Child Centered Play Therapy
In Child Centered Play Therapy, children are able to express themselves in developmentally appropriate ways through play, toys and art. Play is the natural expression and communication of young children. Children are able to communicate thoughts, experiences and emotions in ways that they may not be ready or able to verbalize in traditional “talk therapy.” Playing out experiences is self-healing and organizes experiences and feelings, much the same as verbal communication does for adults. As children express their inner feelings through therapeutic play, they feel better and learn new coping skills to regulate their emotions and behavior.
Child Parent Relationship Therapy
Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) is a play-based program for children and parents which aims to fully involve parents in the therapeutic process through individual or group sessions in which parents learn skills to respond more effectively to their children’s emotional and behavioral needs.
The goal of CPRT is to strengthen the quality of the parent–child attachment bond as a means of reducing child behavior problems and stress in the parent–child relationship. In CPRT, parents are taught skills which focus on helping them establish or enhance a secure attachment with their child and respond to their child’s underlying needs rather than focus on their child’s symptoms. Parents learn attitudes and skills to help them respond to their child in ways that soothe and help their child move from reactive to receptive states, facilitate their child’s self-regulation, and help their child develop internal resources and coping abilities. Parents learn to effectively limit their child’s misbehavior, while demonstrating empathy and respect.
CPRT can be individualized to the child and family within the framework of individual therapy sessions or can be delivered in the form of a parenting workshop.
Theraplay®
Theraplay® is a parent-child approach which enhances attachment, self-esteem, trust in others and positive engagement. Theraplay® is based on the natural patterns of healthy, playful interaction between parent and child. The therapist guides the parent and child through playful, fun games, developmentally appropriate challenges, and nurturing activities. Interactions focus on four essential dimensions necessary for children to thrive: structure, nurture, engagement and challenge. Parents learn to regulate the child’s emotions and behavior and to communicate love, joy and safety to the child. This helps children to feel secure, connected, cared for and worthy. Theraplay® is effective for many issues, but is especially useful with foster and adoptive children and autism.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy
Foster and adopted children may have had many changes in the people who care for them and find it hard to trust adults. They may believe that parents aren’t safe and can’t always be turned to for comfort and help. They may develop insecure attachments and try to stop their new parents from becoming emotionally close to them.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) helps children learn to trust. It is family-based and sessions involve the child with his or her caregivers. DDP blends traditional family therapy with attachment-based interventions and therapeutic parenting and works from an understanding of developmental trauma, neurobiology of trauma and child development. DDP is a “talk therapy,” but may be combined with play therapy, such as Theraplay®, when appropriate.
Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is based on the assumption that what you think affects how you feel and what you do. CBT combined with developmentally appropriate play-based interventions can support children in understanding their own thoughts, feelings and behaviors. In Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy, learning is developmentally appropriate, such as practicing deep breathing techniques through the use of bubbles and learning to combat worrisome thoughts by role playing with puppets. Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy is especially useful in combating childhood anxiety including generalized anxiety, social anxiety and selective mutism. Children under the age of seven can benefit from behavioral therapy (eliminating the “cognitive” therapy due to their developmental level).
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a type of psychotherapy that works by resolving troubling thoughts, memories or emotions through the use of bilateral stimulation, meaning alternating the stimulation of left and right sides of the brain through the use of eye movements, tones or tactile stimulation such as tapping. During a session, the client will identify a disturbing thought or memory to work on. While the client thinks of this image, the therapist taps, uses tones or a tactile stimulator to help release the troubling thought or emotion, which has become “stuck” or “frozen” in body and mind. EMDR can be used as a stand alone treatment or combined with traditional talk or play therapy.
EMDR is a highly researched and effective treatment that is used by clinicians worldwide and is recognized as best practice and evidence-based by many organizations, including the The American Psychiatric Association, The National Institute of Mental Health, and The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare.