SZN 2. Ep. 13/ Family Play Therapy
Family Play Therapy
By: Ashley Ullyot, LMFT
Children and caregivers need connection. For some families, these activities involve weekly dinners, game nights, traveling, and reading together at bedtime. For others, it may include providing a shoulder to cry on, sharing laughter, or attending extracurricular events for another family member.
There is nothing harder for a family when something challenging happens, forcing change around how they spend time together.
These events can include:
The death of a loved one
Geographic move
An extended family member moving in or out of the home
Job loss or change
Divorce/separation of caregivers
Cultural stressors
Blending families
A family member developing symptoms of chronic illness
So many more!
The stress from processing changes can impact familial communication along with how each person copes with emotions.
No family deserves to go through these changes alone!
A clinician who offers family play therapy services can be of assistance to children and adults.
Family play therapy combines helpful aspects from family and play therapy models.
Family therapy is a type of therapy that is focused on systems. A system needs to have at least two people who share a relationship, have designated roles (such as parent/child), and complete tasks to sustain the group (such as a child following the rules set by parents or a parent going to work to provide financial means).
One benefit of utilizing family therapy is that all the activities focus on a system’s wholeness, which includes each person and their relationship. Because sessions are typically facilitated with more than one family member present, connection focused techniques can be centered. These activities can include feeling through emotions together, creatively integrating different strengths to respond to changes, active listening, effective communication, and validating each person’s differing experiences.
Another benefit of family therapy is that context can be considered. Context includes the roles, rules, and organization of a system. Smaller systems, such as families, are influenced to some degree by larger systems like towns, cities, and communities. When a therapist is sensitive to context, they can help the family to identify choices that align with both the culture of the family and the communities in which they are embedded. This can include a family finding spaces in their communities where they can speak in a language of their preference or practicing their spiritual/religious beliefs.
Context can also help us to understand how the behavior of one person makes sense based on the series of events occurring in and outside of the family.
Play therapy is a type of therapy where the power of play helps clients to experience growth in all areas of their development.
One of the benefits of exploring play therapy is that it incorporates the way children communicate best, through play. Children do not have the same capacity as adults to talk about what’s going on in their lives, rather they act out their experiences.
Another benefit of play therapy is that therapeutic interventions can be facilitated in a variety of ways to support how a person learns best. The activities can involve toys, games, and art while other activities can include movement-based activities or telling stories. Some play therapy interventions involve directive activities where the therapist prompts a person to do an activity. Non-directive play therapy activities involve a person choosing an activity and then the therapist tracking their observations of the person’s behavior aloud. Both non-directive and directive activities can help a therapist to better understand what a person is trying to learn about themselves and the world around them.
Let me give an example of an imaginary family who could benefit from family play therapy:
A child’s parents are requesting that their son be seen by a therapist for reported anxiety symptoms such as experiencing constant worries, difficulties following through with daily activities, and trouble sleeping. The parents share with the therapist that they moved recently and that they noticed the anxiety symptoms arose in their son. Both the parents and the child mentioned he has been sad about not seeing his friends from his old school everyday. The child shares that he doesn't think he will ever make the same kinds of friendships at his new school. The parents are worried for their son and want him to know that he is deserving of friends. The parents shared that their son has been acting out at home. They are wondering if it is due to the stress and anxiety their son has been experiencing while trying to make friends. At times, the parents shared that they feel at a loss on how to help their son and that they want to support him in any way they can. They share that they feel guilty about moving and sometimes get into arguments. The parents also shared that they are currently exhausted from starting their new jobs. Both the parents and child share that they do not have as much time to do fun family activities from before the move such as weekend crafting and family game nights.
As we can see from this scenario, both the child and his parents are affected individually and relationally by adjusting to all of the recent changes!
There are many types of interventions that can be done in family play therapy. A few that I enjoy utilizing in sessions with clients include play genogram, family puppet interview, family aquarium, and play family sculpt.
Play Genogram was influenced by Monica McGoldrick’s work. Genograms are detailed family trees that include details about each family member, their relationships, and historical events they endured. Usually genograms are depicted with symbols, lines, and colors. Play genogram allows for children or adults to choose figurines or objects to represent concepts mentioned in the genogram. This can help children find ways to share with others about their perceptions and understanding of their family dynamics.
For the imaginary example family listed above, doing a play genogram could help the child and his parents become more aware of other family members who have gone through similar experiences. The family can also become more aware of their strengths and current communication dynamics. The family can then make choices on how they want to respond to the current changes.
Family Puppet Interview was modified by Eliana Gil. This activity involves family members choosing at least one puppet to represent themselves or a character. The family members are directed to have the puppets introduce themselves. The family is then directed to create a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. The story cannot be one that has been told before. The family is directed to perform the story aloud. The therapist guides the family in processing each character’s feelings and their role. The therapist can then guide the family in re-writing any parts of the story and identifying ways in which they can enact the changes. This type of activity can help re-engage a family with resources and identify solutions while adjusting to changes.
For the imaginary example family listed above, the family can choose puppets to tell a story about the recent changes. They can see how it feels to play as their puppet character and experience the other puppets during the storytelling process. Together they can either discontinue or recreate moments from the story at home.
Family aquarium is an activity that involves parents and children drawing. Each family member is instructed to draw themselves as an aquatic animal that best represents them. Then, the family is directed to create their aquarium on a large piece of paper (usually a large post it or poster board) that includes aspects of their environment. Once the family completes the drawing of the aquarium, they are directed to place their animal pictures on the paper that has the aquarium. This activity can help with understanding the strengths and challenges within and outside of the family as they navigate changes.
For the imaginary example family listed above, the child and his parents can draw their aquatic animals and aquarium. They can review the process of completing the activity together and use the details they share to help them adjust to the recent changes.
Family play sculpt is an activity where families are directed to place objects or puppets to recreate a scene. It is based on the family sculpt activity created by Virginia Satir. The metaphor of a snapshot can be used to help explain to families what is being asked of them. Each person processes who their character is and how they are experiencing the scene. This activity can help families with being aware of their current situation and being open to shifting any dynamics to help with navigating changes.
For the imaginary example listed above, the child and his parents can recreate a recent event that happened at home. They can see how it feels to play their character and experience the other characters during the sculpt. Together, they can review the process of completing the activity and use the details they share to help them adjust to the recent changes.
If you are interested in learning more about family play therapy, please check out any training or resources provided by American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, Association for Play Therapy, and any local chapters of these larger associations.
Information for this blog post came from Eliana Gil’s book Play in Family Therapy and Creative Family Therapy Techniques: Play and Art-Based Activities to Assess and Treat Families article by Liana Lowenstein and Trudy Post Sprunk.
