Evolution and Future of Play Therapy

You and Kevin O'Connor formed the Association for Play Therapy in 1982. Compare and contrast your vision and motivation then with the organization today. Play therapy in the early 1900s was the most popular form of child psychotherapy. It started in England with the psychodynamic play therapists. It thrived in the 1920s and 30s. and then in the States in the 1960s. Humanistic play therapy came into the vogue thanks to the work of Virginia Axline. And it was the predominant form of psychotherapy in the States through the 60s. And then in the 70s, other forms of child therapy came into vogue, like cognitive behavioral. And play therapy fell into disfavor. So that in 1980, it was practically on life support. So Kevin and I, being big believers and passionate about play therapy, thought maybe we could do something about that to bring life back into the world. to the field. So we decided, we thought we'd write a book or two and then maybe see if we could form an association for play therapy. Our goals were quite limited since we had no funds, we had no staff, just the two of us. So all we could offer was a newsletter. Kevin was the editor of the newsletter initially and an annual conference which I ran for the first three years in New York. So, we had a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun. We had And our goals were to establish a national forum where people could come for exchange of information, for training, and for social support. Social support, I mean, call it a clan, call it a tribe, call it a family, call it an association. We all need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. So, you know, and at that time, there had been no training going on to speak of in place there. Sure. There were no books being published on play therapy, no journals, no research being conducted on play therapy. So we just thought maybe we could try to do something about that. And fortunately, the response was quite enthusiastic from play therapists across the country. The goals of the Association for Play Therapy are quite broad. Not only the training and the support, but credentialing of play therapists. the registered play therapist, registered play therapist supervisor, supporting research, offering a great deal more training, public education, funding research, international collaboration. You have broad goals now. You edited The Therapeutic Powers of Play and wrote the chapter What is Play and Why is it Therapeutic that outlined 14 therapeutic factors of play in 1993. Do you perceive any of these factors being more important today? This is a topic close to my heart, therapeutic powers of play. I think the therapeutic powers of play are the heart and soul of play therapy. They refer to the active ingredients in play that produce change, the basic change mechanisms. that lead to healing. And if we don't know what those are, then we're in big trouble. I tried to identify these, and I have been working on that over the years. What are these specific therapeutic powers of play? And now I think there's well over 20. 25, 30 specific therapeutic powers of play. Some of the more basic ones being the communication, it fosters communication, self-expression, particularly in kids who don't have the words to express themselves. It opens the door to the unconscious through use of symbols and metaphors. It enhances relationships. So we have a whole school of play therapy called Relationship Play Therapy. It allows us to... teach new skills and knowledge to children because if you make something fun and enjoyable, kids are going to learn better. And it promotes emotional regulation. For an individual client, it may be that what the power that they need is one of the ego boosting powers or a self-actualization power. And so for a particular client, the most important therapeutic power of play would be the one that's healing for that person. In Contemporary Play Therapy, you wrote that the three main pillars of play therapy are theory, research, and practice. The subsequent tenor of your writing suggests advocacy of innovation, pragmatism, and experimentation. What does this say about Charles Schaeffer, the play therapist, and what are three or four bits of wisdom you can share with new play therapists? Clearly, the play therapy is built upon those three pillars, theory, research, and practice. And what we know today is just the tip of the iceberg on all three. So we have to be continually exploring, experimenting, innovating to expand our knowledge in all three areas. We fortunately, play therapy is rich in theories. What we're weak on is research. And that's the area we need to develop. In terms of words of wisdom, what have I learned in my 30-some-odd years as a child therapist, play therapist? First of all, that... One technique, one approach is not going to be effective across the board. There's too many diverse problems that clients present with, too many complex problems. One size does not fit all. I've had to develop a range of interventions, some non-directive, some more structured and directive, to be effective. And I think that's true with most child therapy. therapist and play therapist. I've also learned that clients typically will come for short-term therapy, play therapy. If it goes too long, they're going to drop out because it's too much time, too much effort, too much money on their part. So we have to develop, I've had to develop approaches that can be effective in 10 sessions or less. And the meta-analytic studies that have been done on play therapy have been... quite positive that flight therapy can be effective in 10 sessions. You have to establish rapport pretty quickly with clients, typically within the first three sessions, or else they'll drop out. And to establish rapport, you first have to agree with the client of what your goals are. Usually it's the presenting problem. They're coming in because something's troubling them, and they want you to work on that, not come up with your own goal. And then you'll have to agree on what techniques. You're going to use it as play therapy, use it as cognitive behavioral therapy. You have to agree with children. The parents have to agree that that's what you're going to do. And you have to give them some hope that what you're doing is going to be effective because they're coming because they've tried so many different other strategies that have failed. So you have to give this a new set. They have to come up with a new set, a new hope if they're going to stay in therapy. And the third thing you have to do for her is establish... rapport is to develop mutual liking. And that's where play, particularly with kids, if they see you as a fun, playful person, much easier to establish that rapport. Has our play therapy researcher knowledge base kept abreast with a more diverse clientele and expanded range of presenting problems? In my experience, the range of presenting problems has been the same over these 30 years for me. Clients come in with a vast array of problems. I haven't seen any huge increase in the number or the types of problems. come in with other types of clients. But in terms of research, research on play therapy is still in its infancy. We need to do a lot. We need to develop a lot more. well-designed, well-controlled studies because other interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral, have such studies and so they have proof that what they're doing is effective at a high level. And that's what third-party payers and consumers are looking for in terms of what they're going to select. So if we're going to compete with those other interventions, we have to that we have to do a lot more research, a lot more high-quality research, and publish it in the top-rated journals. Because this problem of wanting evidence, wanting proof, is not going to go away at any time soon. What metaphor would you use to define the field of play therapy over the last few decades? A couple of metaphors. One would be evolution, human evolution. Play therapy has evolved, I think, over the years, actually the hundred years of its existence, into a much more complex, comprehensive intervention, which this is in response to the complexity and the difficulties of the problems that we're faced with. So that would be one. Another one would be Lazarus rising from the dead. or Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, because as I mentioned, play therapy had a foot in the grave in 1980. And now look at it. It's a thriving, flourishing field. And maybe the final would be a mother image because play therapy offers therapists this kind of support, warmth that we're all seeking. You said play therapy had a foot in the grave. the grave back in 1980. What has kept it alive and growing? I think the association was the main, yeah, because there was no forum. Everybody was operating in isolation. And so it was pretty hard to develop the field that way. So APT, I think, really was the catalyst. That plus books, you know, a number of us started writing books, publishing books, and offering training of our own. What should be the major focus of the play therapy community over both the near and long-term future? My wish list for play therapy over the next 25 years would be, first of all, more well-designed, well-controlled studies. That's a must. Then I'd like to see research on the process on these therapeutic factors that actually produce change, because we have to identify them. And the more we understand what those factors are, the more effective play therapists we're going to be. I would also like to see the... the play therapists of the future having a repertoire of therapeutic interventions, more than, in other words, skilled and competent in more than one approach, because they're going to need that because, again, one size does not fit all. And they're going to need to combine interventions in some cases because they're so complex. I think every play therapist in the future will be an integrative play therapist. I'd like to see more. more publications, training, research on the use of play therapy across the life cycle. Play therapy has traditionally been seen as the approach for young children, like 3 to 6, 3 to 8, but we know that people play at all ages, so I'd like to see more of an expansion in awareness by therapists of its usefulness for all ages. I'd like to see more prevention efforts using play to prevent problems from escalating, catching kids early, using play approaches to resolve these problems before they become solidified. I'd like to see more. There is already a trend to make parents partners in treatment because the meta-analytic studies have shown you get much higher improvement when you make parents partners in the... the play therapy treatment through such interventions as parent-child interaction therapy, TheraPlay, filial play therapy. I think all play therapists then should develop competence in one or more of these parent training programs. I'd like to see more international collaboration among play therapists, more sharing of knowledge, because it's just been amazing how play therapy has spread across the globe. As co-founder, what are your thoughts about APT today? You know, one of the most gratifying things in life is to see a project that you initiated a number of years ago come to fruition, to see it blossom and flourish, which APT has done. So it just gives me a great deal of pleasure to come to our annual conferences and to see what's going on in the field.

It thrived in the 1920s and 30s. and then in the States in the 1960s. Humanistic play therapy came into the vogue thanks to the work of Virginia Axline.

And it was the predominant form of psychotherapy in the States through the 60s. And then in the 70s, other forms of child therapy came into vogue, like cognitive behavioral. And play therapy fell into disfavor. So that in 1980, it was practically on life support. So Kevin and I, being big believers and passionate about play therapy, thought maybe we could do something about that to bring life back into the world.

to the field. So we decided, we thought we'd write a book or two and then maybe see if we could form an association for play therapy. Our goals were quite limited since we had no funds, we had no staff, just the two of us. So all we could offer was a newsletter. Kevin was the editor of the newsletter initially and an annual conference which I ran for the first three years in New York.

So, we had a lot of fun. We had a lot of fun. We had And our goals were to establish a national forum where people could come for exchange of information, for training, and for social support. Social support, I mean, call it a clan, call it a tribe, call it a family, call it an association.

We all need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. So, you know, and at that time, there had been no training going on to speak of in place there. Sure.

There were no books being published on play therapy, no journals, no research being conducted on play therapy. So we just thought maybe we could try to do something about that. And fortunately, the response was quite enthusiastic from play therapists across the country.

The goals of the Association for Play Therapy are quite broad. Not only the training and the support, but credentialing of play therapists. the registered play therapist, registered play therapist supervisor, supporting research, offering a great deal more training, public education, funding research, international collaboration.

You have broad goals now. You edited The Therapeutic Powers of Play and wrote the chapter What is Play and Why is it Therapeutic that outlined 14 therapeutic factors of play in 1993. Do you perceive any of these factors being more important today? This is a topic close to my heart, therapeutic powers of play. I think the therapeutic powers of play are the heart and soul of play therapy.

They refer to the active ingredients in play that produce change, the basic change mechanisms. that lead to healing. And if we don't know what those are, then we're in big trouble.

I tried to identify these, and I have been working on that over the years. What are these specific therapeutic powers of play? And now I think there's well over 20. 25, 30 specific therapeutic powers of play.

Some of the more basic ones being the communication, it fosters communication, self-expression, particularly in kids who don't have the words to express themselves. It opens the door to the unconscious through use of symbols and metaphors. It enhances relationships.

So we have a whole school of play therapy called Relationship Play Therapy. It allows us to... teach new skills and knowledge to children because if you make something fun and enjoyable, kids are going to learn better.

And it promotes emotional regulation. For an individual client, it may be that what the power that they need is one of the ego boosting powers or a self-actualization power. And so for a particular client, the most important therapeutic power of play would be the one that's healing for that person. In Contemporary Play Therapy, you wrote that the three main pillars of play therapy are theory, research, and practice. The subsequent tenor of your writing suggests advocacy of innovation, pragmatism, and experimentation.

What does this say about Charles Schaeffer, the play therapist, and what are three or four bits of wisdom you can share with new play therapists? Clearly, the play therapy is built upon those three pillars, theory, research, and practice. And what we know today is just the tip of the iceberg on all three. So we have to be continually exploring, experimenting, innovating to expand our knowledge in all three areas. We fortunately, play therapy is rich in theories.

What we're weak on is research. And that's the area we need to develop. In terms of words of wisdom, what have I learned in my 30-some-odd years as a child therapist, play therapist?

First of all, that... One technique, one approach is not going to be effective across the board. There's too many diverse problems that clients present with, too many complex problems.

One size does not fit all. I've had to develop a range of interventions, some non-directive, some more structured and directive, to be effective. And I think that's true with most child therapy. therapist and play therapist.

I've also learned that clients typically will come for short-term therapy, play therapy. If it goes too long, they're going to drop out because it's too much time, too much effort, too much money on their part. So we have to develop, I've had to develop approaches that can be effective in 10 sessions or less. And the meta-analytic studies that have been done on play therapy have been...

quite positive that flight therapy can be effective in 10 sessions. You have to establish rapport pretty quickly with clients, typically within the first three sessions, or else they'll drop out. And to establish rapport, you first have to agree with the client of what your goals are. Usually it's the presenting problem. They're coming in because something's troubling them, and they want you to work on that, not come up with your own goal.

And then you'll have to agree on what techniques. You're going to use it as play therapy, use it as cognitive behavioral therapy. You have to agree with children. The parents have to agree that that's what you're going to do.

And you have to give them some hope that what you're doing is going to be effective because they're coming because they've tried so many different other strategies that have failed. So you have to give this a new set. They have to come up with a new set, a new hope if they're going to stay in therapy. And the third thing you have to do for her is establish... rapport is to develop mutual liking.

And that's where play, particularly with kids, if they see you as a fun, playful person, much easier to establish that rapport. Has our play therapy researcher knowledge base kept abreast with a more diverse clientele and expanded range of presenting problems? In my experience, the range of presenting problems has been the same over these 30 years for me. Clients come in with a vast array of problems.

I haven't seen any huge increase in the number or the types of problems. come in with other types of clients. But in terms of research, research on play therapy is still in its infancy. We need to do a lot. We need to develop a lot more.

well-designed, well-controlled studies because other interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral, have such studies and so they have proof that what they're doing is effective at a high level. And that's what third-party payers and consumers are looking for in terms of what they're going to select. So if we're going to compete with those other interventions, we have to that we have to do a lot more research, a lot more high-quality research, and publish it in the top-rated journals.

Because this problem of wanting evidence, wanting proof, is not going to go away at any time soon. What metaphor would you use to define the field of play therapy over the last few decades? A couple of metaphors. One would be evolution, human evolution. Play therapy has evolved, I think, over the years, actually the hundred years of its existence, into a much more complex, comprehensive intervention, which this is in response to the complexity and the difficulties of the problems that we're faced with.

So that would be one. Another one would be Lazarus rising from the dead. or Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, because as I mentioned, play therapy had a foot in the grave in 1980. And now look at it. It's a thriving, flourishing field. And maybe the final would be a mother image because play therapy offers therapists this kind of support, warmth that we're all seeking.

You said play therapy had a foot in the grave. the grave back in 1980. What has kept it alive and growing? I think the association was the main, yeah, because there was no forum. Everybody was operating in isolation.

And so it was pretty hard to develop the field that way. So APT, I think, really was the catalyst. That plus books, you know, a number of us started writing books, publishing books, and offering training of our own.

What should be the major focus of the play therapy community over both the near and long-term future? My wish list for play therapy over the next 25 years would be, first of all, more well-designed, well-controlled studies. That's a must. Then I'd like to see research on the process on these therapeutic factors that actually produce change, because we have to identify them.

And the more we understand what those factors are, the more effective play therapists we're going to be. I would also like to see the... the play therapists of the future having a repertoire of therapeutic interventions, more than, in other words, skilled and competent in more than one approach, because they're going to need that because, again, one size does not fit all.

And they're going to need to combine interventions in some cases because they're so complex. I think every play therapist in the future will be an integrative play therapist. I'd like to see more.

more publications, training, research on the use of play therapy across the life cycle. Play therapy has traditionally been seen as the approach for young children, like 3 to 6, 3 to 8, but we know that people play at all ages, so I'd like to see more of an expansion in awareness by therapists of its usefulness for all ages. I'd like to see more prevention efforts using play to prevent problems from escalating, catching kids early, using play approaches to resolve these problems before they become solidified.

I'd like to see more. There is already a trend to make parents partners in treatment because the meta-analytic studies have shown you get much higher improvement when you make parents partners in the... the play therapy treatment through such interventions as parent-child interaction therapy, TheraPlay, filial play therapy.

I think all play therapists then should develop competence in one or more of these parent training programs. I'd like to see more international collaboration among play therapists, more sharing of knowledge, because it's just been amazing how play therapy has spread across the globe. As co-founder, what are your thoughts about APT today? You know, one of the most gratifying things in life is to see a project that you initiated a number of years ago come to fruition, to see it blossom and flourish, which APT has done. So it just gives me a great deal of pleasure to come to our annual conferences and to see what's going on in the field.

Transcript for:Evolution and Future of Play Therapy

Transcript for:
Evolution and Future of Play Therapy