Play Therapy Canada
An Introduction to Play Therapy
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This article is based upon material presented at the 2001 Kingston (Ontario) Summer Play Therapy Institute by Dr Mark Barnes IBECPT CPT-P. Now retired, Mark has done more than anyone else in recent years to promote the cause of play therapy throughout the world and to raise the standards of training and education in play therapy. Dr Barnes is a Canadian citizen. PTC is privileged to be associated with his work. His views on the Directive v Non-Directive approaches are especially thought provoking.
| First Principles | Recent Influences |
| Historical Background | Directive v Non-Directive |
| Pioneers/Relationship Theories | Axline's Basic Rules |
| Client Centred Approach |
First Principles
Keep the Bigger Picture In Mind. Play therapy is one piece of a total picture. It is an important piece, but still, just one part of a larger process. There are other areas and people to be dealt with, either by the therapist or by colleagues. As work proceeds with the child, it is also important for someone to be involved with other people in the child’s environment. We have seen a play therapy service in a school run by well trained, very experienced, well intentioned therapists founder because of a break down in communications with the teachers.
Children of All Ages 0 - 100. Play therapy techniques can just as easily be adapted for adults and their inner children. We have , for example, observed the dramatic changes effected upon adults who have completed a sand tray. Positive results were obtained in a far shorter time than the use of talking therapy could have achieved. Obviously there are certain adaptations that have to be made for different age groups but, in general there are few limitations in tapping playful or creative impulses in the healing processes. Until now 3 years has been assumed to be the youngest age at which a child could benefit. However the exciting developments in filial therapy and the latest research into how young children learn and think suggests otherwise.
Avoid Dogma. Remember that the entire mental health field is brand new. It is hardly a century old and therapy with children is really so new that there is no excuse for getting locked into dogmatic beliefs about there being “one wonderful model that works”. Take everything you hear in the field with a grain of salt. There are mountains of theories and philosophies of working with children but relatively few facts. Models are based on theories. Unfortunately when much of a theory has been disproved, we are sometimes still left with the models. A critiquing mind is vital for a therapist.
The Toolset. The techniques and methods are the tools in the tool chest of a healer. The more skills or tools one has the better one can adapt to new situations., difficulties or problems. These tools are also resources. The more resources, inner and outer, that we have access to the less likely that we will “burn out”. However it is no use knowing the theory of a tool without the practical experience of using it, initially under safe conditions.
Healing Comes From the Heart. Do not feel that you have to have all the “right” tools before beginning. You will never have all the resources you could hope to have but you will always have access to your own inner voice. Professionals in the most wonderfully equipped play therapy settings can still do a poor job. Toys do not make the therapy. A truly skilled therapist could work with only the air and emptiness.
Historical Background
There are many people that we are in contact with in connection with our work: parents, teachers, social workers, care workers, doctors etc. Some may not have heard of play therapy. Many will not be convinced of its value. We therefore need to undertake an educational job. Part of this process is showing that play therapy is not some new fangled technique but one that has strong historical roots.
In giving a background on play therapy, it does not necessarily mean that all or any of the methods mentioned are still in use or that they necessarily work. What we are looking at here are our “roots”, the beginnings of therapy with children. Some of the methods would definitely not be used today. They are given to indicate the growing process of our understanding of work with children.
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H Hug-Helmuth (1919)
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First used play directly in the therapy of children. Murdered by a client, who was her nephew and living with Hug Helmuth as an adopted son. |
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Melanie Klein (1932) |
Incorporated play into her sessions with children as a ‘lure’ into therapy |
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Structured Play Therapies (late 1930s)
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Used play therapy as a direct substitute for words. Common factors:
(Not connected to the Minuchin systemic family therapy model known as “structural family |
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Otto Rank (1936 |
Stressed the importance of the so-called “birth trauma” in human development. |
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Jessie Taft (1933) Frederick Allen (1942) Clark Moustakas (1959)
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Adaptations of Rank’s thinking to work with children in play therapy, Through therapy the child is given the opportunity to establish a safe, consistent relationship with a therapist in a safe setting. This approach tended to emphasise the child-therapist relationship and de-emphasise the significance of past events. Still maintained a strong tie to psychoanalytic theory. |
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Levy (1938)
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Developed “release therapy” to deal with children with specific trauma – made materials available to re-enact the trauma. |
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Soloman (1938)
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Developed a technique called “active play therapy” which was used with impulsive/acting out children. It was thought that expressing rage and fears through play would lead to more socially accepted play. |
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Hambridge (1955)
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Set up play much like Levy, but was much more directive. Directly recreated the event in play to aid the child’s “release”.
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Carl Rogers
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Developed this approach for therapy with adults. |
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Virginia Axline
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Modified the client centred approach into a play therapy technique for children. Client centred play therapy aims at resolving the imbalance between the child and his/her environment so as to facilitate natural self-improving growth.
Keep in mind that, contrary to the beliefs of adherents, this approach is anything but “non-directive” when it comes to interpretations and analysis of a child’s play. |
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Limits |
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Bixler (1949) |
Wrote an article “Limits Are Therapy” which began a movement where the development and enforcement of limits was considered the primary vehicle of change in therapy sessions. Therapist sets the limits with which she or he is comfortable. For example, the child should not be allowed to:
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Ginott (1959, 1961)
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Felt that the therapist, by properly enforcing limits, can re-establish the child’s view of her/himself as a child who is protected by adults. |
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