A book for Kids who are dealing with divorce.
Dinosaurs Divorce by Marc Brown
Fifteen Effective Play Therapy Techniques
October 22, 2010
School Age Art and Play Directives
October 22, 2010
Adolescents, Art Therapy, Children, Play Therapy Leave a comment
By Linda Chapman, ATR_BS, RPT-S
Complete a Picture (work in pairs, have one start and another finish)
Draw a scene about something or someone you hate or are jealous of
Draw a scene of the last time you cried
Me Mobile (coat hanger with collage from magazine pictures of things that represent who
you are)
Take a Trip (draw 5 or 6 things that you would want to take to Jupiter)
Draw favorite childhood toy
Draw scene of earliest memory
Draw a scene from fairy tale or story that you have much in common with
Draw scene of self as baby, now and in the future
Draw scene of having three wishes
Draw self as animal
Draw animal you would most like to be
Draw what a Saturday night at home is like
Create a personal collage (this is great with a junior higher, bring in a big poster board
and lots of magazines or have them cut things out at home and bring them in. They can work creatively while the kinesthetic movements allow them to open up and talk to you about their day, their week, their life, or why the pictures on the page are important to them and their sense of self)
Incorporate a word into a picture
Draw self doing favorite thing
With Clay, create a creature
With clay, sculpt something that is a symbol of self and one thing that symbolizes every member of family
Rate Your Feelings [Children]
October 22, 2010
Children, Emotional Expression, Print Outs, Charts, & Worksheets Leave a comment
Kinds of Thoughts [Children]
October 22, 2010
Children, Emotional Expression, Print Outs, Charts, & Worksheets Leave a comment
Reward Charts For Children
October 22, 2010
Who’s the Boss of You
October 22, 2010
Anger, Children Leave a comment
by Catherine Pfister, MSW, LCSW
Purpose: Learn to contain anger; develop impulse control; facilitate emotional expression regarding feeling out of control or rageful
Modality: Individual
Age Range: 4 years – 14 years
Materials: Puppets, miscellaneous toys & play media
Description: “Gabriel”, age 7, came into our third session with anger radiating off him. He proceeded to his favorite seat and swiveled it around so that his back and the back of his chair faced me. I noted to him that he wanted me to see his back today. I remembered an earlier call I had received from his foster mother saying that she had been asked to pick him up early that day because he had grown so angry at his teacher, Mr. B, that he was shoving desks and throwing chairs in the classroom. The teacher, the foster mother, and Gabriel seemed overwhelmed by the depth of Gabriel’s rage – and afraid of it.
I asked Gabriel if he would like to pick a feeling from the feeling chart, part of our beginning ritual. He did not answer. I then asked if I could guess his feeling by picking a feeling from the feeling chart. He nodded his head and I picked out anger. Gabriel then listened intently as I added fear and hurt to the picks. We then sat in silence for a few moments as I breathed deeply and slowly; hoping modeling this would help Gabriel feel safe and calm enough to want to engage in our session.
After a few moments, Gabriel’s posture seemed to soften and then stiffen again as he said: “Mr. B is NOT the boss of me!”
“Who is the boss of you?” I asked. Silence. I then responded to my own question by stating, “You’re the boss of you.” Gabriel swiveled the chair a little more toward me – he was curious.
“It can be hard being the boss of your own self.” I continued. “Telling your hands, your feet, and mouth what to do and having them listen.” He swiveled around to face me completely. “Yeah”, he replied.
“How about we practice?” I asked. We proceeded to have puppets boss their feet, their hands, and their mouths to not hit, not kick, not yell, not swear, and not spit. Sometimes, my puppet would get really angry and forget. Then, Gabriel would remind my puppet that she was the “boss” of her feet or mouth.
We continued to use this paradoxical, metaphorical intervention throughout the remainder of Gabriel’s treatment. We played it out in the dollhouse and with art, as well as with the puppets. Since that time, I have found this technique very useful for children who have trouble containing their anger, controlling impulses, and feeling out of control with their own rage.
About the Author: Catherine Pfister, MSW, LCSW, is a therapist in private practice in Oakland, CA with a focus on play therapy and sandplay. She works in English and Spanish and also has provided clinical supervision to play therapy interns working in school settings. Catherine is currently the President of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the California Association for Play Therapy.
Where Do You Feel It?
October 22, 2010
Adolescents, Adults, Children, Emotional Expression, Family, Group, Play Therapy Leave a comment
by Angelique Bagley, LMFT
Purpose: Learn to identify different emotions and the connection to how they are physically felt in one’s body.
Modality: Individual, Group, or Family
Age Range: 5 – Adult
Materials:
1) rough outline of a body on a sheet of regular paper, or person can outline themselves
on a sheet of butcher paper
2) round stickers found at an office supply store
Description: Clients often describe that they “suddenly” feel angry, fearful, or sad. Often, there are early warning signals from the body before the client has the thought “I am angry.” This exercise is designed to help them identify early signals from their body so that they may make good use of coping skills to calm down.
Have the client think about a time when they were mad. Give them examples of where they might feel it in their body (i.e. fists clenched, jaw clenched, muscles tense, etc). Ask them to place the round stickers (small ones for a small sheet of paper, large ones if it is a life-size drawing) on the parts of their body that they feel mad in. Discussion can center on paying attention to the early warning signs and identifying positive coping skills to help diffuse the feelings before they have erupted.
An adaptation of this exercise is to use different color stickers for different feelings. The client may have sweaty palms when they are angry, but get a stomachache when they are afraid. The client assigns a feeling to a color
(red = anger, yellow = nervous, purple = fear). In addition, this exercise may be used to explore feelings related to a specific traumatic event. (i.e. witnessing domestic violence). Discussion can center on having multiple feelings about an event and the places you may feel the feelings. This may also lead to an age-appropriate discussion about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder symptoms that they might be dealing with as well.
Angelique Bagley is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice and MFT supervisor for Teen and Family Counseling Center in San Jose, California with over 15 years experience working with children and families. Angelique specializes in working with children with multiple traumas using play therapy to help heal their wounds. She enjoys introducing people to the joys of working with children in therapy through her supervision with interns and in trainings to licensed professional, interns, and trainees. She is a past president of CALAPT and a current Member-At-Large for the CALAPT Board of Directors.
Newspaper Punch and Basket Toss
October 22, 2010
Children, Depression, Play Therapy, Self Esteem Leave a comment
by Jennifer Wentz, LMFT
Population: Ages preschool through elementary school; specifically children who are depressed, unmotivated, withdrawn, or display low self esteem.
Materials needed: Newspaper
Directions: The therapist takes a single sheet of newspaper and stretches it tautly in front of the child. The child then punches through the sheet when given a signal. (The signal can be something fun like “bananas” and the therapist can go through several fruit or food items before saying the signal word). The therapist must hold the newspaper firmly so that it makes a pop when the child punches it. This can be done multiple times with other sheets of newspaper, varying the hand the child uses, or the signal word. Once this has been done several times, the therapist and the child can crush the torn newspaper into balls. The child then tosses the newspaper balls into the “basket” that the therapist makes with her arms.
Purpose: This is a Theraplay activity that promotes the challenge dimension in a session. By creating a game where the child can be successful, the therapist helps to increase the self esteem of the child and help him or her feel more competent and confident. In addition, structure and limit setting is created when the child has to wait for a signal to proceed with the activity. This gives the child a sense of safety and releases him or her from the need to maintain control. This activity also promotes interaction and engagement with the therapist as well as playfulness.
About the Author: Jennifer Wentz is a licensed MFT who has worked doing play therapy with children and substance abuse treatment with adolescents and adults. She currently provides case management for families with developmentally disabled children at the Regional Center of the East Bay. Jennifer has been active in the San Francisco Chapter of the California Association for Play Therapy and currently serves at the state level as the Assistant Treasurer.
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