Should clinicians identify themselves professionally as “Play Therapists?”  I would say “no” unless it is the clinician’s intention to limit their practice to that single intervention and the clinician is prepared to refer clients not appropriate for  play therapy to someone else.  Of course, I’m making an assumption that other forms of intervention may be more appropriate for addressing and treating some issues and diagnoses.  Unfortunately, our profession still has clinicians trying to fit a “square peg in a round hole.”

There are three reasons why I think we should not identify ourselves professionally as play therapists:

1)      When we seek licensure it is not as a “Play Therapist.” Rather, we are licensed as Psychologists, Social Workers, or Licensed Professional Counselors.   Our licensure has status and meaning to fellow clinicians and referral sources that the title “Play Therapist” will never convey. When we identify ourselves as Play Therapists we suggest that is all we do. Hopefully, that s not true for most clinicians!

 

2)      From a pragmatic point of view, I believe we obtain more and better quality referrals, by being identified by our licensure title. It allows us to become known as clinicians who have a variety of intervention strategies to treat our clients. Play therapy should be one technique or intervention that we can intelligently apply to the treatment of an individual. 

 

3)      Effective treatment planning and communication of an appropriate treatment plan is not facilitated by an identifying ourselves as Play Therapists. Play therapy is a generic term and there are many ways of doing play therapy.  Back in the stone age of managed care therapists in our town were routinely dismayed when a case manager denied more sessions for play therapy.  “Play therapy” was a red flag for case managers.   Along the same lines, clinicians who tried to sign up on panels as “Play Therapists” were frequently denied membership on panels or didn’t receive referrals from insurance company case managers.  Unfortunately, writing treatment plans that are accepted by case managers continues to be an underappreciated talent in graduate school and training programs. The Practice Planners series has rescued us from one of the most tedious and painful aspects of practice.

I’d be curious to know how others identify themselves professionally if they have found any benefit in identifying themselves as Play Therapists.

We’ve been busy upgrading our web site and adding new products. Stay tuned for our new home page and product menus. We’ve added a Savings Center to organize reduced and clearance items and make them easier to find. Our new gift certificate has added functionality and will keep track of multiple expenditures until completely used up.  It is no longer necessary to spend the entire gift certificate on a single order, and it can now be applied to shipping charges as well.

We’ve added dozens of new products with more to come over the next six months. New items include three new play sets: Army, Fire Fighter, and Police Officer. We’ve added a deluxe tool set, medical set, Gumby, Pokey, and lots more.  Our sand trays have been improved and have a more durable finish and are made of renewable Alder wood.  We’ve added dozens of new miniatures in the past year and now have over 600 sand play miniatures.

 

As always, we remain open to your feedback and suggestions for products. To be added to our email list send us a note: toys@childtherapytoys.com.

I often use board games in my sessions but find that some kids just don’t like board games, and many boys, obsessed with their video games, find them especially tedious. However, I have had a very positive experience with the Intelligent Anger board game.

Intelligent Anger is designed to teach young people specific skills that will help them look objectively at anger-provoking situations and react in a thoughtful, assertive, and respectful way. I played this game yesterday with 3 fifth grade boys. I was surprised by how positively they reacted to the game. Two of the boys seem to spend most of their free time playing video games, yet really enjoyed the game. The game presents a variety of anger provoking scenarios that must be overcome. The boys seemed to appreciate and understand the solutions offered and found the scenarios closely matched anger-provoking situations they’d experienced. While the game utilizes a Social Information Processing Model of anger and aggression, it is not necessary for the clinician to be familiar with this model. This model holds that many young people are prone to aggressive behavior because they lack good cognitive skills for dealing with anger-provoking situations and is illustrated very well by the board game. The Intelligent Anger board game is also very helpful in provoking conversation and developing insight into the child’s behavior when frustrated or angry.

These days, if someone is in need of a particular kind of service, their first move is often straight to the internet to narrow down what they are looking for and decide on the best place to find it. As many therapists are now aware, this most certainly extends to their practice. Since people no longer have to settle for the scant information provided in a phonebook, the information, functionality, and presentation of a practitioner’s website has become an essential component in attracting new clients and maintaining a strong client base.

Of course, the idea of creating and keeping up with a website can seem quite daunting. And, indeed, developing an exceptional one is no easy task. I was recently introduced to TherapySites.com, which provides the excellent and affordable service of doing all the hard stuff for you and helping you launch and maintain a site that attracts as many potential clients as possible and lends your practice the credibility it deserves. The features offered can also make a huge difference in the efficiency of how your office is run. Does having all new patient paperwork completed before they arrive sound good to you? I must say I find it pretty appealing and certainly the patient wouldn't mind either.

Right now, ChildTherapyToys.com has arranged a very SPECIAL deal with TherapySites that allows for a one-month free trial for anyone who wants to check it out. All you have to do is enter the following promo code: promoCTT. 

The truth is, the internet has made competition fierce and a informative and convenient website can make all the difference to a person in need of service they can trust. Below are a couple of articles from TherapySites that detail what they can do for your practice and why it's important that it be done.  

Websites for Therapists - Why You Need a Website

How To Bring Your Therapy Practice Into the 21st Century

The following was submitted by reader Rebecca Moise. It's an insightful look at the symbolism of bridges used by children in sand tray therapy. I thought I'd share with everyone else.

"In your most recent entry it was mentioned many play therapists have found bridges to be one of the most frequently used sand-tray miniatures. This has also been my experience. Bridges, or moving across a bridge, are also found in dreams. There are times in the sand tray, or in dreams, when one meaning of this is strongly indicated. This can represent the experience of moving from one state to another. The child's inner world is changing as she grows and develops. She is much aware of moving from one arrangement of instinctual energy to others that may impose a quite different set of interests and abilities: infant to toddler, toddler to child, younger child to older child, older child to teen, teen to adult. These are monumentally important processes the child  actively  works on mastering as he plays. Very young children I see in my practice often reach automatically for one of the several bridge miniatures I have available to place these in the sand. They may run cars over these or have people or animal miniatures moving across these. Older children may use bridges to connect two parts of sand tray scenes they are creating. Teens or adults may find more elaborate, symbolic uses for bridge miniatures,  as they create worlds that more clearly represent their life journey. Bridges are an important part of my collection of miniatures. Other frequently used miniatures include treasure, jewels or shiny objects of all sorts, strands of beads, weapons and fighting, including both war scenes and fighting dangerous animals, babies, witches, Disney figures. . . well the list goes on and on, but bridges are certainly high on the list."

Thanks, Rebecca. If anyone else would like to share their knowledge or experiences, please post a comment or send us an email.

  

We are so fortunate to be therapists now with so many resources available to work with children. There are days that I think my entire practice consists of children who can’t get along with peers or siblings. In addition to allowing time for play and discussion, I find that board games and role play are really useful for teaching cooperation skills.

Here is a partial list and description of some of the relevant games available from childtherapytoys.com. Learn more about each game by clicking on the game title.

Both The Social and Emotional Competence Game and My First Therapy Game (ages 6-14) are excellent for getting to know children and helping them to begin thinking about cooperating, sharing, communicating and other social skills necessary for conflict resolution.  A very nice series of games that foster social and emotional competence and help avoid getting into conflict are: No More Arguments, No More Teasing, and No More Bullies (ages 6-12).

Many children with conflict issues also have anger issues and need strategies to “cool down” before they can cooperate and resolve conflicts. Both the The Angry Monster Machine Game (ages 5-10) and Furious Fred (ages 7-12) are helpful (see earlier post about games for anger management). More recently published games include Intelligent Anger (ages 10-14) and Escape from Anger Island (ages 6-12).

Of course, The Conflict Resolution Game (ages 6-12) and Conflict Busters (ages 7-12) are obvious choices.  Treasure Time (ages 6-12 & ages 5-8) is available in two versions and addresses a range of issues associated with cooperation and resolving conflict. Many children experience conflict because they don’t understand the connection between behavior and consequences. Rules & Reason (ages 5-10) is a board game that addresses this issue. Consequences teaches similar skills and is fun for younger children (ages 3-10). Always Play Fair (ages 6-12) uses a sports theme to discuss pro-social behaviors.

Journey to Friendsville (ages 6-12) is a new game that teaches a variety of skills, including conflict resolution. Understanding others, empathy, and effective communication are necessary skills for conflict resolution.  Another new game, from the author of the Ungame, is Out of Your Mind (ages six through adult). I also like A Day in the Life (ages 6-12), which takes players through the day of someone who must handle multiple conflicts with peers and authority figures.

Here's some pictures from one of my recent sand tray sessions with a child who's parents were having marital difficulties.

Tray two: The father recently initiated a separation , without notice.  Father has just been knocked over with a cannon ball ...



Tray one: Father initiated a separation. Family and family friends look on ...





Interested in sand tray therapy? Please feel  free to add your comments and send in your own pictures. Include a brief note about each picture. Email jcwilburn@gmail.com

The first tray is from a session with a child with diagnoses of Bipolar Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Mental Retardation. He stated he didn’t want to come to the session that day, but would do a sand tray. Completed his tray and walked out!

The next two trays were completed by a child with normal intellectual functioning and a diagosis of Bipolar Disorder. He has a life time history of rageful and out of control behavior that has only begun to get under control in the last 12 months.  He is now 12 years old.
















Interested in sand tray therapy? Please feel  free to add your comments and send in your own pictures. Include a brief note about each picture. Email jcwilburn@gmail.com

I thought it might be fun and to start a series of entries with pics from my own sand tray sessions. It's interesting to see the results of sand tray therapy in the context of various difficulties and disorders the participant is struggling with.

This first picture is from a session with a child with Asperger's.



The child was referred for anxiety and school problems. He spent a lot of time pouring sand over walls and was very adamant that he wanted monster (barely discernable in the middle of the picture) to be seen.


If you are interested in Sand Tray Therapy or want to share your own sand tray experiences, leave a comment or email your pictures with a brief note about each to jcwilburn@gmail.com. I think this could be a great feature that many people could participate in.

By now most of us are concerned about the economy and how it will affect our practice. Many Americans have scaled back their purchases and are hunting for bargains. Childtherapytoys.com was creating for play and child therapists and we are interested in doing our best to serve our customers. Therefore we have increased the number of items that we discount and all specials are now grouped under the product listing "Savings Center." In addition all Play Therapy Books and Sand Play books are always marked down at least 10 percent. Monthly specials are offered through an email letter that is available by subscription (email toys@childtherapytoys.com if you would like to subscribe). Childtherapytoys.com does not share email addresses with anyone.

In addition to our specials and sale items, childtherapytoys.com offers hundreds of high quality items at competitive prices. These items have the potential to last years in the play room. A special collection of classic wooden toys can be accessed on the "Gary's Classic Toys" page. About 90% of these items have been marked down 10%. childtherapytoys.com has imported a very popular sand tray from South Korea, the Sky Blue Sand Tray, and has made it available for 44.95. Therapists working in a clinic or training setting may be interested in buying multiple trays. A package of six Sky Blue Sand Trays can be bought for 199.95. Play therapists interested in Sand Tray Therapy may also be interested in the sand toy kits and collections, which offer considerable savings over buying items individually.