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Tips to Recognize Themes in Play Therapy with Traumatized Children · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  I'll discuss practical tips and ideas so you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives.
• 0:33
  So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
• 0:48
  Hey there.
• 0:49
  Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:53
  Today I wanna talk about trauma and play themes.
• 1:00
  So how do you recognize, excuse me, how do you recognize themes in children's play?
• 1:06
  That is a big question.
• 1:09
  So if you're a play therapist, or you are a child and adolescent therapist, who has been really interested in learning how to use play therapy then the likelihood you have heard discussions about themes and play themes is very, very high.
• 1:28
  And so what does that mean, and why are these important?
• 1:31
  Why are we always talking about play thing?
• 1:34
  Uh, play themes?
• 1:36
  I, I think one of the reasons that we talk about play themes is because it's a way for play therapists to get a sense of what's going on in their play therapy sessions.
• 1:50
  And so in that, in that regard, it, it provides very useful information to help play therapists know where their client is at any particular phase of the treatment process, making sense of what's going on in the playroom, making sense of, um, change or some of the issues that they're working through, that's gonna help you tell where they are in the change process and help you make your clinical decisions around what you need to do and how you're going to do it.
• 2:31
  As well as who's gonna be, excuse me, as well as who's gonna be involved in the change process in the treatment process.
• 2:44
  And so that's, that's today's topic, which is recognize how to recognize play therapy themes, especially for children who've been traumatized.
• 2:58
  So let's go ahead and get started for today.
• 3:00
  It looks like we have kind of a full house over there in LinkedIn.
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  So if you're watching on LinkedIn, hello.
• 3:08
  For those of you who are tuning into Instagram, hey there.
• 3:13
  And then also the U YouTube followers and the people on YouTube watching, as well as those of you in my Facebook group who are gonna be watching the replay.
• 3:26
  I would love to know who's here, who's watching live, who's participating live, also who's watching on the replays.
• 3:33
  And for those of you listening to the podcast, hey there as well.
• 3:38
  And I'd love to know who's listening.
• 3:43
  If you are, if you're listening on the podcast, pop over to my Instagram channel and send me a message.
• 3:50
  How was the, um, topic for you?
• 3:54
  What were your greatest takeaways for those watching the replay?
• 3:58
  And those of you live?
• 3:59
  I would love to know that as well.
• 4:01
  So post that in the comments.
• 4:04
  Post in the comments where you're from.
• 4:07
  What population do you work with?
• 4:10
  Are you working with traumatized clients currently using play therapy or maybe some expressive arts modalities or creative arts modalities?
• 4:21
  What theoretical framework are you using?
• 4:24
  I think that's also really interesting to find out what people are doing, especially as it relates to working with traumatized clients.
• 4:33
  So let's go ahead and get started for today 'cause I, I wanna make sure to run few run, when my mouth works we'll be doing good, doing run through some of these themes that I find um happening in play therapy sessions when I'm working with clients.
• 4:57
  So, um, first thing to think about is what, what's, why do we talk about themes?
• 5:06
  Like why are these something that we focus on?
• 5:11
  And what I, I get people contacting me for Play Therapy Academy.
• 5:16
  Um, which is my consultation, online consultation program.
• 5:20
  And one of the things that I get contacted a lot about is how do I tell what's going on in my sessions?
• 5:27
  And that includes recognizing themes and how do I make sure to help my clients through the whole change process and themes can be a really important part of that skill building.
• 5:44
  So first I wanna talk about what are some tips.
• 5:47
  I think when we talk about themes, one of the things that we don't talk a lot about is the fact that themes are subjective.
• 5:58
  And what do I mean by that?
• 6:00
  So I, I look at things predominantly through a neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 6:06
  So when I think about themes, I think about how children are accessing those implicit experiences that they don't necessarily have language for to process.
• 6:23
  Children also use play, especially the younger the child, the more they may do this, but you, I mean, we use play all the time to help with creative problem solving, help figuring out different things, gain strategies.
• 6:38
  Um, but the thing about themes is, especially for younger children and accessing those implicit experiences, children naturally use play to work through even typical developmental tasks to make sense of what's going on in their world, what makes, makes sense of maybe the days experiences.
• 7:09
  How are they making sense of social interactions?
• 7:13
  How are they making sense of building like a sense of competence?
• 7:19
  Because grownups rule the world and so if they're developing a sense of competence, I can, I'm capable.
• 7:28
  They can use play as a way to do that, just as a normal developmental process.
• 7:36
  So here's another way of thinking about this, which is for traditional talk therapy, right?
• 7:44
  If you are working with an adult or maybe you use traditional talk therapy with, with adolescents, what we're doing is we're using talk and we are asking clients to access cognitive areas of their brain to make sense of things.
• 8:05
  And so when we, and also we can, as we get in there and we're talking about things as a therapist, you're also listening deeply to their behaviors, their voice.
• 8:20
  Does it change?
• 8:22
  Does it not change?
• 8:23
  Does their body change?
• 8:25
  Do you notice, um, like emotions come up, right?
• 8:30
  That the clients might not be recognizing, but you are, you are recognizing as a therapist, so then you're going to use your, your treatment model to guide you in how you're gonna respond.
• 8:45
  So for play therapy, we are listening to their play as their language.
• 8:54
  And that's what sets play therapy apart, is we're using a theoretical model to help children access the therapeutic powers of play within the context of a really strong therapeutic relationship.
• 9:07
  So your theory model is gonna influence how you're making sense of it.
• 9:11
  And your theoretical, I mean your, um, your therapeutic relationship is what you're using to build safety, but you're also using that treatment process as a way to listen deeply.
• 9:28
  What are they saying?
• 9:29
  How are they saying it?
• 9:30
  So for play therapy, you are listening to their play and what their play is communicating to you.
• 9:38
  And then you're gonna make sense of that based on your theoretical model.
• 9:45
  So you're gonna be listening in the sessions to what?
• 9:50
  What toys they're playing with.
• 9:52
  How are they playing with these toys?
• 9:54
  What are they saying?
• 9:55
  What are they not saying?
• 9:57
  How are they interacting with you or not interacting with you?
• 10:01
  You're gonna be noticing any shifts in the play.
• 10:05
  All of that is how they're communicating to you, what it is that that is going on for them in that moment in time.
• 10:16
  And also we are providing that play therapy space for them to have that free and protected space to use play to work through what's going on in their life, those experiences that they're having.
• 10:34
  And so when you think about that for children who've experienced trauma, then you are looking at their, what they're communicating in their play therapy session with that lens of understanding trauma and what model are you using to understand trauma to get a sense of what's going on with them.
• 10:58
  And also there are things true for what's being communicated across all play therapy models.
• 11:07
  And then what we're doing is we're kind of looking at that with a particular understanding through a specific lens.
• 11:15
  But the thing is, a lot of the, I'm gonna go through some play therapy themes that you may find for children who've experienced trauma.
• 11:27
  The thing you need to keep in mind is these themes are not exclusive to trauma, so you may find other children playing out some aspects of these things, and so just because you see a certain play behavior in a child with no history of trauma or no reported trauma doesn't necessarily mean that they've experienced trauma that's not been disclosed.
• 11:58
  And I think that's the projective aspect of play therapy and identifying themes that we need to be mindful of as we're holding this change process.
• 12:15
  And so part of this process is really learning how to trust the process.
• 12:23
  Because it's not possible to 100% of the time fully understand all the themes all the time in all the sessions.
• 12:38
  Um, there's, there's a projective aspect or what I would say maybe the explicit experiencing of the play therapy process that we're holding as we're providing a free and protected space.
• 12:56
  And then we're trusting that process that our, given that free and protected space, our clients naturally know how to move towards healing and wholeness.
• 13:09
  And so it's kind of, it's kind of threefold kind of the way that the Association for Play Therapy defines play therapy.
• 13:18
  There's kind of three components to it.
• 13:22
  One of them is your theoretical model.
• 13:25
  The other is children are accessing the therapeutic powers of play.
• 13:30
  So they're gonna access and, um, you'll see play behaviors and themes because they're accessing these therapeutic powers of play.
• 13:41
  And then you're holding that within the context of a really strong therapeutic relationship.
• 13:47
  I, I always say the therapeutic relationship is like the glue.
• 13:52
  Um, and so while you're learning a model, uh, you can always fall back on relationship and creating safety and trusting your client knows how to lead you where they need to go.
• 14:06
  If you'll settle into therapeutic rapport, and then the rest will come as you're learning your play therapy model and using a, a theoretical lens, I would say that would be true even for people who are using more of an integrated mo play therapy model, um, which is probably a fine.
• 14:28
  I've had to come and get honest with myself lately'cause I used to say, oh, I'm a child-centered play therapist.
• 14:34
  Well, I am depending on the age of the child, strictly child-centered.
• 14:39
  I. However, I, I integrate neuroscience and attachment to make sense of things, and then when they get to a, you know, a certain point for some kids, I may switch over to more of an integrative model, which then makes me an integrative play therapist, is what I've had to come to terms with myself.
• 15:01
  It was a weird shift for me.
• 15:04
  Anyway, so those, those are some things you really need to keep in mind when, as we're, as we go through these themes.
• 15:14
  Um, and here are some themes that you, you may see in the playroom when you're working with children, and if you're working with children who have experienced trauma, you may see these themes as well.
• 15:33
  Keep in mind that you may see some of these and you for children who haven't experienced trauma, depending on what it is that they're working through.
• 15:44
  So common themes that you may find for children who have experienced trauma.
• 15:51
  One, would be reenactment of a traumatic event.
• 15:58
  So children may repeatedly act out scenes that are related to the trauma that they experienced.
• 16:08
  And here's, here's to me, what is golden about play therapy and using kind of creative and expressive arts 'cause play therapy is one category of expressive arts.
• 16:22
  The, the, you may, when you think about trauma and the way trauma is stored in the body and accessing that, um, trauma, those traumatic memories, those traumatic experience can, typically, will activate their their response is stored away with that, the emotions, the fear, the, the beliefs, um, and so it doesn't necessarily have to be in the moment in your playroom, a real threat.
• 16:59
  It might be more perceived because their trauma just got accessed.
• 17:02
  But it, it may not necessarily mean that they're end danger in your playroom.
• 17:07
  And let's, let's go with the, let's go with the belief that they're not in danger in your playroom.
• 17:12
  What, what's nice about play therapy is, oh, I, I'll say expressive arts.
• 17:18
  I love using art, I love using poetry.
• 17:22
  Um, all of those things, music, those things are awesome.
• 17:27
  The thing that's nice about the expressive mo modalities and play therapy in particular in this case, is that they don't need to access the cognitive parts of their brain to be able to process through in that moment.
• 17:42
  So in play therapy, you may see them acting out or playing out scenes of what happened to them without necessarily having to relive it in a way that doesn't feel safe.
• 17:59
  They can use that psychological distance of play and metaphor to begin to explore in a way that feels safe to them.
• 18:13
  And so you may see that in the play therapy process.
• 18:18
  And your play therapy model is gonna help you know what to do when you see that theme and how you go about facilitating that change.
• 18:30
  And that, to me, that's one of the things that's really important about getting good training and having a model.
• 18:41
  Uh, like the model that I use is more of an integrative play therapy model based on uh, a, a model that I learned back in like 2010 by the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, which is really how do we, there's a framework that we use to help facilitate that change, and part of that is really, uh, accessing the somatic sensory experiences of trauma using metaphor, using symbol, to help slowly begin to reprocess what happened to them and help them come, I always say, come around to the other side of it.
• 19:32
  So when children are playing out those themes of reenacting that trauma in the play therapy session then the model that I use is really more integrative.
• 19:44
  We neuroscience and attachment and that kind of structured process of helping them to reprocess and make sense of things and, um.
• 19:59
  I always say it's kind of getting rid, rid of the poison.
• 20:02
  Like I always say, trauma kind of hijacks your neuro system, and so play therapy can help you reset your neuro system and find ways of resetting your neuro system.
• 20:18
  That's a lot of the work of in talk therapy, right?
• 20:22
  That's a lot of the work of polyvagal theory with Deb Dana, where she kind of teaches you how to access ventral states of your nervous system.
• 20:33
  And manage all of that.
• 20:34
  So it's kind of a similar way with play therapy.
• 20:37
  How do we help use that play therapy process to do that?
• 20:42
  So another theme is power and control.
• 20:46
  This one kind of makes sense if you think about trauma.
• 20:50
  Trauma is that sense of power.
• 20:53
  Um, powerlessness and loss of control.
• 20:57
  And because I didn't have control over what terrible thing happened to me and my experience of that situation that felt out of control, that felt unsafe where I felt powerless, then it makes sense of trying to figure out how to, um, feel safe.
• 21:25
  One of those ways is you may see children kind of acting out scenarios where the child is exerting a lot of control over situations and others you may see them kind of playing out, like control, like controlling you in the playroom a lot.
• 21:46
  They, they may, um, like, and, and this to me, this is where child-centered play therapy is golden with the younger kids is, you'll see a lot of that where, where in their life can they, um, boss around a grownup?
• 22:00
  Right?
• 22:01
  Well, in the playroom you can boss around within healthy limits.
• 22:07
  There are, there are, uh, we do set limits and even with child-centered play therapy, there are limits setting.
• 22:14
  In play therapy we do set limits.
• 22:16
  It has to be safe, right?
• 22:18
  Safe for the client, safe for the therapist, and safe for the toys.
• 22:22
  So if you see them trying to engage and really kind of destructive.
• 22:27
  Control themes and con control behaviors then, and even with trauma reenactment, you're gonna set healthy boundaries around some of the behaviors that they do with that.
• 22:39
  Maybe re-grounding them, getting them really oriented to back to a safe place, um, and power and control.
• 22:48
  So for kids being able to use the play therapy process to experience a sense of control in their life can help them feel safe.
• 23:00
  And then you're using your play therapy model again to make sense of are they going about power and control in a, in a healthy way, or are they, is that need for control still healthy?
• 23:15
  However, the way they're going about it is really maladaptive.
• 23:19
  So then your play therapy model is gonna help you know what to do with that.
• 23:23
  I control, powering control is one of those themes I see in all play therapy sessions at some point in time.
• 23:33
  This one is not necessarily exclusive to trauma, and when you're looking at it from the experience of something that felt traumatic to the child, then power and control makes sense within that lens.
• 23:49
  Right?
• 23:50
  And then if you're using that neuroscience and attachment lens and that kind of a framework, then you're, you're looking at it in terms of their neuroscience and how, tr traumatic experiences impact our beliefs about ourselves, others, and relationships.
• 24:09
  Those working models that we develop depending on what the traumatic experience was and those kinds of things.
• 24:17
  And then the next, um.
• 24:21
  The next theme that you may see is themes of rescue and heroism.
• 24:27
  So you may see children incorporating themes of rescuing where they might create scenarios where there's a hero and a rescuer coming into kind of, uh, save the day or try to save the day.
• 24:46
  They might be playing out the hero themselves.
• 24:50
  They might be playing out, having you be the hero.
• 24:54
  You, they may be in the sand tray.
• 24:56
  You may see things going on, and then the introduction of a hero in there.
• 25:04
  And it, you know, they, it could be that this powerful figure coming in to save the day might be them kind of working through, Hey, I needed somebody to come in and save the day for me.
• 25:19
  And ultimately, what we want them to feel empowered to, you know, depending on their developmental stage, we all we're, we're wanting children to feel empowered in their lives in every stage, and that's gonna look different at every stage.
• 25:36
  And so helping them to access, I am the hero.
• 25:41
  I am the hero in my story, regardless of what happened to me.
• 25:46
  I'm gonna be the hero in my story.
• 25:50
  Another theme is isolation and withdrawal.
• 25:55
  So tr traumatic experiences can feel isolating and lonely.
• 26:02
  I have often had clients say to me, especially when we're getting into the adults and adolescents, as we're processing through some of the trauma, and I use expressive arts with adults.
• 26:16
  Um, and adolescents who've experienced trauma, because I find it a really helpful way for them to express what happened and explore what happened without necessarily having to access all the cognitive aspects to make sense of it and to articulate it.
• 26:40
  Sometimes we need to have ways to access implicit those implicit experiences first and then slowly how that unfolds.
• 26:52
  And so this sense of isolation and withdrawal, you may see some of those themes in there because trauma can feel like it sets you apart and makes you different from others and make you feel like somehow there's something wrong with you that's gonna keep you separated.
• 27:12
  Um, and so.
• 27:16
  There can be a sense of loneliness with that, and you may find them withdrawing, uh, or playing out themes of that in the playroom as they are exploring what's going on with them, that those feelings of loneliness and that, that reality of what happened to them in that traumatic experience.
• 27:45
  So another theme you may see is that persecution and victimization, you may see themes where the child is playing out, where there's, uh, a bad guy or a bad entity that is persecuting other entities.
• 28:06
  Harming others, reflecting their feelings maybe of feeling vulnerable to about what happened to them by this terrible thing where they maybe felt persecuted, they felt victimized.
• 28:23
  You know, one of the things that we always, I think process with our clients is that they, they have that question of why?
• 28:37
  Why did this happen?
• 28:39
  It's a question that can't ever be fully explained.
• 28:44
  There's really no good reason why a trauma traumatic experience happen.
• 28:51
  There's no good reason for it.
• 28:53
  There's no why that will ever solve the problem.
• 28:58
  And it comes out of that feeling of feeling victimized.
• 29:04
  This terrible thing happened to me and it's had such a profound negative experience.
• 29:11
  Why did this happen?
• 29:13
  So you may see themes of that.
• 29:15
  You may process through that with your clients.
• 29:21
  Another theme that you may see coming up is regressive play.
• 29:27
  So you may see clients kind of regress to a younger age.
• 29:34
  One of the things that I find happening when I'm working with kids in play therapy is that they, they may use more of a regressive voice.
• 29:45
  They may want you to um, engage and play with them where you're caretaking for them, or where they may be caretaking, maybe they're, maybe it's a child who's experienced neglect, significant neglect, and been removed.
• 30:05
  I see this so many times over the last, throughout my career, children who have been removed from parents for neglect or maybe abuse, and then you see them taking the role of parent or caregiver and then doing some caregiving for babies, taking care of babies, cooking food for babies, um, to just nurturing babies and taking care of them.
• 30:31
  And they may invite you into play in the play to do this as well.
• 30:37
  So it's this, this regressive play might be a way of going back and getting some of those needs met.
• 30:45
  I. Where they're working on getting some of those attachment needs met or safety needs met, or caregiving needs met.
• 30:56
  And then another theme that you may see is fragmented or disorganized play where they don't seem to settle into the play therapy process.
• 31:09
  There's not necessarily, they just seem to kind of jump around a lot.
• 31:13
  No coherent kind of theme to what you're seeing in the play.
• 31:20
  Um, it's kind of disorganized and distressed that if we're looking at this from a neuroscience and attachment lens, it might be that their neuro nervous system is kind of overwhelmed and it's hard for them to get into that ventral state with you in the playroom.
• 31:43
  And so, as play therapists we're also co-regulating.
• 31:48
  Um, again, keep in mind this, this is not necessarily an indication for children who have experienced trauma, only for some kids who have some pretty significant A DHD and that maybe the little ones, and they're, they're not really at that place where parents want to try medication or maybe they're trying other strategies to avoid using medication.
• 32:14
  And I'm, I'm talking kids who have actually been tested and it's been identified it's A DHD.
• 32:21
  Because A DHD and trauma can look a lot, a light, a lot.
• 32:25
  And you can have both for sure.
• 32:27
  And I think you have to be, I just like to point out that this is, some of these are not necessarily just trauma.
• 32:35
  Some of them you may see, because some of these are pretty common across a, a lot of different presenting issues that clients come in with.
• 32:45
  But for, for kids who've experienced trauma, what if you're seeing this, what you may wanna consider is I. Is their nervous system on high alert all the time and they just can't settle into anything and it looks really disorganized and this is, this is eventually wanna see them be able to settle in and get into that safe state with you where they're able to feel safe in there and access some of that deeper level of healing.
• 33:22
  As well as experience that a grownup can co-regulate and help create a safe space for them.
• 33:30
  That in and of itself is pretty healing.
• 33:34
  And then the final theme that I wanted to review today that you may find in the playroom, are themes of protection safety themes.
• 33:48
  So if you think about this, it kind of makes sense.
• 33:50
  So you may see like building fortresses or creating scenarios where the characters are protected from harm and there are safety in there.
• 34:04
  Which makes sense when you're thinking about trauma because they experienced something that took away from a sense of safety and security.
• 34:15
  And so using this play therapy process to help them access and make sense of what happened, as well as using the play play therapy process to explore safety and protection and feeling protected and feeling safe, and using that play therapy process to do that.
• 34:43
  So that is it for today.
• 34:46
  Uh, let me just do a quick recap.
• 34:49
  First thing you want to think about today we're talking about how to recognize themes in play therapy for traumatized children.
• 34:58
  And some, some things to keep in mind are that, um, this is a projective process and so nobody's gonna get it right or fully understand a hundred percent of the time.
• 35:12
  Some of these themes are, are themes like power and control, um, isolation, um, rescue and heroism.
• 35:23
  You can see these themes children who have not experienced trauma, and for children who have experienced trauma, you may also see these themes.
• 35:36
  But keep in, keep in mind that it's impossible to fully understand, even for seasoned people, there are times I don't always understand what is going on in the playroom where I'm not quite.
• 35:54
  I like, it's maybe taken me a few more sessions.
• 35:57
  I, I've had sessions where I'm like, this, this play makes no sense to me.
• 36:02
  It's not why they came in.
• 36:04
  Um, I know there was some trauma.
• 36:07
  This doesn't make sense what they're doing, 'cause I'm seeing, I. Grief and loss, um, like burial scenes and grave site scenes and I mean, there is grief and loss in trauma, don't get me wrong about that.
• 36:22
  We are pro, so I'm thinking maybe she's just kind of processing the grief and loss.
• 36:28
  But there also, um, took me a while to figure out what that was, and then at some point I got more information and then it made total sense what was going on.
• 36:39
  But in that whole time, I am trusting the process.
• 36:44
  I am using my play therapy model to hold that process.
• 36:50
  So trusting my client knows how to use the therapeutic powers of play to heal.
• 36:58
  And so there's an aspect of that you need to keep in mind.
• 37:03
  It's projective sometimes we have to trust the process.
• 37:06
  You wanna make sure you're using a play therapy model that's gonna guide you through the change process.
• 37:13
  Help you understand what are you gonna do with this, and how are you responding to these?
• 37:17
  How are you holding these themes and how are you making sense of these themes?
• 37:22
  So identifying play therapy themes is important and it is just one part of the process.
• 37:30
  And so there are some common themes that you may see for children who've experienced trauma, reenactment of traumatic events, power and control, rescue and heroism, isolation and withdrawal, persecution and victimization, regressive play, fragmented or disorganized play and also, um, protection and safety themes.
• 37:58
  And then you're gonna kind of use that information within the context of your play therapy model in the context of your therapeutic relationship with, with your client.
• 38:12
  So that is it for today, and I will see you again next week.
• 38:17
  Bye.
• 38:22
  Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 38:27
  I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families feel.
• 38:36
  If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 38:41
  Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 38:47
  Remember.
• 38:48
  Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 38:52
  Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play in your own work in relationships.
• 39:03
  If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes.
• 39:08
  I'd love to hear from you.
• 39:10
  Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 39:23
  Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 39:26
  Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.