Play Therapy

Children who have been abused or traumatized in some way may benefit from working with a therapist. Children often reenact trauma through repetitious play in order to establish mastery over their emotions and integrate experiences into their history on their own terms. Through the use of toys and props, children may naturally share their emotions and past experiences without feeling the pressure they might encounter with traditional talk therapy. For this Discussion, review the course-specific case study for Claudia and the Chiesa (2012) and Taylor (2009) articles. Post an explanation of ways play therapy might be beneficial for Claudia. Using the insights gained from the articles, describe ways you might have worked with Claudia to address her fears and anxiety related to the mugging she witnessed. Respond to at least two colleagues by expanding on evidence in support of play therapy. Colleague 1: Melinda Claudia’s presenting problem is her fear and “needy” behavior after witnessing a mugging in her community (Plummer, 2014). It was report Claudia has high anxiety when leaving the house and being at school (Plummer, 2014). Within Claudia’s case it would be beneficial to use play therapy for a number of reasons. Talmadge explains there are five beneficial reasons to use play therapy: “1. Children communicate through their play; 2. Children are not miniature adults; 3. Children will participant if its fun; 4. It may appear like its just play but there is so much more going on; 5. Play therapy is a developmentally appropriate practice” (2017). With Claudia’s age, emotions would best be expressed through play therapy. “A primarily nonverbal method of intervention, the “work” is done through the sand material and the carefully selected toys the client uses to construct and sometimes to play out his or her world. Because sandboxes are familiar to most children, sand play is not likely to be threatening and more likely to be a safe way to express what may seem to be unacceptable feelings and impulses” (Taylor, 2009). When using play therapy with Claudia, the social worker can use the toys to his display how she feels in another way. Claudia also can express her feelings and anxiety through using sand or other play. With young kids like Claudia, using dolls, babies, Barbie’s, or action figures can also help them reenact the trauma. Within the stages of play therapy she can first address the problem, and goals with the miracle question and then work on the feedback of how to move on (Taylor, 2009). Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014b). Social work case studies: Concentration year. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader]. Taylor, E. R. (2009). Sandtray and solution-focused therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 18(1), 56–68. Talmadge, S. (2017). Family Solutions Growing Hope and Wellness. Top 5 Reasons to Choose Play Therapy. Retrieved from http://www.family-solutions.net/2017/03/17/top-5-r… Colleague 2: Tachelle Explanation of ways play therapy might be beneficial for Claudia. Using the insights gained from the articles, describe ways you might have worked with Claudia to address her fears and anxiety related to the mugging she witnessed. Claudia has witnessed a mugging in her neighborhood. This incident has brought about emotional and behavioral trauma. Claudia is now experiencing severe fear and anxiety. Claudia is retraumatized every time she is exposed to the area where the incident occurred which is the neighborhood she resides in, therefore, there really is no way around it. Play therapy might be beneficial to Claudia as it will allow her to work through her trauma and learn how to cope with her thoughts and feelings. Claudia can work through the past, present and future; describe unspeakable events; and confront her own demons and overcome challenges (Taylor, 2009). Describing the problem, exploring for exceptions, developing well-formed goas, end of session feedback, and evaluating client progress are the five stages of solution focused therapy (Turner, 2009). Solution focused therapy is a more verbal approach whereas sand tray therapy offers more nonverbal therapy by using a sand tray for the therapist and client to communicate with one another (Taylor, 2009). Sand tray therapy may work with Claudia to address her fears and anxieties by creating a world on the sand tray as the therapist listens and attends more through her body language (Taylor, 2009). Claudia can use play therapy to set up her views on what she experienced. According to Chiesa (2012), sand play therapy allows the client to tell their story in multiple ways by adjusting the sand to make it their own. As the therapist for Claudia, I can ask her to also describe her emotions during the time she witnessed the trauma. By doing this, allows me to navigate through her emotions and help her work with gaining more insight on her emotions as well as teach her new ways to cope with these emotions that she is still experiencing. References: Chiesa, C. (2012). Scripts in the sand: Sandplay in transactional analysis psychotherapy with children.Transactional Analysis Journal, 42(4), 285–293. Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014b). Social Work case studies. Concentration year. Baltimore MD: Laureate International; University Publishing, [Vital Source e-reader]. The Case of Claudia. Taylor, E. R. (2009). Sandtray and solution-focused therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 18(1), 56–68. Requirements: 1-2 paragraphs