Certified Play Therapists are professionals trained to harness children’s natural language of play to assist them in processing, making sense of and gaining mastery over their experiences and feelings. The Play Therapist is the most important of all the toys in the playroom. It is through this therapeutic relationship that a sense of trust, consistency, reliability and predictability can be established. Play Therapists work to provide a safe space where kids can take risks in their play and in how they relate, all the while maintaining therapeutic limit setting and boundaries.
Play Therapists also serve the function of being a co-regulator for their clients, using their nervous systems and the neuroception of safety to help the child regulate and improve their own interoception and emotional awareness. There are many types of play therapy modalities, which differ in delivery and approach. Sophie practises Child Centred Play Therapy, which is an evidence-based approach first developed in the 1940s by Virginia Axline, and strongly influenced by the humanistic person-centred approach of Carl Rogers.
What is a Play Therapist?
What do Play Therapists do?
Sophie is a registered Counsellor and has completed a clinical program in Child Centred Play Therapy. One of the main principles of Child Centred Play Therapy is for the therapist to demonstrate a deep respect for the child’s ability to solve problems, make choices and know inherently what they need to do. The child can process, make sense of and gain mastery over their experiences, they have strengths and agency and the therapist is there to facilitate the discovery of this. The therapist allows the child to lead their time together while reflectively responding to what is coming up for the child in their play. The therapist is alert to the emotional expression of the child and reflects these back in a way that facilitates the child gaining insight into their behaviour.
“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”
— Carl Rogers
Virginia Axline’s Eight Principles of Play Therapy
These principles state that the Play Therapist must:
1 . Develop a warm and friendly relationship with the child.
2. Accept the child as they are.
3. Establish a feeling of permission in the relationship so that the child feels free to express their feelings completely.
4. Be alert to recognise the feelings the child is expressing and reflects these feelings back in such a manner that the child gains insight into their behaviour.
5. Maintain a deep respect for the child’s ability to solve their problems and gives the child the opportunity to do so. The responsibility to make choices and to institute change is the child’s.
6. Must not attempt to direct the child’s actions or conversations in any manner. The child leads the way, the therapist follows.
7. Must not hurry the therapy along. It is a gradual process and must be recognised as such by the therapist.
8. Only establish those limitations necessary to anchor the therapy to the world of reality and to make the child aware of their responsibility in the relationship.
More about the Play Therapist
Sophie Hollingworth (She/Her)
Registered Counsellor
Certified Child Centred Play Therapist
Melbourne
Sophie has a Master of Counselling and has completed her clinical training in Child Centred Play Therapy. Sophie supports children individually and can also provide Parent Support sessions to caregivers.