Latest / The Play Therapy Circle / Episode 8- Setting up the Playroom: Tools, Toys and Environment

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Episode 8- Setting up the Playroom: Tools, Toys and Environment · The Play Therapy Circle

0:00
Hi there and welcome to the Play Therapy Circle.
0:04
Before we begin, Please note this podcast is for
0:07
informational and educational purposes only.
0:10
It does not provide therapeutic advice and listening does not
0:14
create a client therapist relationship.
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All views expressed are my own and any case example shared have
0:21
been de identified to protect privacy.
0:24
If you're seeking personal support, please reach out to a
0:27
qualified mental health professional in your area.
0:33
Hi and welcome to an episode of the Play Therapy Circle.
0:38
I'm Kylie Ellison, a therapist, clinical supervisor and play
0:42
therapy trainer, and I'm so grateful you're here.
0:46
This podcast is a space for thoughtful, soulful
0:49
conversations about child centred therapy, play based work
0:53
and what it means to show up with presence and compassion,
0:57
both for our clients and for ourselves.
1:00
Whether you're a seasoned play therapist, a student just
1:03
starting out, or someone deeply passionate about working with
1:07
children, you belong here. Hi there, and welcome to the
1:13
Play Therapy Circle. I am your host, Kylie Ellison,
1:17
and I am so glad you are here. Welcome to episode 8, everyone.
1:24
Thanks for hanging in there if you're still here.
1:28
Thank you. Appreciate you.
1:30
How's everyone doing? How you travelling after another
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week of connecting with kids and learning through play?
1:39
We've all had a week guys. I am genuinely showing growth
1:43
here. I'm recording this ahead of time
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again, I know, I know it's very unusual for me.
1:49
Next week I am in lots of different spaces doing clinic
1:55
work, doing supervision work and running workshops.
1:59
So my next week is super busy and I wanted to make sure that I
2:03
did not forget a podcast because I've heard your feedback and I'm
2:08
so glad that you guys are enjoying it.
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Please reach out to us if you've got ideas and suggestions along
2:15
the way. I'm very excited about this
2:19
topic that we're going to talk about today.
2:21
I do need to caveat this by saying I am recording this on
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the weekend and my children are out and about outside in the
2:29
yard and it's a windy day here in Brisbane.
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We are almost in the throes of spring but it's turned cold
2:35
again. So we got excited for a minute
2:38
that things were getting hotter and then it's gone cold again.
2:41
So it is a bit of a dreary afternoon here and if you hear
2:45
kids laughing and playing, that is my children.
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So just caveating that if you can hear noises in the
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background. All right.
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With all that being said, today's episode is one that I
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think is especially useful for our beginning play therapists.
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And I think when we reflect on the topics of areas of practise
3:07
that beginning play therapists want to know the most about, one
3:10
of them is how do I set up a playroom?
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And I think when we think about this topic holistically, it can
3:19
be very overwhelming to consider all of the elements in child
3:24
centred play therapy. So I want to caveat and preface
3:28
this episode as we are the play therapy circle and we are
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passionate about child centred play therapy.
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That's what this topic is going to be all about, setting up the
3:38
playroom from the framework and the approach of child centred
3:42
play therapy. So what I wanna do is cover a
3:46
few different areas so that hopefully those listening who
3:50
are asking those questions about how to set up a playroom feel
3:54
like they've got that knowledge as they leave.
3:58
So what I would like to begin by talking about is really the
4:01
purpose of the playroom. So we know that children coming
4:06
into a therapeutic playroom is very different than them coming
4:12
home from school in the afternoon and playing in a
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playroom in someones home. They are two very distinct
4:19
different environments. And so we very much set up our
4:23
therapeutic playrooms to have intentionality behind the choice
4:27
of the toys, oftentimes the layout, which we're going to
4:30
talk about soon, but also acknowledging that the space
4:35
that we provide has very different functions to just
4:39
everyday play. And we've talked about in
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previous episodes, obviously the power of play and all of its key
4:45
benefits. So I don't want to diminish any
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of that, but when we're talking about setting up the parameters
4:50
of a playroom, it holds a very sacred space in child centred
4:56
play therapy where we literally invite children to share their
5:00
most vulnerable aspects of self, especially in the third stage of
5:03
play. And so it needs to foster that
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safety and security when the child walks in.
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So my message to you from 10 years of private practise now is
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take your time, take your time, take a minute to really
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establish and feel comfortable in your therapy space.
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That is absolutely key because if we think about at the
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absolute core of CCPT and those key tenants being congruence,
5:34
empathy and unconditional positive regard, you can't do
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that if you're distracted by the layout of your room or if you're
5:42
distracted by the nature of some of the toys in your room.
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So every person, I think when we come to decision making a round
5:50
selection of toys, each CCPT practitioner might be slightly
5:55
different in terms of that list that we are able to access when
6:01
we learn this skill, that there might be a couple of things that
6:05
we do or don't include. And really at the end of the
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day, what this needs to be about is staying true to our modality,
6:13
but staying true to the process for both the child and for us.
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So I know one of those things, and I'm jumping ahead because
6:21
we're going to talk about categories in a second, but I
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know one of those things that is often a reflective point is
6:28
around, say, the inclusion of guns or say rope in the
6:32
playroom. So they're two very different
6:36
tools, I guess, in terms of their functionality.
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But when we think about it from a therapeutic context, they both
6:45
help to support that exploration of feelings, emotions and
6:49
experiences. It really then comes down to, is
6:54
it something that the therapist themselves feels comfortable to
6:58
be able to stay congruent, accepting with unconditional
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positive regard while the child is engaging in that particular
7:06
resource. And another important reflection
7:08
in that space is that influence of our capacity to be able to
7:14
put therapeutic limits in, to be able to respond to the needs of
7:18
the child in a therapeutic context in CCP and what's within
7:23
our bandwidth as a therapist. So I know that might be a little
7:26
controversial when we're thinking about our true purest
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child centred play therapy modality application where the
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toys that we are advised in our training are part of the
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playroom should be included. I want to share, I guess, that
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point of view that we talk about the relationship between the
7:52
therapist and the child as absolutely being paramount over
7:57
the style, the reflective responses, the toys we use in
8:01
the room, they all come secondary to the establishment
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of that relationship. So if you as a therapist are
8:08
distracted or impacted in terms of your congruence, when you're
8:12
in that critical time in the beginning of your relationship
8:15
with a child due to one of the resources in the room, that
8:19
obviously then becomes an issue. And so there's so many layers
8:23
with that that we can unpack. And what I want to give the
8:26
message to everyone listening to this is that I wouldn't be as a
8:30
CCPT practitioner living my core tenants of and truly I live and
8:36
breathe this approach. I would not be giving that sense
8:40
of empathy to you as the therapist in the same way that I
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do with children. If I said to you, you have to
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have that resource in the playroom.
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I my perspective coming from again, a very committed person
8:54
centred CCPT framework is that it's not my job to instruct
9:02
others, but it's in the way of our belief in that humanistic
9:06
person centred approach to therapeutic intervention with,
9:10
as I say, children of all ages and that includes therapists and
9:13
adults, is this idea that we serve to walk alongside those
9:18
families and those therapists and those children, all of our
9:22
community, including our professionals and our colleagues
9:26
in the field. So I want to extend that
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heartfelt connection and respect and empathy if you are
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struggling with some of the resources in your room.
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And really the space of clinical supervision and personal therapy
9:42
becomes part of unpacking that and working through that.
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But I think I just want to caveat all of this, and I
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certainly welcome you as a listener, your feedback and
9:54
reflections in that space because I know everyone may have
9:57
differing viewpoints on this. But I don't think we can walk
10:02
the walk and talk the talk if we don't truly commit to all
10:07
aspects of CCPT. And that includes having empathy
10:11
for therapists who might struggle with some of those
10:14
resources in the room. So what does that mean?
10:17
I think for many of us, as I said, it's about doing that
10:21
reflective work in your clinical supervision and in your personal
10:25
therapy. And it if it is ultimately
10:28
something that for you is difficult to have in the room
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and you can have many different reasons for that, I think that's
10:37
something to take into consideration.
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So I share with you my challenge in that space.
10:43
And the only thing I've never had in my playroom is a rope.
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And I think off the back of everything I just reflected on,
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I know that there would be practitioners out there that
10:53
would have it in their room. And in true CPT commitment to
10:59
this modality, I see you and I completely respect that.
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For me personally, it would be something that I would feel
11:09
uncomfortable with. And having a child engage in,
11:13
say, a maladaptive way in the playroom using a rope would be
11:18
challenging for me to stay in those tenants of CCPT.
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And hey, listen, I've been doing this for 10 years now.
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I feel very comfortable with my capacity and my ability to put
11:29
in therapeutic limits. I teach those therapeutic limits
11:33
to students regularly as well. I have over 20 years working in
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the counselling field. I don't believe that that is
11:40
anything specifically to do with my practise, but it is certainly
11:44
about acknowledging what is going to help me to facilitate a
11:49
space for the child that is safe with a freedom of expression and
11:55
a space that holds boundaries and containment for the child.
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So I guess I have all of these wafflings.
12:01
I had intended for this episode to be really short guys, so I
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love that I've gone off for tangent and I'm sure you guys
12:07
also know this very well now, listening to me long enough that
12:09
I will do that. But I hope that by having this
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conversation and just as the listener getting you thinking
12:16
about what is it in the playroom that you welcome on the list of
12:22
resources that we are required to have in the playroom And is
12:25
there anything that would challenge your congruence?
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And I want to give you permission in that full, as I
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said before, extension of empathy and unconditional
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positive regard that I see you and that is OK.
12:40
So I don't want to certainly have this podcast be where I am
12:47
telling you exactly what to do because as I said before, I am a
12:50
humanistic person centred therapist.
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So I will never do that. But I do want to offer that
12:56
facilitative reflective space. So I hope that was useful in
13:01
starting a conversation with that because part of this
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setting up of the room is considering all aspects of play
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therapy. So that's the room, that's the
13:11
child, and that's you as the play therapist as well.
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You are so important to this process and you bring so much to
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the space. So we really want this to be a
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space where children feel they can talk through those issues
13:27
and feelings that are important for them.
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And So what does that look like when we want to facilitate that
13:33
play? We have different categories of
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toys. So like I alluded to earlier, I
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have set up, I was going to say 10,000 playrooms.
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That's not true. It's been too many, I've lost
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count. And I think in terms of that
13:45
setup, you can have a basic structure of the things that you
13:49
want to include and they are different categories of toys.
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So we talk about real life categories of toys.
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So things like dolls, dolls houses, kitchen sets, medical
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kits, hairdresser kits, all of that good stuff that helps
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children to play out real life experiences.
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We have aggressive release toys or aggression toys.
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And I alluded to some of that just before with guns and rope.
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We have lots of different things that fall under that category.
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We have bop bags, we have punching bags, we have
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handcuffs, we have Nerf guns, we have foam swords.
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There is a range of resources and for all of these categories,
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there is not a specific number that you need to tick off to say
14:42
that you are providing A CCPT room.
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So again, this is humanistic person centred approach to
14:49
therapy. In child centred play therapy,
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make sure that you are including these different categories of
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toys that fit the space and are congruent for you as well so
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that you're able to offer those therapeutic limits when you need
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and you are able to they present and accepting in the space.
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So those aggressive toys, as I said, there's so many of them.
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I have Nerf guns in my playroom and I bloody love them.
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Love them. I know many play therapists out
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there who would rather never see a Nerf gun in their playroom
15:22
ever again and that's OK. How great is our play therapy
15:27
circle community where we accept each other for who they are and
15:32
the incredible work that they bring to the play therapy
15:35
profession. So that's I want to extend that
15:37
to all of you listening, creative expressive toys, guys.
15:42
These are lots of different wonderful things.
15:45
And again, there are rooms out there in our community that vary
15:49
in the amount of resources used in this space and that's OK.
15:53
We want to just be able to have available some of these creative
15:58
resources. So things like art supplies,
16:01
play clay, whether that's puppets, dress UPS, sand tray,
16:09
whatever that looks like for you in your playroom and what you
16:13
can fit. I try to, and I'm going to talk
16:17
about this in a second. In terms of the setup, we
16:19
certainly don't move the toys around very often.
16:21
The space that I have been in now for quite a while, I
16:25
recently did kind of a rejig of my room.
16:29
For those of you in America listening or overseas, I hope
16:32
that jargon makes sense, but I essentially wanted to reorder
16:36
for him. That's a better word, Reorder
16:37
the space so that for me it wasn't distracting because I was
16:42
finding that some of the layout of the way that I had, it seemed
16:46
a bit chaotic and a bit messy. That doesn't happen very often,
16:49
but sometimes you may need to do that as well to make sure that
16:52
you've got those resources in the space you have available,
16:56
but that it's set up in a way that's accessible for the kids.
16:59
So I think that all through Fantasy Toys is another space
17:02
where we have obviously miniatures and things for the
17:05
sand tray. If in fact you have the space
17:08
and capacity to do animals, soldiers.
17:11
I think I mentioned that before as well, things like figurines,
17:15
yes, different replicas of say houses or whatever that looks
17:19
like. We make sure that we have some
17:23
of those fantasy type toys that help facilitate that play,
17:27
especially when kids get into that third stage of play.
17:30
So I think one of the catch phrases that I always lean into
17:33
with Gary Landreth because again, I am so committed to this
17:36
CCPT approach that he talks about quality over quantity.
17:42
This is a big topic because I think that in the beginning.
17:46
So for those of you who are still here, because I've been
17:48
talking for now 17 minutes and this is supposed to be a 10
17:53
minute podcast. If you're still here, welcome.
17:55
Thank you. For some of our community, there
17:59
is pictures of the most incredible playrooms I have ever
18:04
seen, with just the most intricate detail and inclusion
18:10
of so many toys. And I see some of those pictures
18:15
with absolute admiration, but also with quiet curiosity around
18:20
how does the pickup after a particularly aggressive child in
18:25
the second stage of play go for you when you have 10,000 toys in
18:30
your playroom? And of course, I don't have
18:31
10,000 toys, right? But we have to obviously make
18:37
the room functional for the child and for you, especially
18:42
for the child in their emotional expression.
18:45
But it really is guys, quality over quantity.
18:49
And I really want to emphasise too that when we're looking at
18:52
these toys that we're making sure in terms of their
18:55
conditions that they are durable, they're safe, they're
18:59
easy to clean. If they break, we're not going
19:04
to be devastated in the moment. We know that they were a packet
19:09
of five for $10 from Kmart and we can replace them.
19:14
I think that's important to consider.
19:17
I think having clarity in the room as opposed to overfilling
19:23
is really important. So really thinking through, I
19:26
want to move into the next concept really around physical
19:29
layout and design. I think that everyone is going
19:33
to have their own unique approach to doing this.
19:36
What I will say is do what works for the room and works for you
19:42
and try not to make it too overstuffed or over cluttered.
19:47
That's really important. So we want to make sure that we
19:50
have clear boundaries. I think when if you are looking
19:53
to use bookshelves or cubes to display or shelving of any kind
19:59
really, there's so many options out there, right?
20:01
Making sure that it is the toys on those shelves or on those
20:05
cubes or on those bookshelves are visible for the child and
20:09
are within easy reach for the child.
20:11
The other thing I would say from a workplace health and safety
20:14
perspective as well is if you have any of those things of
20:17
bookshelves, shelves or cubes or whatever that looks like for
20:20
you, please make sure they're secured to the wall.
20:23
We just want to make sure in the event that a child attempted to
20:26
climb up, which we would put a therapy limit in immediately for
20:29
though, right? We just want to ensure safety of
20:32
children as well. So making sure your shelves are
20:35
organised and you have designated areas, that's a good
20:39
place to start, guys. If you want to have an area
20:42
designated spot for the aggressive toys, you want to
20:45
have a spot for creative, expressive toys like the sand
20:48
tray and the art supplies and the miniatures, great.
20:52
And then if you want to have another area that has the tent
20:55
and the dolls and the blankets for more of that safety,
20:58
security, nurturing, care, connection work, also great.
21:03
Do what feels right and connected for you.
21:06
But for those of you starting out, that might be a good
21:08
starting point. And certainly taking pictures
21:12
and making sure that you're getting feedback along the way
21:15
from, say, your clinical supervisor can be really helpful
21:19
too. Sorry everyone, I just had to
21:22
take a minor drinks break there, refreshment break, while my
21:26
daughter decided to stack the dishwasher while mummy's
21:28
recording a podcast. So apologies.
21:31
Just let her know what I was doing and thanks, but off you
21:36
go. All right, So we were talking
21:38
about physical layout, very important.
21:41
So I am talking today and this episode is all about if you have
21:44
a private practise or a room that you're renting where you
21:47
can establish your resources and you can leave them there.
21:51
I felt like that was important to also clarify because there
21:53
obviously is scenarios where you might be renting a space only
21:57
one day a week and you might be bringing a travel kit that's
21:59
obviously different. Just to clarify what the purpose
22:02
of today's conversation is about atmosphere in terms of lighting,
22:07
the colours, sound, they're all really important guys to
22:12
consider as well. So how is the soundproofing
22:15
going? And if there isn't
22:17
soundproofing, what steps can you take to make sure that maybe
22:21
there is? So when I worked from home, when
22:25
I had a practise and a clinic in the very, very beginning, I
22:28
would often play background music in in my waiting room area
22:32
to make sure that I could muffle the sound and give us some sense
22:35
of confidentiality. In our current clinic, we have a
22:38
beautiful big TV that plays lots of meditation music and
22:42
beautiful landscape shots to help calm and regulate our
22:45
beautiful parents and our beautiful families, but also to
22:48
help dull out the noise as well. So sometimes that sound,
22:52
consideration of that sound is very helpful.
22:54
Calming colours. We have beautiful purple walls.
22:57
I've got this dream and vision at some point that I will
23:00
renovate one day. And I would love other colours
23:03
because I think Blues and greens are also so calming, right?
23:06
So they're great colours too. So thinking about those colours,
23:10
if your therapy room has a bright red wall, I just think
23:14
about it. I just consider that I believe
23:17
there is some research in that space that talks about red being
23:20
quite an angry, eliciting quite an angry feelings a concept
23:23
there. Don't quote me on that of
23:25
course, but thinking about the colours in your room are really,
23:28
really helpful and obviously the lighting as well.
23:31
So I've had playrooms where I've had beautiful different sort of
23:35
configured light lamps that my husband would wire up and set up
23:39
for me so that they were safe away from little hands.
23:43
But things like butterflies and flowers and hearts lights, they
23:47
were absolutely gorgeous in our playrooms.
23:49
So there is lots of different variations to that, but just
23:52
consider is the light good and how does that help you navigate
23:56
the space, Accessibility and safety.
23:59
I was just talking about that before you guys secure your
24:03
furniture. That's from my workplace health
24:05
and safety husband who is always giving me all of the tips, all
24:08
of the advice, child sized furniture, that goes for your
24:12
chairs. So I have little tables and
24:15
little round plastic stools for the kids to sit on when they're
24:19
using the sand tray or doing their colouring in.
24:21
So that's always very helpful as well to consider that and safe
24:26
storage for materials. If you are going to use say
24:29
cubes with pull out drawers, a great idea would be to have
24:32
clear drawers just again so the kids can see into those drawers.
24:36
But look, again, it really is by your design, as long as the it's
24:40
accessible for them and that they are toys where they can't
24:45
hurt themselves in any way. So we wouldn't have some great
24:48
shaped scissors, right, Unless we're working with older kids.
24:51
I've never had scissors in my playroom.
24:53
But I think, again, that's one of those things where we just
24:56
consider the safety of the kids. And I think we also too need to
25:00
really recognise, and I do lean into this because I know very
25:04
traditional CCPT would say things like you can't have
25:08
boardroom boardrooms, you can't have board games in the
25:11
playroom. How I represent CCPT and make
25:16
sure I am following CCPT protocol is that I don't
25:21
instruct the child on how that board game will go.
25:24
In true Rogerian style, I let the child decide what the rules
25:28
are, how the game is going to work, how it's played out and
25:32
they are always in the lead. So in my mind, it's just another
25:36
resource in the room. There isn't a prescribed
25:38
structure to that board game. Certainly if there are kids that
25:41
are questioning that, again, I'm returning that responsibility to
25:44
them to decide for themselves. And so we then get to unpack
25:48
some of those deeper human capacity issues that the child
25:51
might be struggling with. So therein lies the therapeutic
25:54
purpose. So we want to have structure,
25:57
but we also want to have freedom.
25:58
So I don't have any particularly prescriptive toys.
26:03
I still to this day don't have things like Marvel characters or
26:06
things like that where I feel like it might elicit, I guess,
26:10
an expectation around the play and what it should look like for
26:14
the child. So again, I think there's a an
26:17
invitation in creating your space to have that freedom in
26:22
your resources so the children can decide what that play will
26:25
look like for them. I know often times genuinely
26:29
beginning play therapists want to know exactly that list of
26:33
toys to include in the playroom based on our CCPT approach.
26:37
So I want to list a few of them now to you.
26:40
So those things include things like a doll's house and
26:44
figurines, sand tray and maybe a shovel in a bucket, punching
26:49
bags, kitchen. And so all of the kitchen
26:52
utensils, food cups, plates, forks, pots and pans, stuffed
26:58
animals. So we have a giant teddy in all
27:01
of our playrooms and always have as a option for redirection,
27:05
especially for aggressive play, your big large teddies, stuffed
27:09
toys. We'll have things like dolls,
27:12
dolls, blankets, a bottle, a brush, feeding utensils,
27:16
dummies, clothes, handcuffs. Here comes the aggressive toys,
27:19
handcuffs, swords, guns, rubber knives, Nerf guns, masks and
27:25
rope, dress up, toys, A phone, more life, real life toys like
27:31
cars, tractors, ambulance, police cars, helicopters,
27:35
medical kits, cash registers, a large bouncy ball which I really
27:40
enjoy having in my playrooms. Animal figurines, farm animals,
27:43
snakes, dinosaurs and other zoo animals, puppets, musical
27:48
instruments, soldiers and all things related to soldiers.
27:52
Building blocks, play DoH. We might have paints, brushes, a
27:57
water cup, paper. We've got crayons, pens,
28:00
pencils, paper, maybe sticky tape or glue.
28:04
We've got obviously the toy food I talked about before, a table
28:07
and chairs. We might have a blackboard if
28:09
you're so inclined. We have a tent and blankets and
28:12
pillows in that tent. We have board games.
28:15
We might have a chair depending on whether or not we want to, a
28:17
mat on the ground, and you might have a clock and maybe some of
28:21
those other creative resources like building materials, other
28:25
things that are functional toys like hammers, ETC.
28:29
So that is just a list and it's not exhaustive, but I give that
28:33
to you as well. For those beginning play
28:35
therapists, they're out there who are considering what toys
28:38
they'd like to include in their playrooms.
28:41
So what I want to remind you before I close out is this idea
28:45
of you as the therapist and the presence that you play as part
28:51
of the environment in the playroom.
28:53
That was a really long sentence and I realised I probably needed
28:57
to cut that down, so let me try that again.
28:59
Your presence as part of the environment in the playroom.
29:03
So what do I mean by that? There is so much to consider in
29:06
this space, including your role. Your role is to facilitate that
29:12
space where they feel seen and heard.
29:15
I, as Gary Lynch would say I hear you, I see you, I
29:18
understand and I care. That is our core belief as child
29:22
centre play therapists. So in that role we are offering
29:26
that safe, nurturing, trusting, held space for children to heal.
29:32
So our role is really, really important.
29:35
Our tone of voice and our consistency especially in our
29:39
reflections and our therapeutic limits shape the environment as
29:44
much as the physical space. I am going to share a really
29:48
quick, very much de identified example guys to protect the
29:51
confidentiality of the clients that I work with either
29:54
previously or currently. But I had an experience of a
29:59
joint play therapy session not long ago and what I will share
30:04
from the trenches of that and truly sibling play therapy work
30:08
is not for the faint hearted guys, not for the faint hearted.
30:12
So I noticed in that space that the children who attended came
30:18
in very dysregulated, very aggressive.
30:22
So I spent probably 3/4 of my session just regulating them.
30:29
And So what I noticed was again, that my presence in the playroom
30:35
in staying calm and accepting, but holding really important and
30:40
defined limits of the space actually helped regulate them
30:44
over the course of the session to the point that we were able
30:48
to join together in play by the end and we were laughing
30:52
together. So I, I share that very, very
30:55
brief example because I think that we take for granted how
31:00
much we as the therapist help facilitate that felt presence of
31:05
safety and connection in the room.
31:08
I can't really describe it any other way.
31:10
I feel like maybe you guys listening out there might have a
31:13
better description for it, but I almost want to say it's really
31:16
that kind of psychodynamic lens that I'm leaning into now, guys
31:18
of that real, oh, that space in the room where you can feel that
31:24
you are very important in helping hold that space for them
31:28
to be able to work through the things that they're struggling
31:31
with. I go off on tangents guys, but I
31:32
hope that helped. So what are we doing as in our
31:36
role as well is maintaining that warmth, acceptance and
31:39
predictability. I feel like I've talked about
31:40
that a lot, so I won't labour on that point.
31:43
And we're also looking for those small cues, so things around
31:47
both our self and in engaging with the child in terms of our
31:52
own voice. So I talked about before tone,
31:54
but just in our natural sort of mode of communication in that
31:58
verbal expression, how we are doing that and how we're
32:02
communicating that where we're sitting.
32:05
So again, I know that there is different variations in our CCPT
32:09
space around whether you would sit on a chair or sit on the
32:13
ground. For me personally and guys, this
32:16
is where I give you that invitation to feel seen and
32:18
heard as a part of our play therapy circle and a CCPT
32:23
practitioner in our community. For me, psychodynamically, I
32:28
really recognise that power differential if I was to sit on
32:31
a chair and a child was to be playing on the ground.
32:34
And so for me that feels uncomfortable.
32:37
So I would rather sit on the floor with the child to
32:40
communicate both verbally and non verbally to the child.
32:44
I'm with you, we are in this together, we are on the same
32:47
level. Again, looking at where you're
32:50
sitting, your openness and your non verbal communication is just
32:53
as important as the space that you provide.
32:57
So we have talked guys, let me do a time check.
33:00
Holy moly, it's 33 minutes. I apologise in advance.
33:04
This was going to be a 10 minute podcast.
33:06
However, for those of you listening, I hope that this has
33:09
been helpful and useful. We've really covered today those
33:14
toys and categories of toys in the playroom and I read through
33:18
a bit of a list as well for your reference.
33:20
We've talked about the environment and the layout and
33:23
the physical space and we've also talked about our
33:26
therapeutic presence as the therapist and how important that
33:30
is too. So if you are a beginning play
33:33
therapist, listening and I have completely overwhelmed you with
33:36
more information, I apologise. I hope that this has been
33:39
helpful. But if you are starting to set
33:41
up, please give yourself permission to take a little bit
33:45
of time. But don't overthink it.
33:48
Do and feel that you can adapt and update as you go along.
33:54
But start small and choose quality over quantity.
33:58
And choose a few toys from each of the categories we talked
34:01
about and really focus on providing that safe, consistent,
34:07
supportive space for children to be seen and heard and held in
34:11
the playroom. So I hope this has been helpful
34:14
for you guys. I have a suspicion that my
34:16
husband has just arrived home from work, which is wrap up time
34:20
for me. And look, I have been talking
34:22
for way too long. Anyway, Hey, thanks for your
34:24
support. Thanks for listening today.
34:27
I am so grateful for everyone who is following along.
34:30
And as I always say, please, if you want to drop us a message on
34:33
our Instagram account at the Play Therapy Circle podcast or
34:38
want to get in touch, please feel free to reach out.
34:40
We would love to hear from you. I'm excited for next week, you
34:43
guys. We're going to cover our first
34:45
skill in child centre play therapy around reflecting
34:49
emotions and reflecting feelings in the playroom.
34:51
It's going to be a great one. Probably not going to keep to my
34:54
10 minutes. I'm just going to probably set
34:56
that expectation now. I don't think that's going to
34:58
happen. Look, I've got a really crazy
35:01
hectic, busy week ahead, but I am so incredibly grateful to be
35:06
able to say that I wake up every day and I'm a CCPT practitioner.
35:10
I'm so bloody grateful and I'm so bloody grateful that you, you
35:12
have all been here today and listened with me.
35:15
Hey, go look after yourselves and each other and thank you so
35:18
much for your support. And I'll catch you again next
35:20
time. OK, bye.
35:23
Thank you so much for being here for another episode of The Play
35:27
Therapy Circle. If anything resonated with you
35:29
today, I'd love it if you could follow the podcast, share it
35:33
with a colleague, or leave a short review.
35:36
It really helps others find our circle.
35:39
And if you have a topic or question you'd love me to
35:41
explore, I'd love to hear from you.
35:44
This space is for you and I want it to feel like a conversation.
35:49
Until next time, take care of yourself and remember you belong
35:54
here.