REFLECTIVE PROCESS IN PLAY THERAPY: A PRACTICAL MODEL FOR SUPERVISING COUNSELING STUDENTS

Transcription

1 REFLECTIVE PROCESS IN PLAY THERAPY: A PRACTICAL MODEL FOR SUPERVISING COUNSELING STUDENTS VIRGINIA B. ALLEN Idaho State University WENDY A. FOLGER Central Michigan University DALE-ELIZABETH PEHRSSON Oregon State University Counselor educators and other supervisors, who work with graduate student counseling interns utilizing Play Therapy, should be educated, grounded, and trained in theory, supervision, and techniques specific to Play Therapy. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Therefore, a three step model was created to assist those who do not have specific Play Therapy supervision training. The supervision model focuses on a specific approach to using the reflective processes of Play Therapy within the supervision. This model enables counseling interns to better understand, appreciate, and build counseling relationships with children. Further, the model addresses the safety and comfort needs of counseling interns and their child clients. Recent acts of school violence and juvenile crime have increased demand for counselors who can effectively work with children (Fernandez, 2000; Nims, 2002). School Counselors and clinicians who work with children gravitate towards the use of play techniques because children express themselves more naturally through the play medium (Landreth, 2002). Additionally, Play Therapy is an effective therapeutic and communication technique for children (Braxton, 2000). Now more than ever, supervisors are faced with directing and supervising practicum and internship experiences with counseling interns who are effectively using Play Therapy, trying to use Play Therapy, or struggling to counsel children using traditional and often inappropriate, adult-therapy techniques. The work of play therapists has become recognized as a viable and respected modality for providing therapy for children and adolescents. The growing membership in the Intemationai Play Therapy Association and the expanding numbers of therapists providing Play Therapy indicates not only a growth in Play Therapy popularity but also an acceptance by consumers. Play Therapy has become an acceptable method for providing counseling services to children (Bratton & Ray 472

2 Supervising Process.../ ; Landreth, 2002). It is reasonable to assume that the demand for counselors who can provide Play Therapy is only going to increase in the foreseeable future. Supervisors and counselor educators will therefore increasingly find themselves providing supervision for counseling interns who are involved in Play Therapy. The counselor educators/supervisors are well versed in supervision theory and most likely, have developed styles of supervision that tend to work for them during supervision experiences (Association for Play Therapy, Inc.[APT], 2004). However, counselor educators and clinical supervisors may still require a functional model of supervision that applies Play Therapy theory to practice in an organized, efficient and effective way. An extensive review of the research related to the use of Play Therapy indicates that the Client Centered Approach or Virginia Axline's Play Therapy is considered to be foundational to most introductory processes utilized in Play Therapy. This theoretical framework and set of techniques are the foundation that all other Play Therapy modalities seem to build upon (Bratton & Ray, 2000). Once the student/intern demonstrates competency in the basics of Play Therapy, the application of advanced theories and strategies comes more easily. Therefore, it is imperative that the counseling student intern attain proficiency in the use of Child Centered approaches. Once this occurs, student/intems are better equipped to move to a more advanced level of skill application using Play Therapy (Landreth, 2002). Counselor educators and supervisors of counseling interns learning to use Play Therapy tend to use a variety of supervision models and tools. These models and tools assist the interns on the continuum from understanding the theoretical underpinnings of Play Therapy to utilizing the proper technique application at the most opportune times. It has been suggested that Play Therapy is an art and those who successfully utilize this modality are artists in their work with children (Landreth, 2002). Unfortunately, the supervision models often used do not enhance the artists' work, but rather limits them in applying their skills. In Play Therapy, children often use inanimate objects rather than words to project their feelings, beliefs, and perceptions about themselves and their world. Play is the mode children use to better understand the world, objects in that world, language, social roles, and even feelings in a safe manner without risk (Griffith, 1997). Children use play instead of, or in conjunction with, talking. According to Bundy, "Play is a transaction between an individual and the environment that is intrinsically motivated, internally controlled and free of many of the constraints of objective reality" (as cited in Rodger & Ziviani, Sept 1999, p. 2). "In Play Therapy nothing is held back; all parts of the self are experienced because self-directed play is safe" (Landreth, 1993, p. 17). For counseling interns, trained using traditional adult 'talk therapy' methodologies, it may be difficult to understand how those techniques fit into the world of Play Therapy. The counseling intern attempting to utilize Play Therapy may have a difficult time making the leap from counseling a verbal adult to counseling a

3 474 / Education Vol. 127 No. 4 primarily non-verbal child. Within the Play Therapy construct, play is a child's method of communication, just like verbalization is the method for adults (Landreth & Bratton, 1999). There is a parallel process at work. Just as the interns have difficulty moving competently into the role of a play therapist, the traditionally trained supervisor, with or without specific strategies of supervising play therapy, may also have difficulty shifting from supervising traditional adult 'talk therapy' to supervising the reflective and projective approaches of Play Therapy. Therefore supervision models geared specifically towards training the art of effective Play Therapy are crucial. Children also view the adult-child relationship differently. The training that counseling students receive using traditional role-playing or actual counseling experiences with adults does not prepare them adequately for clinical work with children. Supervisors trained in traditional adult counseling strategies are readily aware of role expectations in the adultcounselor to adult-client relationship. However, supervisors are not necessarily trained to recognize the unique implications of the adult-counselor to child-client relationship. As good as traditional counselor/supervisor training strategies might be they are not always adequate for providing the framework and structure to supervise a student toward becoming a competent counselor using the Play Therapy modality. It is apparent that traditional supervision models will not consistently meet the needs of supervisors for effective supervision of interns leaming to use Play Therapy. Those models that are traditionally learned by supervisors may not provide supervision skills adequate to train interns practicing the art of Play Therapy. Traditional supervision models do not easily cross the barriers of non-verbal clients, projective manipulation of objects, and the adult-child client power differential. In Child Centered Play Therapy the use of reflective feedback is a key element. The therapist serves as a facilitator in the child's journey of self-discovery (Landreth, 2002). What follows is a three step supervision model that would support the work of a supervisor with a counseling student using Play Therapy. It is designed to serve as a guide for counselor educators and supervisors. This model can assist educators and supervisors in more effectively supervising counseling students working with children using Child Centered Play Therapy. It is most appropriate for the counseling student who is engaged in the beginning stages of leaming and applying Play Therapy. The model focuses specifically on the utilization of reflection as it relates to relationship building, reflective process, and projective hypotheses. The three steps deal with refiection of content and reflection of feelings at a distance, and then at a more interpersonal level. Although there are many elements of the Play Therapy construct, the purpose of this model is to provide a basic framework for supervision and teaching the neophyte Play Therapist one method of reflecting verbally when the child clients express themselves during play. This model provides a fundamental stmcture. It is focused on the verbal reflective process as applied to Child Centered Play Therapy. There are

4 Supervising Process.../475 many responses a therapist might use during the course of Play Therapy. However, the primary purpose and benefit of teaching this reflective response technique is that it facilitates tmst building, self-exploration, awareness and therapeutic growth in children. The steps to this supervision model are developmental in nature. Advancement through these steps addresses a child client's therapeutic movement. The relationship between the therapist and the chent progresses from step to step. Additionally, the comfort level of the counseling student intem increases as well, in a steplike progression. The steps usually occur in sequential order but are not necessarily discrete. The student counselors begin with the first step. However they can elect to engage in any of the steps once a relationship or the process of the development of the relationship has been established with a child client. Step One Contact: Relationship Building by Attending Message to the client: "I am attending to everything you are doing." Step one in this supervision model of reflective play therapy provides the student and the client the opportunity to begin the process of building the counseling relationship. It also allows the counseling student intem sufficient time to gain confidence in this new therapeutic intervention. Further, intems also need a period of adjustment to gain a level of comfort as they shift from traditional talk oriented therapeutic techniques to Play Therapy intervention. Step one focuses on content reflections. It is a foundational step when the student intem and child are beginning to build a tmsting relationship. It is also the point in time when the child is leaming about the position of the adult counselor as an equal rather than an authority figure in the counseling relationship. "At the center of Play Therapy theory is the humanistic assumption that every child is a whole and unique person, worthy of respect" (Carlson & Arthur, 1999, p. 212). It is at the beginning of the therapeutic process that the child is encouraged to explore the environment, test boundaries, and begin the process of feeling empowered (Landreth, 2002). The supervisor encourages the counseling intem to reflect back to the child what the child is doing during the session. At this point interns role-play a 'news reporter or sports commentator's persona' to some degree, as they attend and verbally reflect the content of the session and the behaviors the child displays. Examples of content reflections intems might use: "That cat is chasing that mouse", "The mouse is hiding under the sand so the cat won't find it", "It looks like the cat is trying to find the mouse so the cat can catch and eat it". The supervisor encourages the counseling intern to reflect on a seemingly continual basis. Some intems may find this constant refiecting challenging as it confiicts with the basic hstening skills' premise of "not talking so much" and using silence with adults. Therapeutic silence is a critical component of adult counseling and after the relationship has been established silence is effective in Play Therapy as well.

5 476 / Education Vol. 127 No. 4 The intern does not give content reflections when the child verbally or through non-verbal cues requests that the intern stop talking (Landreth, 1993, 2002). The use of content reflections plays an essential role in establishing the relationship in Play Therapy. Content reflections provide a starting point for the intern to give responsibility for the session to the child. The content reflections demonstrate that the intern is indeed attending to what the child is doing, that the intern is accepting the behaviors and activities, and that the child is responsible for deciding the activities during the Play Therapy session. Play Therapy allows the child to set the pace of the session rather than the therapist (Landreth & Bratton, 1999). Primarily, the process is child initiated and not therapist driven. These types of reflections help to secure a child's feelings of empowerment and responsibility during the session. They guarantee that the therapy time is in fact the child's time. Further, content reflections provide the intern who is uncomfortable with silence or a non-verbal child, a framework with which to become more in-tune with the Play Therapy process. Content reflections enhance the intern's ability to attend to the child's actions in a non-critical and unbiased way. Perhaps most importantly these reflections provide interns with a level of personal comfort as they leam the process of Play Therapy. As the relationship develops, the trust level between the intern and the client increases and the individual comfort level of both also increases. After this occurs, it is now appropriate for the supervisor to encourage the student to advance to the second step. Step Two Alliance: Relationship and Therapeutic Partnership Message to the client: "I am identifying the feelings of the objects." Step two is the connecting step between the counseling intern and the child. As the relationship between the counseling intern and the child becomes established, the supervisor assists the intern to progress to a more advanced level of reflection. The movement is from a focus on content to a focus on feeling. The counseling intern continues to make content reflections. However at this point the intern is instructed to build upon these content reflections by adding the element of feelings regarding the objects the child chooses to engage in play. By reflecting the feelings of the objects, the intern learns to approach the child's feelings from a safe distance. This distancing process provides a safe opportunity for the child to explore areas that might provoke anxiety or other emotional responses. This process also provides an opening where the intern is encouraged to begin to test projective hypotheses about the child's emerging themes and perceptions. It assists the intern to better understand the child's world. Further, this step initiates the active involvement of the interns in assessing hypotheses about a child's underlying concerns. Moving from content reflections to object feeung reflections also further establishes the relationship, both with intern and the child, essential to therapeutic growth within the play therapy sessions. The child

6 Supervising Process... / 477 already knows the intem is attending by the content reflections. Through use of object feeling refiections the child also knows the intem understands not only what they are doing but also what they are feeling. The counseling intern's leaming process broadens at this stage. The intem begins to understand how traditional adult counseling strategies using correct emotional reflections are adapted for use with children, particularly in Play Therapy. Intems learn how to verbalize accurate feeling reflections with adult clients. They also leam how to use immediacy, be genuine, and verbalize the client's underlying correct emotional response. Applying these strategies with children builds upon this and requires skill. Examples of object feeling refiections with children are: "The cat is feeling very powerful chasing the mouse", "The mouse is very frightened of the cat", and "The mouse always feels like someone powerful will catch and will hurt the mouse". Step Three Insight: Discovering Personal Meaning Message to the client: "I am with you and identifying your process and refiecting your feelings." The final step of this supervision model involves content and character refiections, adding the dimension of direct feeling refiections as well. Once the counseling intem has mastered accurate feeling refiections of the objects; the supervisor directs the intem to use client-feeling refiections. This includes immediacy statements, and other advanced counseling techniques related directly to the child's beliefs, feelings, and perceptions of self. With the relationship has been fully established, the counseling intem accelerates the reflective process. It becomes clinically appropriate that the intem move from the safety of talking about the play objects to talking directly to the child about the child's feelings. Only when the child feels accepted and empowered by the intem, can the child begin the process of hearing about issues and deahng with deeper personal feelings and perceptions. Client feehng refiections utilized appropriately in a trusting therapeutic relationship provide the opportunity for the client (regardless of age) to discover their personal meaning. Feeling refiections and other advanced techniques allow the child to look at a variety of choices that could positively enhance their lives. Some examples of Step Three refiections might be: "Sometimes you feel scared like the mouse" "You feel scared and hunted by stronger people in your life." "You feel powerful and in control of your life when you attack other children." "I bet you wish you could feel what it would be like to be as powerful and in control as the cat who is hunting the mouse." Although this model of supervising counseling intems using Play Therapy is developmental in nature, the steps are not discrete or necessarily sequential. The supervisor encourages the intem to move the therapeutic process along by progressing through Steps One, then Two then Three; but the supervisor also trains the intem to know when to fall back to previous stages to meet the safety requirements

7 478 / Education Vol. 127 No. 4 of the child. For example, if the intern moves too quickly to personal feeling refiections, the intem will be coached during supervision to switch to object feeling or content refiections. Falling back to Step One or Step Two creates safety and distance until the process and tmst level of the child has further evolved to allow for such straightforwardness and intensity of refiection. Decisions about the pacing of the process and the progression from one step to another involve careful observation and ongoing assessment. Effective and competent therapeutic process always involves continuous assessment on the part of both the counseling intem and supervisor. When the relationship and effective refiective practices are utilized, children demonstrate readiness to progress through the steps (Landreth, 2002). Generally, this supervision model follows the client's therapeutic process of safely communicating (verbally or non-verbally) their personal theme (Step One), hearing about their theme (Step Two), and finally internalizing and challenging their personal theme (Step Three). Summary Supervisors, who supervise counseling intems utilizing Play Therapy, should be educated, grounded and trained in theory, and techniques of Play Therapy. They are not always trained in models of supervision specific to Play Therapy. Therefore, a three step supervision model for the supervisor and beginning Play Therapy counseling intem is introduced. Overall, this supervision model focuses on a specific approach using the reflective processes within the supervision of Play Therapy. This approach was developed particularly for supervisors who are working with counseling interns who are leaming to utilize Play Therapy processes with children. The process enables the intem to understand, appreciate, and build the counseling relationship with child clients through appropriate reflective responses. This model employs a three step approach. It provides supervisors with a facilitative method for addressing the safety and comfort needs of both student intems and their child clients. To that end it provides opportunities to develop, approach, and test projective therapeutic hypotheses. It also provides opportunities for the client to fully understand their personal feelings, themes, and choices available to them. The three step approach of the model encourages relationship building, relationship and therapeutic partnership and finally the therapeutic relationship conducive to the client discovering their personal meaning. It encourages a comfort level for both the intem and the client. Lastly, the use of the model serves to bridge traditional verbal therapeutic training methods and the methodology of Play Therapy.

8 Supervising Process.../479 References Association for Play Therapy, Inc., (2004). Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. Retrieved April 03, 2004 from, reigistration/ptsuperrvisor.html Bratton, S., & Ray, D. (2000). What the research says about play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 9(1), Carlson, R. & Arthur, N. (1999). Play therapy and the therapeutic use of story. Canadian Journal of Counseling, 33(2), Fernandez, M.S. (2000). School violence: Implications for school counselor training programs. In D.S. Sandhu & C.B. Aspy (Eds.) Violence in American Schools: A practical guide for counselors (pp ). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association Griffith, M. (1997). Empowering techniques of Play Therapy: A method for working with sexually abused children. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, J9(2), Landreth, G. & Bratton, S. (1999). Play therapy. ERIC Digest. Retrieved November 30, 2000 from database (ERIC, ED430172) Landreth, G. (1993). Child-centered play therapy. Elementary School Guidance and Counseling, 2S(1), Landreth, G. (2002). Play therapy: The art of the relationship. (2nd ed.). New York: Brunner- Routledge. Nims, D.R. (2002). Violence in our schools: A national crisis. In D.S. Sandhu & C.B. Aspy (Eds.) Violence in American schools: A practical guides for counselors (pp. 3-20). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association Rodger, S. & Ziviani, J. (September 1999). Play based occupational therapy. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 46(3), Retrieved February 14, 2001 from database (Wilson Select, BED )

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