When you think of a board report in the world of mental health therapy what comes up for you?
Well….besides a little bit of panic-heart-racing-sweaty feelings?
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One of the most important questions I ask on nearly every individual or group consultation session after I learn more about the symptoms, struggles, and stuck points is “what are your goals for this client”?
This question is quickly followed by “what was the baseline when they came into therapy?”.
Sometimes when the play therapy door closes you think “what exactly just happened there”?
You know those sessions - maybe you weren’t quite sure what themes were coming up for a child and if it was play therapy or “just playing” (get more support on that HERE!). Maybe you spent the entire session listening to the middle school gossip and struggled to balance maintaining rapport and shifting it back to their goals. Other times it might look like glares, loooong periods of silence, and “I don’t know” seems to be the response to every question.
Play therapy sessions are intended to have a specific theory or framework that determines exactly what to do and when during your play therapy sessions.
And after the playroom door shuts you go to your computer to type up the progress notes, which are meant to demonstrate… well… progress! So, how often do you think “what did we actually DO”? It’s pretty rare for a client to demonstrate significant and miraculous progress each and every session until termination. And that’s because life isn’t linear - and neither is the road to healing.
One thing I LOVE to share most when working on documentation with fellow therapists is this one simple shift in creating goals.
And just what is this shift?
How often do you show up for a directive play therapy session and your mind goes *blank*? All of your ahh-mazing, fun and creative interventions go out the window.
Kind of like when you are planning your meals for the week and your brain tells you that you have never cooked a day in your life.
In one of my first ever psychology classes the professor said something that was so mind blowing that it has stuck with me for my entire career and is something that I often share with clients.
So just what exactly was this wise and sage concept? Becoming Active in Your Mental Health: One Simple Metaphor to Increase Engagement in Play Therapy9/13/2023
I loooooove a good metaphor.
And it’s funny to hear stories of my childhood and that expressing myself through metaphor was something that has always been a part of my life waaayyy before I became a play therapist!
If you tell me you are a play therapist, you are telling me very little about what you actually do in session with kids. Sure, there are only ten seminal and historically significant theories of play therapy (at this time!), BUT there are 20+ theories of play therapy in our field and I suspect this number will only grow!
One of the most powerful tools to move through resistance might not be exactly what you think. Most of the time as therapists we want a concrete tool, technique, or activity that is going to get us to the next step and break through resistance.
You want to come into your next session with the exact gameplan of how it’s going to go. AND 99.9% of the time it doesn’t exactly work out how you planned. The technique or activity might get rejected in favor of silence OR a client might even struggle to get back into the Playroom for you to even start to suggest a therapy activity. So now what? I wanted to get back to basics to talk about the one tool that you can always rely on to help you move through resistance. |
Hi, there!I'm Ann Meehan, an LPCC, Loading... Archives
January 2024
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