or situations. According to the authors, play is a theoretically based approach to therapy that builds on the communicative and learning processes of children. Children do not always know how to express themselves and what to say. Children can express themselves through play without having to talk about it. This is very natural for a kid because playing is easy for them and is a big part of childhood. Trained specialists try to create a safe environment for play so that the kid can be fully engaged and comfortable. Play Therapy is used to achieve growth in their development.

Importance of Knowing About Play Therapy
It is extremely important to know about a kids' mental health. If you do not know if they are struggling with something, then you will not know how you can help them. With kids oftentimes, they have a difficult time verbalizing how they feel. Knowing what a child does when they are going through difficult times or struggling is significant. When knowing a kid's mental health you can put them in the position to get help, one of these options could be Play Therapy. It is extremely important to have knowledge on Play Therapy to know if it can possibly be beneficial for your kid. Understanding the positive outcomes that Play Therapy can potentially have for your kid is vital.

Case Study
A case study was conducted by the authors to show people’s perception on Play Therapy before they were educated on it and how it changed after they had knowledge on it. This study covers the different barriers to Play Therapy and why children are not always provided this resource. According to the authors, some barriers are the knowledge to the public on Play Therapy, a lack of Play Therapist specialists and cultural barriers. This case study shows why it is important to be educated on Play Therapy. This study proved that when people are educated on Play Therapy, the more likely they will choose that for their kid if needed.

Play Therapy Barriers
There are many barriers within Play Therapy. There is a lack of specialists, classes, knowledge on Play Therapy and more. According to the authors, there is possibly a limited number of graduate programs offering play therapy classes. This would affect how many therapists are available. Even the specialists that are available, might not have the training to be a good effective Play Therapist who really understands the techniques of Play Therapy. Not having enough specialists trained in Play Therapy is a huge barrier. This creates a lack of resources and help for kids that need it. This issue is continuing to be worked on and the number of schools that are offering these classes are increasing. According to the authors, “in 1989, 33 universities offered course work in play therapy, that number had grown to 104. In the last four years, it has increased 40 percent, to 146 universities. There is still a lack of specialized Play Therapists, but the numbers are continuing to grow. Another barrier in Play Therapy is culture. Kids come from all different backgrounds and beliefs. It is important that Play Therapists know this because the kids' positive outcomes could look differently. Play Therapists might have to change their approach to specific things. According to the author, Play Therapists may have to change how they work because with helping a kid grow and develop, it could mean them growing also in their beliefs.

Research
A case study was created by the authors to determine what counselors' perceptions of Play Therapy were. There were many barriers that were included in this Play Therapy survey, some were lack of training, time, support, resources and more. According to the authors, over fifty percent of the counselors surveyed agreed that they were not trained sufficiently. These are elementary school counselors and over half of them felt as if they are not trained enough to specialize in Play Therapy. These counselors that have been Therapists for these kids might have not been doing the specific techniques that sufficiently trained Therapists do. This is a barrier for the kids because they might not be getting the same positive outcomes they would be if their Therapist's had adequate training.

Positive Aspects of Play Therapy
There are many positive aspects of Play Therapy. These positive outcomes include problem solving and social skills, gaining self confidence, having a sense of power and more. There are many case studies shown to have given these kids positive outcomes after going through Play Therapy. According to the authors, children learn more about themselves and their world through play. Another positive aspect of Play Therapy is children are more likely to engage in it because of how natural it comes for them. This can simply raise a kid's spirit because play is fun and in a safe environment.

Research
The authors from The University of North Texas and Northern Arizona University created a single case study on two individuals that had very difficult experiences.This case study was created to show evidence of two children that went through Play Therapy and how their trauma symptoms decreased tremendously. Both individuals went through very difficult experiences and the case study named it as “Adverse Childhood Experiences. These experiences included categories of neglect, abuse, household mental illness, being in foster care and more. Both individuals had been exposed to up to eight of these categories. Throughout the study, the authors used a trauma checklist of ninety questions to evaluate how both individuals were improving. Both individuals engaged in twenty four therapy sessions.According to the authors, both individuals had decreased immensely in their trauma symptoms after Play Therapy. Both had shown a significant amount of progress and had decreased in problematic behaviors. Play Therapy was extremely beneficial for these two individuals that had very difficult experiences.

Another case study was conducted by the authors from Baylor University and University of South Florida to show improvement of five children who had behavioral issues that engaged in Play Therapy. These individuals were tested through their behavior and general communication skills. Throughout this study, the same toys were used with all children. Before Play Therapy, all children were asked to take a language sample. After all of the Play Therapy sessions, there were three research questions asked. The three research questions were communication and behavior outcomes, parent satisfaction and student clinician feedback. According to the authors, almost all children improved in their intelligibility and four out of the five children improved in their behavioral disorders. This case study showed how Play Therapy improved these children's communication skills and behavioral issues.

Case studies importance
It is important to know that there is evidence through case studies that show the positive outcomes through Play Therapy. There are many different positive outcomes that were shown through both case studies. These case studies showed children's improvement through a decrease in trauma symptoms, improved communication skills and a decrease in behavioral issues. Play Therapy can be extremely beneficial for all kids coming from different backgrounds and experiences, which was shown through these two case studies.

Mental Health Topic Growing
Mental health is an extensive and necessary topic being more and more talked about. As the topic of mental health continues to grow, it is crucial to have knowledge on all of the different resources in order to fully understand how to take care of yourself and if needed what you need to do to essentially have a happy life. For adults, using resources most likely will look completely different for a child. Children are continuing to struggle with mental health and it is critical that they continue to get help that could possibly benefit them for their entire lives. Play Therapy has shown so many positive outcomes for kids from all different backgrounds. While knowing all the different ways this therapy can be beneficial, it is critical to know what are the different barriers Play Therapy still has today. As these barriers continue to be fixed and worked on, it is important to continue to expand your knowledge on Play Therapy. In order for kids' mental health to get better, it is important that as a society we all know about Play Therapy and how it could possibly help an individual grow in their development.

Creation of Play Therapy
In the eyes of philosophers, psychologists and educators, finding an innovative way to care for the mental health needs of children was a necessity since 429-347BC. (Stangline, n.d.) Famous Greek philosopher Plato stated “you can discover more about a person in one hour of play than in a year of conversation” (Stangline, n.d.). He believed strongly that When people are placed in a comfortable setting will not only make it easier to examine a person dealing with different issues but also make it easier for them to open up about them on their own. “The Education of Man” Written by Friedrich Frobel, emphasized the main points of what it means for a child to have play in their life and the role that it takes on in the development of the expression of their emotions, feelings and actions. He was among the first to publish any case in relation to this particular study. (Stangline, n.d.)

After writing and publishing this book, many other psychologists began to understand the importance of play, how it can be an outlet for children dealing with different issues and began to add it into their practices with kids. During this time period play therapy was utilized frequently by counselors and parents at home and schools. Well known counselors such as Carl Rogers and Virginia Axline implemented these practices in their own works and began to value the relationship between the therapists and children. (Stangline, n.d.)

Sigmund Freud is well known for creating the technique of psychoanalysis (Play as Self Realization: Toward a General Theory of Play, n.d.).

. Psychoanalysis is a theory of therapy created to treat various mental health conditions by studying interactions in the mind. Freud influenced the popular scientific conceptions of natural human ways. Freud believed that “All humans have an unconscious in which sexual and aggresive impulses are in perpetual conflict for supremacy with the defenses against them” (Stangline, n.d.). With these theories in mind, he was the first child play therapist. The first case that he was able to encounter was with a young boy dealing with extreme anxiety issues. Freud believed that play is a form of fulfillment of wishes and that it exposes a pattern of ego mastery and aims to control desires that turn into pleasures (Stangline, n.d.). Four main categories that support his theory are building egalitarian relationships, exploring lifestyles, promoting insight and providing reorientation and reeducation. (Play as Self Realization: Toward a General Theory of Play, n.d.)

Efficiency

Despite the research being convincing on the efficiency  of play-based therapy, many times case studies are not accepted as a form of feasible research. However, in this experimental research, For instance, Bratton & Ray 2000 reviewed a total of 82 articles and found that the majority of the research issues tested proved the efficiency of play therapy. These articles show data that is organized by the number of research studies in each decade. In addition, a second table summarizes the overall number of studies that recorded the efficacy of play therapy based on specific disorders. Within this, out of nine studies concerning Anxiety disorders, it was demonstrated that 77% of children decreased in symptoms.

Another case study conducted by Thombs & Muro (1973) analyzed the overall efficiency of play therapy and the techniques used. This experiment was conducted in regard to relationship based group therapy. During this experiment, two groups were tested and compared; Play therapy and an alternative verbal group counseling. Out of the two groups, 15 sessions were observed and data showed that children that participated in the play therapy groups showed a significant amount of positive change in their social development as opposed to the alternative verbal group counseling. (Bratton & Ray, 2000)

Through research, there are many examples of case studies that show positive improvements in different aspects of mental health within children. However, along with the positive reports, there are also many that show no change at all when testing play therapy and specific techniques. An observation was held on a non-directive play therapy experimental group. This therapy experiment collected data of the change of behavior in children for eight weeks. The data concluded that there were no statistically proven changes between the play therapy group and the control group.(Bratton & Ray, 2000).

Child Abuse
In the United States and across the world, there is an alarming number of child abuse cases. Statistics from the National child abuse and neglect data system indicate that over 3.1 million cases of neglect or child abuse were reported in 2020 (Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics, n.d.). Though these issues occur with children of all ages and ethnicities, there are different variations in cultural and social practices (Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics, n.d.).

Although certain practices are acceptable amongst households, research was conducted to determine if they fit into the category of abuse.(Herrera et al, 2022) For example, the way in which most Canadians view child abuse is different due to the diversity of cultures. However, a majority of these cultures do not agree that child abuse should have strict laws and don't view this as a controversial topic.

Disorders

Mental health is a very important part of a child's overall health. Mental health can affect the way a child operates on a day-to-day basis. 16.6% of children ages ranging from two to eight years have a mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder (Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health, 2022).

. Disorders such as depression, autism, and Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)  are severe revisions in a way that a typical child would behave, learn and deal with their sentiments. There are a number of ways that parents can weigh their child's mental health. The National Health Survey of Children's Health is a survey used by the CDC to examine positive and negative indicators of a child's mental stability and overall health. Information provided in this survey shows statistics that indicate negative and positive aspects of mental health disorders that are frequently found in children. (Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health, 2022).

Importance of Therapy
What happens during ones childhood influences hwo they live throughout their lifespan. The environment in which a child is raised and their relationship with their parents are two important factors that can affect the development of their mental well-being. Many children are capable of understanding and verbalizing their feelings and emotions whereas some are not. Therefore, child therapy is imperative to emotional development because it gives the child space to redress their emotions and discern their feelings and actions to gain power over them. Due to many children being incapable of verbalizing their emotions and feelings, therapy is helpful because specialists can help a child become cognizant of their emotions and assist them with making good decisions while dealing with them (Play as Self Realization: Toward a General Theory of Play, n.d.).

Play therapy is a form of therapy that creates a safe place where children can encounter their feelings and emotions and develop them in such a way that it improves their mental and emotional development. This is a non-directive approach to tackling some disorders that children deal with, including games and toys to aid with the verbal expression of their emotions. In the creation of play therapy, it is ideal that the therapist allows children to inadvertently lead each session giving them guided freedom of their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Although this form of therapy can look like regular play time to the naked eye, trained therapists can use this time to monitor a child and discover issues that they are currently dealing with. (Gill et al., 2019).

As therapists are trained by specialists, the dialect between them and the child at times can be difficult. Play therapy is generally for parents with young children that deal with trauma, learning disabilities and undeveloped emotional control. Authors contend that the medium in which play therapy is meant to be guided is in a way that conveys acceptance and understanding of the children. With this sensitive approach, children have shown positive results and progress that have a strong connection with their therapist (Blanco & Sheely-Moore, 2012, p.66).

How Play therapy works.
Play therapy is used to limit communication barriers between children and adults. Depending on the specific stage of progress that the child is in,the amount of time a child needs to gain communication skills may vary. Though children of all ages have feelings and emotions, they often have difficulties expressing it to their parents or therapist. Furthermore, a gap is created as adults often misinterpret children as they are growing in their communication skills. Therapists are trained to use relatable objects such as toys and games to relate to a deeper meaning. These techniques tend to create a safe and unguarded space for the child to share how they are feeling, initiating the first step of this specific therapy.

Depending on the unique needs of each child, oftentimes each therapist will allow the child to play regularly which allows them to observe and find ways to further connect with them. After the initial meeting, therapists set goals that fit specific needs of the child and decide on which steps are necessary to reach these goals. The way in which children play with different toys and games and their reactions to seeing them helps therapists with guiding behavior based changes each time the child comes in for a session. Over time, the therapist may choose to include siblings, parents, or friends in the latter sessions as therapy progresses based on each child's individual needs. These types of play are generally focus on how children dealing with behavior issues in school, familial grieving, eating disorders, and domestic violence among many others. (Gill et al., 2019).

=     Conclusion = The overarching  research aimed to understand the comprehensive style of play therapy and its efficiency. In summary, play therapy as with most things has both pros and cons. It is important to tailor the therapy to the specific needs of the child however, finding the best way can be difficult. Among the challenges presented by play therapy are finding enough research to answer the question of efficiency and deciding what works best for a childs needs.While we can not ignore the challenges of play therapy it is important that we emphasize the benefits, these include fun ways for children to cope with their problems & a professional approach on managing their emotions. Because of the inherent pros and cons of play therapy, it is increasingly important for both therapists and parents to work cohesively to best meet the needs of the child to insure long term mental wellbeing

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= References = Birch, J., & Carmichael, K. D. (2009). Using Drawings in Play Therapy: A Jungian Approach. Alabama Counseling Association Journal, 34(2), 2-7.

Bratton, S., & Ray, D. (2000). What the research shows about play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 9(1), 47.

Child Abuse and Neglect Statistics. (n.d.). Child Welfare Information Gateway. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/systemwide/statistics/can/

Data and Statistics on Children's Mental Health. (2022, June 3). CDC. Retrieved October 20, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html

Mahamid, F. (2019). The Effectiveness of a Counselling Program Based on Play in Reducing Sleep Disorders in Children of Sexual Abuse. Journal of Social Studies Education Research, 10(3), 292-310.

Mahmi, D. (2022). Physical Punishment as Child Abuse. Canadian Journal of Family and Youth/Le Journal Canadien de Famille et de la Jeunesse, 14(2), 234-238.

Muro, J. H., Muro, L. L., Rose, K. K., Webster, L., & Allen, C. (2017). Use of Child-Centered Play Therapy Responses in a Child Care Setting. Dimensions of Early Childhood, 45(2), 13-19.