Play Therapy FAQs

  • As a parent, you will complete a check-in form at each of your child’s sessions to communicate any changes or updates on your child’s emotions or behavior since the last session. You will also be required to meet for a parent consult session every 4-6 sessions to review your child’s progress and parenting skills to implement at home.

    Parent expectations include:

    • Reading recommended materials/resources and books.

    • Prioritizing your child’s attendance at scheduled therapy sessions.

    • Helping your child complete any assigned take-home activities.

    • Completing any parenting resources or skills provided, such as tracking logs, worksheets, reading/podcasts, and new parenting skills.

    • Meeting for parent consults every 4-6 sessions to review your child’s progress and parenting skills/questions.

    • Following up on recommendations and referrals, such as parenting coaches, neuropsych evaluations, educational advocates, pediatrician check-ins.

  • The very first session is called an intake session and it usually takes 60-75 minutes. Prior to this session, you will be asked to complete onboarding and intake paperwork, which we will review these policies at the intake. During the intake, I will meet with just the parents/caregivers via telehealth to get a full history of their child and the presenting issues as well as any other information I need so I can best support you and your child. We will review goals for therapy and any questions you might have.

    Then your child comes to their first individual session at the play room. If you anticipate your child will be shy or anxious at the first appointment, we will discuss specific strategies to help them feel more comfortable and at ease. Inside the playroom, I let the child know that this is a safe space for all their feelings and they can say and do most of the things they want to say and do in here. Then I follow their lead!

  • Play therapy sessions are typically 45 minutes long and occur on a regular, weekly basis to start. This is so that the play sessions become a regular and dependable part of your child’s life, providing a sense of security, predictability, and consistency. Children’s sense of time is also different so their experience of a two week time period feels much longer than for adults.

    It is also because a main foundation of therapy is the relationship between the therapist and the client, and it is difficult to build a strong relationship without regular sessions. It’s much more difficult and slow to make therapeutic progress if meeting less than once a week! After your child has made consistent progress, it makes more sense to meet less and focus on maintenance rather than active growth/healing.

  • Typically, I will greet your child in the waiting area and they will come back to the play room with me for their individual session. Occasionally, you may be invited back into sessions for family therapy.

    Sometimes I use non-directive child-centered play therapy, meaning children have the ability to choose what to do and direct the session based on the belief that children can resolve their issues and fears within the play process when given the freedom to play without external influence or direction. Sometimes I may use directive play therapy strategies, where I offer a specific game, book, or activity for the session that may be helpful or relevant but never force the child to engage.

  • Consider the difference between an adult chatting over coffee with a friend vs talking to their therapist. In both instances, there’s talking happening, but the difference isn’t in the “what” that’s being said but more in the “who” it’s said to, “why” it’s being discussed, “how” it’s being shared and received. The same goes for children playing in therapy vs playing with their friends or at home.

    Play therapy is different from regular play because the therapist is trained to help children use the play in a therapeutic way to express their emotions, develop coping skills, and resolve emotional, behavioral, or developmental challenges. The play therapist observes patterns and themes, provides a safe and accepting space where the child can feel fully seen, heard, and understood, and helps facilitate emotional growth. Unlike playing at home or with friends where there is no therapeutic goal, Play Therapy is an intentional process and treatment.

    While many children think of their sessions as “just playing with Ms. Terri”, it is important to highlight that it is therapeutic play and not all sessions are fun and lighthearted. Sometimes play is used to process heavy feelings around grief, trauma, anxiety, low self-esteem, shame, and anger.

  • Even though a child might be able to use words in some contexts, most children often lack the abstract verbal reasoning skills needed in order to communicate themselves fully with their words.

    During Play Therapy, children use the power of symbolism to express the things they don’t have the language to communicate and the experiences that simply can’t be put into words.

    In order to be participating in their treatment, all your child has to do is show up! I imagine you and/or your child’s teacher have talked up and down the walls to them about their challenges without any changes. I promise it won’t help for me to talk at them about it, too!

    Talking directly about reasons for coming to therapy or challenging behaviors is often a very small part of what child therapy actually is since so much of it is done through the play! Even when talking about something directly, I try to do it through play to increase the child’s engagement and decrease defenses, such as reading a book about it or drawing a picture of it.

  • Those afternoon slots are super prime time, and they fill up fast. Examine whether prioritizing therapy for a short time would outweigh the negatives. Depending on the severity of the issues, your child might already not be in best position to succeed academically, such as a child who is getting in trouble a lot for aggression or a child who is missing instructional time because they’re frequently at the nurse’s or school counselor’s office. If a child is struggling with behavioral challenges or other forms of emotional dysregulation, therapy can provide the essential coping skills that ultimately help them function better in school.

    Even if your child’s functioning at school isn’t currently negatively impacted, being proactive about getting mental health treatment can prevent emotional and behavioral struggles from escalating and interfering with their learning, social relationships, or self-esteem.

    Schools are often happy to accommodate therapy appointments, and I provide written excuse letters for schools free of charge upon request.

    Clients with appointments during the school day are given priority for afterschool/evening openings as they become available.

    Some things to consider for daytime scheduling:

    -      8/9 am sessions or 1/2 pm sessions so the child is missing the very beginning or end of the school day

    -      Lunch hour for working parents

    -      Picking a specials class or subject with your child’s teacher that your child is excelling in that they could miss without impacting their learning.

    -      If I have a biweekly afterschool slot available, consider alternating afterschool and daytime slots to decrease missed school time (ex, week 1 @ 10 am, week 2 @ 5 pm, week 3 @10 am, week 4 @ 5 pm)

  • You can choose to be as general or specific as you’d like such as “I know things at school have been pretty hard, so I wanted you to have a safe space for all those feelings. I met with a woman named Ms. Terri and she’s a feelings helper. You’re going to get to play with her in her special playroom” or something similar that feels appropriate to you and your child’s circumstances.

    I also have a “Meet Your Therapist” infographic that has some information about me and the playroom that you can share with your child.

  • Here are a few things parents can do to support their children on their therapeutic journey!

    1. Play therapy is not a quick fix because it is not “behaviorally-focused” and, therefore, is often a slower process than most parents are expecting. You can help support your child’s progress by trusting the process and keeping realistic expectations about progress.

    2. Please do not talk to me about your child in front of your child unless it is about something positive. This can create feelings of shame and embarrassment in your child and damages trust not only in the therapist-child relationship but even more-so in the parent-child relationship.

    3. You will be curious about what is happening in the playroom, but I encourage parents to avoid asking questions after sessions such as “what did you do today?” or “did you have fun?”. Sometimes therapy is emotionally hard work for them and isn’t fun. We also don’t want them to feel pressured to play or do things they think you want them to in the playroom because it stops them from expressing themselves naturally and authentically. Instead say, “Hi, ready to go?” and if your child opens up about their session, show interest in whatever they choose to share with you and follow their lead!

    4. Refrain from “coaching” your child prior to their session such as “Don’t forget to tell Ms. Terri about XYZ”, “You need to talk to Ms. Terri about XYZ”. Children often have their own goals for therapy which can differ from their parents. These statements can also create resistance in your child to come to therapy or engage in sessions or create negative connotations/ expectations around therapy. Instead, you can remind your child of the safe/trusted adults they can talk to or receive support from if they want or need it. You might say, “Ms. Terri would be a good person to talk to about that if you want to.”

    5. Children may need some time to decompress after their sessions depending on how emotionally charged it was, and may benefit from engaging in pleasant activity of their choice after their session or need some extra patience and grace.

    It is also important to note that your child’s work in therapy or our parent consultations may trigger challenging feelings and thoughts about previous traumas or current issues. Parents can often benefit from seeing their own therapist while their child attends play therapy.

  • Currently I do not offer regular telehealth sessions for children. A telehealth session may be offered occasionally under certain conditions, such as pivoting from in-person due to weather or illness, specific age/developmental level of the child, and having a pre-established strong therapeutic rapport. Your child will have a much richer therapeutic experience overall within the context of the play room!

  • I am a neuroaffirming therapist, meaning I view neurodivergence as a natural and valuable part of your child’s identity rather than a diagnosis needing to be “cured” or “fixed”. Therefore, my focus is on understanding, accepting, and supporting neurodivergent kids and their emotional well-being, acknowledging their unique strengths, and providing accommodations and advocacy for the unique way their brains work, rather than trying to get them to fit into neurotypical expectations.

  • I work with siblings in individual sessions if they’re starting therapy at the same time to promote equality in ability to develop the therapeutic relationship with less potential feelings of resentment or damaged therapeutic relationship for either sibling.

    I also work with siblings and parents together in family sessions as needed depending on the therapeutic goals but not as the primary therapy focus (meaning the individual child is the main client and family sessions are supplemental).

  • A Registered Play Therapist (RPT)™ is the term for a licensed mental health professional who has successfully completed all the requirements set by the Association for Play Therapy for credentialing. This credential lets parents and caregivers know that the child therapist has obtained the national standard in specialized play therapy training and experience.

    In addition to holding a master’s degree (with course work in child development, theories of personality, child & adolescent psychopathology, cultural/social diversity and ethics), RPTs are required to take at least 150 additional hours of play therapy-specific instruction/continuing education, and complete a minimum of 350 hours of play therapy experience under the supervision of a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor. In order to renew RPT credentials, annual continuing education requirements must be fulfilled.