What Bluey Can Teach Us About Child Centered Play Therapy

So real question - are you a fan of Bluey? 

If you are unaware - Bluey follows the adventures of a lovable & inexhaustible six-year-old puppy, who along with her sister Bingo, parents and friends is learning all about the world.

And part of learning about the world? The show serves up some excellent lessons on mental health, emotional regulation and play.  ​

Now, in all transparency I don’t have Disney Plus and our family has pretty limited TV time overall, so my love for Bluey has developed in down time in hotels and on vacation.  And as a play therapist even these small moments have been **magical**.

I’m also not the first play therapist to fall in love with Bluey.  Check out more from Dr. Emily Dowdell HERE, Green Room Psychology’s must-see breakdown of helpful episodes HERE, and about the episode Space from Wildflower Play Therapy HERE!  

It’s this last one, the episode Space, that really hit home for me about how we understand the importance of play therapy for trauma healing.  Specifically when we look at play through a Child Centered Play Therapy lens.

So here’s what happens in the episode.

Mackenzie, Jack, and Rusty are engaging in imaginative play as astronauts on a mission to Mars.  

This seems pretty on point with how kids play together - everyone attempting to contribute something to the storyline. Rusty has the role as captain, Jack as navigator, and Mackenzie as the chief scientist.

Throughout the play we see Mackenzie repeatedly go missing during the game, including becoming untethered and "floating away".  At one point he emotionally accuses his friends of “leaving him behind on purpose”.  He then requests, as part of the play, that his friends do leave him behind to go to the black hole. 

Because they don’t understand why Mackenzie would want to leave the spaceship, his friends try to convince Mackenzie, as chief scientist, to complete the mission. 

But what happens next….it gives me goosebumps and all. the. feels.

Mackenzie agrees, as the chief scientist, to put the group into “hypersleep” so they can get to Mars. While everyone is in hypersleep Mackenzie changes course to the black hole. Mackenzie uses a tether to leave the ship and go towards black hole.  The other crew members wake up and go to look for Mackenzie. 

Mackenzie finally convinces his friends how important it is for him to go into the black hole alone while they continue to Mars.  Mackenzie says it’s his job to “figure everything out”.  

There is a beautiful moment where his friends return control of the play to Mackenzie.  Somehow in their wise little brains they know this is important. Mackenzie’s play has meaning - even if they don’t know what it is. 

Once inside the black hole Mackenzie experiences a vivid memory from early childhood - being momentarily separated from his mother at an indoor playground.  He is small, and after going down the slide can’t find his mother. 

During this re-experiencing his teacher Calypso appears and helps him understand his mother was there all along and gently encourages him to move on by saying “You don’t have to keep coming back to this place”.  

At this moment she tells him to run because the aliens are coming (colorful adorable pups dressed as aliens) and he leaves the black hole with the support of his friends. 

See the episode HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE - yes it does take 5 short clips to get the whole context

So what can this episode teach us about Child Centered Play Therapy?

I’m so glad you asked because I have my top 9 takeaways HERE: 

• Mackenzie's friend asks him if he purposefully untethered himself to float away, and Mackenzie absolutely avoids the question and walks away.  Mackenzie might not know or might not make sense of why he did what he did in the play.  This is the reason that refraining from questions is so essential in Child Centered Play Therapy - we don’t need to know to heal.

• In the play, Mackenzie becomes emotional and accuses his friends of leaving him behind, when it was him that became intentionally untethered and floated away.  This is an excellent example of how the emotions, cognitions, and experiences of the past become present in Child Centered Play Therapy and children can re-experience past events and trauma within the play. 

• Just like Mackenzie doesn’t know why he wants to be left behind, kids in Child Centered Play Therapy often don’t know why they want to play what they are playing.  And the good news? Therapists or kids don’t need to know for healing to occur.

• Mackenzie states that it is his job to “figure everything out”.  Child Centered Play Therapy is a way for kids to “figure things out”.  To attempt to control, direct, and re-do the play until it makes sense. 

• Once Jack and Rusty allow Mackenzie to control the play, he begins his deeply meaningful healing sequence.  Allowing kids to have control through Child Centered Play Therapy is what is necessary to express and integrate experiences - even if it doesn’t make sense.

• Kids are creative and resilient.  Mackenzie attempted multiple times to achieve the play sequence he needed to go back and access the separation from his mother - first by untethering and then by going into the black hole. This is why we often can see repetition of play themes in Child Centered Play Therapy. 

• Repair can happen in imaginative play sequences.  We aren’t exactly sure if his teacher was really there that day on the playground. BUT through the play his teacher was able to become a resource for healing in this memory. 

• Kids rarely play out exactly what the deeply distressing memory or event was.  Here we see fears of abandonment due to the separation on the playground being played out as space exploration and going into the black hole. The metaphor provides safety for exploration. 

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• And lastly, we can’t discount what experiences are traumatic or difficult for kids.  Something that to a grownup might look small (a temporary separation at an indoor playground) may be profound for a child.  This is also why it is so important to gather an accurate history as well as keep curiosity at the forefront for what memories and experiences might be contributing to current stress. 

My hope is that this beautiful story helps you get clearer on the power of Child Centered Play Therapy! AND this is definitely a clip you can use with the parents you work with to help explain Child Centered Play Therapy!  And if you need a little more help grab my free video HERE on how to explain Child Centered Play Therapy to parents! 

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