The art of living does not consist of preserving
and clinging to a particular mood of happiness...
But in allowing happiness to
change its form.
Happiness, like a child, must be allowed to grow
up.
Charles L.
Morgan
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Play
Therapy
Children usually enjoy coming to play
therapy because play is the natural language of
children. So play is their most effective means
of communication. Through play, a child learns about
the world, they experiment with various behaviors and they
work through their deepest feelings and worries.
Developmentally, children under the age of 10
do not have the abstract reasoning skills or complex verbal
abilities that an adult has developed. Kids can
actually have an expansive vocabulary
and still not have the ability to accurately put
feelings into words. Its just a physical
attribute of brain development rather than related to being
smart.
So when your child is trying to process
difficult feelings, play therapy has proven to be a
very effective way to bring resolution and balance back to
your child and family.
What is Play Therapy? . . . . . . . . .
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A play therapy
session is a place where your youngster is able to work
through various challenges they are having, whether they are
large issues or small ones.
Using play, talking
about issues directly and sometimes incorporating relaxation
techniques, this early work in processing their perceptions
and feelings is a wonderful way to prevent your child's
issues from expanding into bigger struggles later in
life.
Issues Helped by Play Therapy . . . .
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Overall, you might consider
incorporating a few sessions of play therapy whenever your
child is trying to manage any transition that they perceive
as especially difficult or frightening.
The key
concept here is observing how the child is reacting, rather
than thinking they "should" be able to handle something
based solely on their chronological age.
Even if you
feel that your child is "just trying to get attention",
below the surface, their behavior has a very important
message at the root of it all. That is the goal of our
play therapy work. To discover what your child
is really trying to tell us through their behaviors.
Here are a few of the many issues that
can be helped through therapeutic
play.
-
Conflicts with
peers -
Managing transitions of divorce
-
Adjusting to a new
school -
Shyness, withdrawal and isolation
- Not
talking in social settings -
Fears medical
exams/procedures
- Anger and
Aggression -
Demanding controlling
behaviors
- Not trying or
apathy -
Lying and stealing
-
Having
tantrums -
Acting much younger
than age
-
Doesn't listen to
you
- Fear of separating from
parents
- Grieving the loss of a
pet -
Frequent crying or whining
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Knowing When to Call . . . . . .
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A
child might need play therapy if there have been one or more
recent changes or a crisis in the family. Large
changes are easier to understand, but even small changes can
be surprisingly challenging for children.
Look for
clues for the presence of stress. They can show up
as acting-out behaviors, general irritability,
withdrawal behaviors or becoming clingy. If there are
noticeable changes in their behaviors in general or if they
start acting younger than they usually do, they might
be experiencing some stress.
It is also very
helpful to consider coming in for a few sessions as a
preventative measure when you know that something stressful
will be coming up. This works well with doctor visits,
starting at a new school and other unavoidable situations
that are on your calendar.
Common
Stressors for Children . . . . . . . . . . . .
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. .
Children are usually pretty
flexible, but that doesn't mean that they are not
stressed by challenging situations. For example,
because they might go off to play right after their parent's
have a loud argument we often mistakenly interpret that as
meaning they were not affected negatively by the
event. But they are definitely affected by the intense
emotions that are around them.
Here are a
few examples of things that are commonly stressful for a
child.- Parents not sharing much
undivided attention with their
child.
- Child's difficulty
regulating feelings in high stimulation
environments.
- Fears of being
abandoned by parents when parents are
busy.
- Divorced parents, children
struggle with feeling
divided loyalty.
-
Custody issues and the challenges of living in two
households.
- Using food as a way to
self-soothe.
- Family members or
others yelling and high intensity
conflicts.
- The multiple layers and
questions of what it means to be adopted.
What Play
Therapists Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Therapists who specialize in play
therapy receive specific training related to
understanding and de-coding the metaphors of a child's
play. The therapist provides a variety of carefully
selected toys and activities based on the child's
needs. This gives the child an opportunity to play out
their feelings and any difficulties they might be struggling
with.
There are many parenting skills that the play
therapist can pass along to you as well. These
techniques are derived from techniques used in our
sessions. So part of the work we do at here at
Wellspring is to share this valuable information with
parents.
We also model how to use these techniques
during our sessions with parents and their child. This
makes it much easier to understand and implement
these strategies later when you get
home.
What a Session Looks Like . . . .
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A
play therapy session looks similar to regular play at first
glance, but it actually has many complex layers below the
surface. As you take a closer look, you might see
that the therapist creates an environment which invites the
child to play out and talk about their concerns.
Depending on the child's specific needs, we might
use various toys, games, drawing, clay, music, colage, sand
play, stuffed animals, writing, making
books or we might use several of Wellspring's
projective storybooks called "Guess What Happened Next?".
With most issues, the
child generally chooses from a variety of activities through
which through which they process their feelings.
The therapist paces with their needs, looks for clues to
the root of the behaviors and provides corrective outcomes
to guide the child through the healing
process.
The timing
of quiet moments for the child to process difficult
feelings, the careful wording of questions and comments,
then knowing the most effective time to challenge the
child's problematic perceptions is vital in the play therapy
process.
Much of the talking in a session is done
through the metaphors found in the child's play. Since
the majority of young children have the ability to receive
verbal information more effectively than they are able to
express themselves through words, we use their receptive
abilities in our work with them.
The child is frequently able to comprehend
concepts even when they are unable to verbalize them.
Therefore, the play therapist models the idea of putting
feelings into words so they have the opportunity to further
develop this important life-long
skill.
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Tips to Try . . . . . .
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Create a
Positive Interaction Cycle With Your Child
What is
this? A Positive Interaction Cycle
occurs when a parent, or other caretaker, provides a
variety of stimulating experiences for the child as they
spend relaxed time together. Its a mutually beneficial
process of positively interacting with each other. In
addition to the wonderful feelings this generates, it also
reduces acting out behaviors and increases intellectual
development!
These stimulating experiences are intended to
involve the full range of your senses and they provide
an opportunity for mutual exploration and child-directed
play. But please hold back on the tendency to
slip into the lecture-teacher mode. Kids don't feel
connected with you when you do this and they don't usually
enjoy it. Instead, provide a safe open place that
gives the child's joyfully creative mind the
opportunity to soar and explore!
Some example activities might
be :
1. Set up a relaxed time where you can
taste a variety of foods which have different textures,
colors or temperatures. Or maybe foods that
taste sour, sweet, bitter or salty. How does each
food smell? How does it sound when they chew each
bit? You can invite them to briefly
describe how each piece of food feels to their
fingers when they hold it or to their tongue when they chew
it.
2. Plan an activity where you put different
textured items in a bag and the child tries to guess what it
is, learning how to put feelings into words as they
describe the texture.
3. Do
things that involve moving their big muscles like running,
skipping, jumping, stretching, balancing or
climbing. And other activities that involve their fine
motor skills like drawing or making something together.
4. Go
outside and listen to nature sounds and city sounds and
talk about what you hear. While learning to
be mindful about what you and your child are
experiencing in that moment you are also helping the child
learn how to put feelings into words so they can communicate
and connect with others and with themself.
Forming
healthy adult-child bonds, especially in the earliest days
of life, is a reciprocal experience. The adult and
child each influences the actions of the other and both are
enriched a great
deal.
Lively
social interactions are one of the most important parts of
parenting. The more social interactions a child has,
the more strongly attached he/she becomes to that person and
the more likely he/she is to feel lovable and
worthwhile. These are important components of
self-esteem.
Your ability to create a
Positive Interaction Cycle is a very effective way
to of generating emotional health in your
family. It might take a little practice to become
comfortable with this relaxed explorative play, but it
can bring you and your child such joy. I hope
you'll give it a
try!
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Note :
The use of this web site or
email link does not
in any
way imply a patient-therapist
relationship.
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Payment Methods |
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No More Phone Tag!
Visa - Mastercard
Personal
Check
Insurance
Private
Pay Patients
Simply bring a check or
credit card and have that ready at the beginning of each
session.
In-Network Patients
Our office verifies your
benefits, provides you with your remaining deductible amount,
number of sessions allowed, and submits any required clinical
information to your insurance.
Out-of-Network Patients
Receive benefits directly from your
insurance.
Check or credit card payments required at
each appointment.
We have helpful submission tips, office
receipts and approved claim forms for patients
who use their insurance
out-of-network.
Monthly
Payments
Individuals and families with very busy
schedules sometimes use a monthly payment
schedule to streamline the process even
further.
Military
Families
Confidential support for individuals and
families using your Ceridian,
TriWest, TriCare
insurance. Free sessions through Military
OneSource. www.militaryonesource.com at 800-342-9647.
24-Hour
Cancellation
Your appointments are very important and they
require a full 24-Hour notice in order to release your
financial obligation.
If you use insurance,
please note that they will not cover missed sessions or
late cancellations. These remain your
financial
obligation.
Call our office to determine which
billing method will work best
for you.
Contact
Us - About Us
925 831-2442
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We have only this
moment...
Sparkling
like a star in our hand...
And melting like a snowflake.
Let us use it
before it is too late.
Marie Beynon
Ray
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