Play Therapy
Children do not have the capacity to express difficult feelings or experiences verbally. Adults can talk about sadness, frustration, disappointment, etc. but children cannot. But they can use their play to express themselves. They show us their world through their play. Sadness, anger, isolation, excitement, happiness, and empowerment all show up in their play. Through play therapy we enter their world through and experience what they are experiencing. We help the child by:
1) Modeling how to verbally express what they are feeling “Oh no, something scary is about to happen. My body feels so tense right now. I’m afraid.”
2) Being emotionally regulated, which allows the child to increase their ability to regulate their own emotions.
3) Modeling more appropriate ways to cope with the stress such as breathing, moving, voicing how they feel, etc. The child learns to process their experiences, increase their self-esteem, and increase their insight into their thoughts and behaviors. All of this increases the child’s ability to deal with difficult experiences much more effectively.