Did you know that a foundational part of emotional regulation is not stopping dysregulation in its tracks, but instead completing the stress cycle?
In the simplest terms our systems need more than just tools to stop the progression of big emotions, they need to learn to ride the wave of emotion and bring their stress response into completion.
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How often do you ask clients to identify feelings and get met with “I don’t know”?
Or the ever popular “nothing”. For most types of therapy and play therapy including Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy, Child Centered Play Therapy and EMDR a core part of the process is to help kids know themselves better, identify their feelings, and work to notice where these feelings come up in their bodies. 
The struggle is real in play therapy.
Bad guys getting arrested, a tea party getting crashed, and a cow that has wandered away from its family in the barn and can’t find its way back. Ya know - just a regular Tuesday in the playroom! 
So I have a secret.
I never really wanted to work with kids. Well, I wanted to work with teens, but definitely not younger kids. I mean - what would I do with a kindergartener? 
“Can you get me that?”
This is a seemingly simple question that in most cases the appropriate response is “absolutely!” But in the playroom? Well…. It’s not so simple. 
Last year one of my friends reached out to talk…about dinosaur poop.
Specifically what it might mean if during a play sequence a dinosaur pooped in a very specific way and the sequence was repeated over and over. These are the exciting conversations play therapists get to have! 
Child Centered Play Therapy can be one of the theories where imposter syndrome hits hard. As you enter the child’s play you do so with radical acceptance that you will never know 100% of what the child is playing out (even though you may have some excellent ideas).
And it makes sense that one of the most frequent questions I get asked from supervisees and consultees is “Am I even doing anything here?”. If this is a question you have check out more on that HERE! 
If you are a play therapist you have likely wondered “what does this all mean” and you definitely have thought “am I even doing anything here?”
Okay - before you go any further, grab my FREE guide on how to identify play themes, dive deeper into how play therapy is different from “just playing”, and check out why I don’t believe any play is without a theme. 
If you are a Child Centered Play Therapist or do non directive Play Therapy, you know that knowing exactly what each play sequence and move means is not essential to a child’s growth and progress in play therapy.
Additionally, if we are so focused on dissecting and analyzing everything in the moment it’s highly likely that we aren’t going to be present enough and hold the unconditional space children need for healing. AND yet, I still think that finding, assessing, and getting curious about the meaning behind the play holds so much value in play therapy. 
The tiger that attacks the house, you have to pay $500 for a hamburger and you don’t have the money, the queen getting dethroned, and you get thrown in jail because you robbed the bank.
These are things that pop up on a regular basis in the playroom. Ahh... all in a days work! |
Hi, there!I'm Ann Meehan, an LPCC, 
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ann@meehanmentalhealth.com | Copyright Meehan Mental Health Services 2022
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ann@meehanmentalhealth.com | Copyright Meehan Mental Health Services 2022