Benefits Of Play Therapy

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing”. This quote by Charles Schaefer is what brings me to believe that play is a fundamental part of every individual; especially to children. With play, children are able to explore and learn about the world, they are able to express what they are feeling at the time, and they are able to develop numerous skills- such as, mental, social, and physical skills. I believe that with play, we are able to understand children in an improved manner, if we are able to interpret their play in the correct way. With play therapy, major growth and development can be developed in a child, along with being able to reduce any challenging behaviors …show more content…
They are there to eliminate behavioral and emotional difficulties, and these play therapists are there to implement techniques that they believe will work for the child or client, and are also there to help the client be aware of their worries or emotions, and work out a way to eliminate any negative thoughts or behaviors they may have at the time. Before registering for the ‘play therapy’ course, I was not as informed about any techniques, or any information detailing on the benefits of this type of therapy. I do find it to be quite interesting, and I have considered this to be implemented onto my profession. I would most likely be interested in focusing more with children and adolescents with eating disorders, and implementing play therapy techniques in order to help them cope with their issues such as possible body image issues. Challenges that I may find difficult in adjusting to the demands of play therapy with children and families would be recognizing the idea that families …show more content…
I am very detail orientated, and in a way this can become a barrier because I would want everything to be as detailed or organized in a manner that might make the sessions feel too structured, but I would also be aware that it is very beneficial to let the sessions not be too structured, and just go forth with the session depending on the child or client’s mood for that day, or even their personality. Another trait, I may find as a barrier would be that I multi-task quite a bit. I try to do everything at once, believing that I am able to handle everything all at once, and still be able to find a balance at it all. For instance, right now, I am a full time student at Adelphi, and I work four days a week at Barnes and Noble, and I just started working for the Bridges Program as an Academic Coach. As of now I am able to balance all of it, plus trying to maintain all my academic work, but I can see that as a role as a play therapist, multitasking may be a barrier for the reason that I would most likely be overworking myself by having other projects or tasks around the play therapist job. Another barrier that I find that may affect my role as a play therapist would being very persistent on the tasks that I would have. I like to finish any tasks, responsibilities, or even