For Child Centered Play Therapy there isn’t really any “session prep” in the traditional sense.  No books, activities, topics, or materials to prepare.  Preparing involves you authentically showing up as yourself - regulated, open, and willing to support the child through play, CCPT skills, and facilitative responses. 

AND sometimes you might find yourself wondering if you should do more.  Have a structured session.  Engage in another modality of Play Therapy with a child. 

I would hope that most Play Therapists are prescriptive in nature, meaning you have several core theories you are trained in and during your intake process you assess what theory, modality, or combination might be right for the child that is presenting in your office.  

Sometimes for a client whose parents are getting divorced you might put CCPT aside for a session or two to engage in some Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy or Bibliotherapy around the topic of divorce.  The same is true for other things that may happen in a child's life like grief and loss or even a major event like the pandemic.  Other times when doing trauma work you may pause the CCPT work and engage in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) or combine EMDR with Play Therapy.  

Now, Child Centered Play Therapy purists would say that this might rarely need to be done. AND sometimes in our clinical work with children the specific situation a child is presenting necessitates us to go a little (brace yourself) directive. 

I wanted to share with you my three tips for when you need to pause the course of Child Centered Play Therapy and engage in a more directive session: 

1. Understand the purpose - what are you hoping to accomplish with a directive session or other Play Therapy modality? What are the specific goals you are hoping to achieve and what are the reasons these goals cannot be achieved with CCPT?  A great example of this is a child whose parents are divorcing that may not have adequate information about what divorce means and what the process will be.  It may make sense to take a session to read a book or do an activity about divorce and psychoeducation. 

2. Clearly communicate the session structure - If you are going to dedicate an entire session to another modality communicate that to the child at the session prior (including the structure of the session) as well as right at the beginning of the directive session.  If you are going to engage in two modalities within the same session be clear if the child will have the CCPT time at the first or last portion of the session.  

3. Use a transition statement - if you are engaging in two modalities within the same session (ie a CCPT session for the first portion and a CBPT session for the last portion) use a clear transition statement that the Child Centered Play Therapy portion of the session has ended and you are beginning a new modality, technique, or theory. That might sound like “Our special playtime is over for the day, and now we are going to spend the last part of this time being in charge together and reading this book!”. This transition statement safeguards us from using directive approaches during our CCPT time. 
And there you have it!  These are the three ways that I use when I am utilizing a different Play Therapy modality or approach with a child who has typically only had Child Centered Play Therapy Sessions!

What did I miss? What other tips do you have for having a directive session with the course of Child Centered Play Therapy? Drop them in the comments below! 

​Looking for more support in your Child Centered Play Therapy practice?  Check out Child Centered Play Therapy: Troubleshooting the 13 Biggest Stuck Points! ​

In Child Centered Play Therapy the intervention is the relationship as well as the specific set of skills that help a therapist know what to say about the play and when (check out my free download of all of the Child Centered Play Therapy Skills HERE).

But….then how do you make sense of it all? What were they actually communicating? How do you know if they are making progress?!

Whew… those are all excellent questions.  Let’s start with the great news - you do not need to know exactly why a child is playing a specific way or what their play actually means. We can still be effective therapists by focusing on the relationship and the CCPT skills and facilitative responses within the session. 

In Gary Landreth’s text Play Therapy and the Art of the Relationship there are 4 pages dedicated to themes in play therapy in a 403 page text book. In Child Centered Play Therapy by Rise VanFleet, Andrea Sywulak, and Cynthia Caparosa Sniscak there are 14 pages out of a 223 page text.

In short - the thing that I wanted to know MOST about when I started doing Child Centered Play Therapy doesn’t exactly have a ton of information I could dive into.  I think over the years of doing CCPT this is why I have gravitated to CE courses, texts, and trial and error to hone this skill in the Playroom as much as I could. 

On the other hand, it probably isn’t the best idea to throw the idea of themes out the window completely.  That's probably why your reading, right? I am a strong believer that understanding a child’s play themes helps us to be a more effective play therapist by having more accurate and on target facilitative responses.

And at the same time, two children could play out similar play sequences and have it mean completely different things.  The two text above are what I have used as my guide as a Child Centered Play Therapist, and from these foundational texts I wanted to share with you 3 ways you can tell in the Playroom if a child is playing out a theme in Child Centered Play Therapy: 


There is a sudden change in intensity in the play 
A child may shift play to a higher level of intensity or become very focused on the specific play. This is why it is so necessary to be in tune with your nervous system to be able to be present and attuned to the child’s nervous system in the Playroom. 

There is repetition of the play sequence 
This could either be a repetition between sessions or multiple courses of the same play within sessions. Think battle sequences that repeat or feeling like you are seeing the same moving 1,000 times in the playroom! 

Play that continues from session to session
This is when the child comes in and picks right back up where they left off.  The amazing part about this is during the pandemic when children had been playing virtual for a year and a half when they returned to my Playroom they picked up the same play they had left off with in our last in office session! 


This is definitely not a comprehensive list AND it is also important to note that whatever facilitative responses you are making with the play themes in mind - the goal is to help move the child forward in play! 

What other things do you notice that indicates your clients are in a play theme?  Drop a comment below! 

Looking for more support in your Child Centered Play Therapy practice?  Check out Child Centered Play Therapy: Troubleshooting the 13 Biggest Stuck Points! ​

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Child Centered Play Therapy is a theory and modality of Play Therapy that is pretty darn different from other theories. Grab my FREE cheat sheet download of CCPT skills and facilitative responses HERE. Also see the difference between Child Centered Play Therapy and Child Led Therapy HERE! 

So one of the biggest defining differences are that the “intervention” is the relationship you hold with the child and the facilitative responses you give during play. No therapist led or directed activities.  No therapist led or directed content…well…except for some structuring skills and limit setting - but that’s it! 

Centering the child and letting the child fully lead is wonderful, effective, and amazing to watch the process unfold in your Playroom.  However, most play therapists become stuck on this one question - How do I know that CCPT is working? When are clients done? Am I doing enough? Am I even being helpful here? 

Okay, that was four questions. Fair.  But the theme is that you might struggle without the specific skills teaching or activities to know if you are even moving the needle for their therapeutic care.

It can be hard, but with CCPT you really need to fully trust the process or you won’t be able to be authentically present in the playroom in the way the child needs you to be to hold fidelity to CCPT.  If you don’t fully trust the process you will likely feel the urge to give it a little nudge.  AND this is when CCPT therapists go from having fidelity to CCPT to making it something else that is therapist led. 

I wanted to share with you my FREE Downloadable Effectiveness Cheat Sheet to help you understand the top 7 things I look out for to know that I look for to understand how CCPT is working! ​

Download my FREE Child Centered Play Therapy Effectiveness Cheat Sheet HERE!  

Looking for more support in your Child Centered Play Therapy practice?  Check out Child Centered Play Therapy: Troubleshooting the 13 Biggest Stuck Points! ​

“I’m so glad that Ainsley will finally have someone to talk to about her problems”.
 
Well what if Ainsley (not a real client!) is four and you as her therapist are going to be doing Child Centered Play Therapy? 
 
AND what if her parents are concerned that you are “just playing” and “not doing the real work” if she isn’t sitting across the room from you, hands crossed articulating every emotion from her week and clearly identifying her cognitions and triggering events and then evaluating her behavioral options? 
 
Along with the help of Andrew and Andres there are 3 things I like to share with parents to help them understand the value (as well as developmentally appropriateness) of Child Centered Play Therapy. 
 
Child Centered Play Therapy is an evidence based practice 
The Association for Play Therapy has an excellent Evidence Based Practice statement and tons of research and resources that distinguishes Child Centered Play Therapy as one of the Evidence Based Practices according to the National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices! 
 
I like to share with parents that this means that there has been a lot of research that goes into what types of therapy are effective, and that enough academic studies have been completed for Child Centered Play Therapy that we can be sure it is an effective way to help young people heal from the difficulties that bring them into therapy. 
 
Straight talk therapy isn’t developmentally appropriate for children 
Children’s brains are amazing and the development that is happening in childhood is so fascinating.  If I cut right to the chase (because I could talk about neuroscience and brain development for hours) children don’t have the abstract reasoning abilities and verbal processing skills to engage in talk therapy alone.  They are also significantly more right hemisphere developing (which holds their emotions and picture centers) so even if they wanted to they just aren’t able to process as “mini adults”.  Because they aren’t….they are children!  
 
Your child will be extremely bored and likely not want to come to therapy if we don’t incorporate play 
Okay - see note above that straight talk therapy is developmentally inappropriate for children. Well….. so is physics.  If we asked a 4 year old to do complex physics problems (even with an expert like Einstein as her teacher) she would feel overwhelmed, anxious, distressed and probably like a failure.  
 
AND those are the same feelings that will likely come up if we are putting pressure on children to do things that are outside of their scope and ability.  And when kids feel like this? Well, the last thing they want to do is come into your therapy office for another 45 minutes to an hour of feeling overwhelmed and like a failure! This leads to kids refusing to come to therapy and, well, if they aren’t in your therapy office they can’t do the work (or serious play) of therapy! 
 
In a recent consultation session one of my consultee's said "I just want to see how Ann does it, like in real life", so I thought you might want to hear how it sounds "in real life" too! 

So if you want in - swipe my script and check out this absolutely free short video of how I explain Child Centered Play Therapy to parents in my therapy practice! 
 
AND when I share this information with parents, 99.99% of the time they are absolutely on board and engaged in the Child Centered Play Therapy process! 
 
What else are your biggest struggles with explaining Play Therapy to parents? Drop a comment below! 

P.S. Please don't judge the 1,000 tabs I have open.  This is my life, literally every day! 

Looking for more support in your Child Centered Play Therapy practice?  Check out Child Centered Play Therapy: Troubleshooting the 13 Biggest Stuck Points! ​

Child Centered Play Therapy is one of my most favorite Play Therapy theories and modalities for younger children.  AND sometimes older children depending on developmental age.  But most definitely is a modality I am highly likely to be using for children 10 and under! 
 
If Child Centered Play Therapy is not one of the theories you use I would suggest you RUN not walk to check out Play Therapy and The Art of The Relationship OR Child Centered Play Therapy as well as sign yourself up for a foundational course. You can also check out these awesome video examples of Child Centered Play Therapy from Dr. Garry Landreth and Tammi Van Hollander! 
 
I do not say this lightly - getting trained in Child Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) was life changing for me as a therapist.  I remember the first time I observed a CCPT session I didn’t get it.  It seemed SO strange and so far away from the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy I was trained in at grad school. 
 
But once I started to put the key skills as a therapist, the model, and the way of being into the playroom it was transformational for my clients.  
 
It worked. Clients with significant dysregulation and anger outbursts were able to increase their emotional regulation and window of tolerance without learning one. darn. skill. They had the power within them to heal and integrate their distress with me holding them within the CCPT model.  
 
And it was fun.  Kids didn’t want to leave the playroom and looked forward to coming to session.  
 
I wanted to share this free download on the Child Centered Play Therapy model that I use to make sure I am having fidelity with my skills, facilitative responses, and way of showing up in the playroom.  It is also the sheet I use to track supervisee’s or consultee’s when they are sharing a Child Centered Play Therapy video or case! 

Looking for more support in your Child Centered Play Therapy practice?  Check out Child Centered Play Therapy: Troubleshooting the 13 Biggest Stuck Points! ​​

Check out the Child Centered Play Therapy Skills Cheat Sheet HERE! 

Let's Connect - click here to join my email list!​

Most therapists want to honor the requests, wishes, and desires (within reason) of children in the Play Therapy room.  
 
Yes we can play Uno! No you can catapult yourself off my couch like a rocket ship to the chair across the room.
 
Putting the child in the center of the therapy process allows children to have autonomy, independence and buy-in to their therapy experience. It also allows you as a therapist to build rapport and relationship with your client - which is the number one factor for client change! 
 
All of this sounds great right? BUT where does the line come in between Child Centered Play Therapy and child led therapy? 
 
This is such a common question and issue that pops up in the consultation and supervision part of my practice. Usually it is during a case consultation or video review when someone has identified their theory for a case as Child Centered Play Therapy but then in the process discusses significant questions they are asking the child OR talking about some sort of directive activity or suggestion for play they are giving the child. 
 
First things first - before trying any new theory or technique it is so important to get adequate training.  For Child Centered Play Therapy I definitely recommend the following texts of Play Therapy and The Art of The Relationship OR Child Centered Play Therapy as well as taking a foundational course.  
 
Now, on to the differences! 
 
Child Centered Play Therapy is a theoretical model complete with it’s own theory of personality, therapeutic phases, and therapeutic conditions that are unique to Child Centered Play Therapy.  This means there is a set of specific things a therapist will say and not say, do and not do, and a specific way of being in the Playroom - all to facilitate therapeutic change. There are also specific toys a Child Centered Play Therapy room will have and not have that is true to the Child Centered Play Therapy model. 
 
Some things that are not included in the Child Centered Play Therapy model? Asking the child questions - with a few exceptions and use of the “whisper technique”. Also, structured activities, interventions, or games. 
 
So when I have someone who is sharing their orientation is Child Centered Play Therapy but in case conceptualization will talk about an activity and questions they persistently asked during session - this is where I get really clear on re-assessing theory and orientation. 
 
Sometimes when clinicians hear the phrase “Child Centered Play Therapy” they can mistake it (and understandably so) for a type of therapy that places the child’s desires, wishes, and wants for their therapy session in the front and center of the therapy process.  More like a collaborative therapy process. 
 
And this concept - while it is absolutely necessary for rapport building and engagement with children, is not Child Centered Play Therapy. 
 
We can place the child’s needs and desires at the front of the therapy process AND be another Play Therapy orientation such as Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy.  If I am engaging in a CBPT therapy session I can absolutely ask questions and structure activities.  I can also have the child engage collaboratively on a project, activity, or game! 

BUT if we are using the phrase Child Centered Play Therapy that means we have specific training and are engaging in the model of Child Centered Play Therapy. 
 
Hopefully this can highlight the difference between child led therapy and Child Centered Play Therapy and help us get clearer as a field about how we are showing up in Play Therapy and why we are doing the things we do in session! 

Looking for more support in your Child Centered Play Therapy practice?  Check out Child Centered Play Therapy: Troubleshooting the 13 Biggest Stuck Points! 

The clock hits 4:55, you are just ushering your last client out the door (or clicking off your DoxyMe) and you wonder where the day went.  Specifically you wonder how it is almost 5:00 and you have a stack of undone notes. 
 
Ugh…you are now hit with the choice to grind them out right then and there (goodbye leaving the office on time) OR save them for another day.  Maybe tomorrow. Unless tomorrow turns into three Tuesdays from now and instead of several notes you have several dozen. Or mayyyybe a little more than that.
 
Notes can sometimes feel like being on a treadmill that is cranked up a couple of notches too high.  Hard to keep up, and if you're not really careful you could end up with skinned knees laying in a pile on the floor. Seriously, those things can be dangerous.
 
But what if interweaving your therapy sessions and notes could feel a little bit more like a walk in the park than the treadmill of doom? 
 
So, in order to get to a better pace you need to understand just exactly what is getting in the way of completing notes on time.  I wanted to share with you the top three things I hear from clinicians that get in the way of completing notes.
 
Not ending sessions on time 
Sometimes bombs go off at the end of session. As play therapists this can be either metaphorically or literally. Or you Play Therapy office may look like a bomb went off. 

Sometimes you are so in tune to what your client is saying or playing OR their parents forgot to tell you something and needs to follow up with you at the end of the session that turns out to be an extension of the session.  Hello top of the hour, and the next client in the lobby or virtual waiting room! 

All of the above can seriously eat into the time that you have in between sessions to catch your breath, take a quick break, annnd get your notes done. 
 
All of this, well - it happens.  BUT when it happens consistently it can be a huge barrier to completing notes! 
 
Getting caught up in email 
I don’t know about you, but my inbox can be a rabbit hole.  Especially if you have more than one email you may be trying to sift through parent emails, office email threads where the “reply-all” game is strong, and official business things that may need to be updated. 
 
Sometimes we can feel a time pressure if we are not available and ready 24/7 with a response and sometimes parents can feel so overwhelmed with whatever situation is presenting they want immediate answers, response and relief. 
 
It’s fair to say that you can’t just be in denial that your email exists and never open your box again, BUT this might be an area of your practice you need to assess if you find yourself trying to get your inbox to zero at the expense of your notes.
 
For a little comedic relief about working with parents and email from a teacher’s perspective check out this TikTok HERE! 
 
Heading next door 
If your therapy practice is anything like mine chances are you have some pretty amazing office neighbors.  Maybe next door, maybe a couple of doors down. 
 
That person you can decompress with after a tough session, share photos of your dog or adorable child with spaghetti all over his head, or get the best tips on what to do for the next session. 
 
However, if a force as strong as gravity is pulling you toward their office during time between sessions repelling you away from the stack of notes that is waiting for you, it might be something to consider that might need a little tweaking or changing. 
 


Now - I want you to do an audit of your day.  Seriously! Pay attention to what is getting in your way and leave a comment below on the biggest time traps in your therapy day! What’s not on this list? 

 
Need more support with writing notes faster and integrating them into your day?  Check out The 5 Minute Notewww.meehanmentalhealth.com/5-minute-note.html - the program that helps you shrink your note writing time and integrate it into your therapy day! OH - and if you are behind on notes, The 5 Minute Note program includes the course The Progress Note Catch Up as an on-the-house free bonus! 

Just how much do you spend on note writing per week?
 
With a little support from your trusty calculator and a couple of quick clicks the number might surprise you!  Okay - so if you see 20 clients per week and spend 5 minutes on each note that’s a little over an hour and a half per week - 100 minutes to be exact.
 
But what if you were spending more than that?  Like….let’s say more around that 10 minute range.  Well for 20 clients it would be a little under three and a half hours. If you are more around the 30 client range it goes up to five hours.  FIVE! 
 
Annnd that’s not even counting all the other things you need to do - like collaboration calls, stacks on stacks of emails, assessments or a bathroom break.  And when these notes pile one on top of each other and you leave the office exhausted like you are on the notes treadmill that just won’t quit, it’s hard to not carry that energy into your night or weekend! 
 
Now - how much more money would you have in your pocket if you could turn those hours into clients? What about turning those hours into extra time off for rest and relaxation? 
 
Okay - so here’s where you need to start thinking like a lawyer about your notes.  So what exactly am I talking about? Well...lawyers happen to charge per minute of their time.
 
If they are completing a task anywhere from 1-12 minutes that is a flat fee in increments of 6 or 12 minutes. If I spell this out - any task (even if it is just 1 or 2 minutes) gets charged at a 6 or 12 minute rate.  
 
If I head into make-believe-land for a minute (because we’re play therapists so why not!) that would mean the two minute email would be a minimum charge. The collaboration phone call, gathering and scoring assessments, and notes - would all be charged at a minimum fee. 
 
Now, back to reality.  Insurance companies aren’t really with this whole lawyer vibe, meaning they charge a flat fee per session depending on how many minutes you are with a client and what service you are providing. 

If you asked them to reimburse you for all the extras you provide clients they wouldn't be able to catch their breath from the giant laughing fit that would erupt.  It's a total no-go. 
 
SO even if we can’t charge insurance companies per minute for our time that it takes outside of the session to provide good quality care, that doesn't mean that you can’t shift your thinking.
 
Overall - lawyers see their time as precious and valuable. The task that takes them a couple of minutes is KEY to their client’s case and the amount of skills, knowledge, and experience is worth the money. It's not expected or taken for granted.

What if you shifted your thinking about your time? What if you saw the note writing process as part of the overall treatment?  As something that isn't an "extra" that you will do on your own time?
 
When you start thinking this way about your notes and the unpaid time that can go out the window you can then start thinking about what is getting in the way of writing the most efficient and streamlined note you can.  When you think about being intentional with your time and see it as valuable, you can begin increasing your note writing efficiency so you can get those minutes and hours back! 
 
If you struggle with notes take my absolutely free course on the 5 Step Roadmap To Writing Faster Progress Notes! 

If you need a little more take The 5 Minute Note Course - where 10 days transforms your notes from novels to efficient and effortless!

​Do your notes ever feel a bit stale? Like a CD on skip.  Ack - are CD's even a thing anymore? 
 
When I write my notes I use a DAP note formula - Data (subjective and objective - or more simply what the client said and what they did in the session), Assessment (making sense of the data section), and Plan (what they are supposed to do in between sessions and what is on the agenda for next session).  
 
With this format in the Data section we are capturing what the client and/or parents said or did.  AND when I am writing up a Diagnostic Assessment I am using quotes or being really clear on where the information came from - the client, parents, guardians, or past records.
 
What this all means is I am typing in a lot of information all day long about the things that are coming out of children and parent’s mouths.  And let me tell you - a note that sounds like “Peter said ___________. Peter also said _________. Peter’s mother said ___________.” gets pretty darn redundant and borning.
 
So…. on that note - today I bring you 5 ways to document what a client said (without saying said) so you can shake your notes up!

• Client reported ….
• Client stated….
• Client noted…
• Client observed…
• Client commented…

 
Wheeeeww!  That was short and sweet, but some of my favorite ways to add variety to my progress notes! 
 
Want more notes support? Check out my free mini webinar for faster progress notes and Play Therapy Progress Note tips.  

Still need more support? Learn to shrink your note writing process to write effortless and effective notes within your therapy day!  Check out The 5 Minute Note Course! 

Helping children (and parents) understand what needs children are attempting to meet in their daily lives are essential to help children go deeper beyond thinking and feeling and explore the underlying needs that sustain behavior. 
 
Simply put - it’s uncovering the “why” of behavior.  AND once we can figure out the needs that are driving the behavior we can evaluate (nonjudgmentally) if it is working for the child and the world around them. 
 
In working with children, parents are one of the biggest sources of support to help children meet needs in healthy, effective ways in their day to day life.  Parents and caregivers also can be more insightful into behavioral patterns or changes (you know, because of their fully developed prefrontal cortex), therefore have a greater role in creating the structures that help children succeed.  
 
One of these structures I work to teach parents about is helping their child meet their 5 basic needs.  Read more about the 5 basic needs and grab a free downloadable handout to help explain the 5 needs HERE! 
 
I wanted to highlight four simple ways parents can help their children meet the four emotional basic needs in helpful and healthy ways: 
 
Freedom: Give as many choices as you can - shorts or pants? Orange juice or water? Brush teeth before or after pajamas? Homework before dinner or after? Pizza or tacos? There is no such thing as too many choices here! 
 
Fun: Schedule fun! Seriously put it on the calendar.  Have the child choose from a number of fun activities (you get a bonus freedom need met too!) and decide when they fit in the schedule.  It can be easy and available (a go-fish tournament) to a little more complex (hop in the car we’re going to the aquarium!).
 
Power: Enter a child’s world.  Sit down and learn about their favorite video game, Pokemon Character, or Disney Princess.  Why do they like Gekko from P.J. Masks? (Ok I have personal experience in this one and can vouch that Lizard Grips are the best). What stage are they on in Super Smash Bros? What do they need to advance? 
 
Love and Belonging: Tell children you love them, but get specific.  What specific thing did they do today that makes you proud, made you laugh, or showed you how creative they are? What are you grateful for? 
 
And there you have it! 4 easy ways to meet a child’s basic needs each and every day! 
 
What are some other ways you work with parents to help them meet their child's needs? Drop a comment below! 

Looking for a deeper dive into Reality Play Therapy complete with tons of interventions and downloadable workbook?  Check out this training HERE! ​​
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