Is Play Therapy legit? (Answer…yes!)
It’s a whole new year - at the time I am writing this it’s Jan 2022 to be exact. It’s a time to set resolutions, to celebrate how far we have come and to turn our minds to what may not be working well for us currently and that we’d like to change. For some people, this may involve thinking about a change of career direction or adding new skills to their skillset. I often get emails and direct messages from people asking me what it’s like to be a Play Therapist (it’s great!) and how they should go about training to become one.
Many people are quite shocked when I tell them that they will require a degree in a relevant field and extensive experience of working with children, that training can take anywhere between 2.5 – 5 years and involves a combination of taught elements, clinical practice, clinical supervision, academic assignments and in some cases personal therapy. Once trained, ongoing clinical supervision and evidence of continuing professional development are necessary to remain registered.
I am sometimes shocked that people should be shocked. To me it makes total sense that the training should be so vigorous. Play Therapists work with young children and their families at vulnerable moments in their lives. Children may be suffering from anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem. They may have experienced a huge life event such as a bereavement or a change in family circumstances such as fostering or adoption. They may be struggling in school or with peer relationships. We need to understand that some children may have experienced or still be experiencing trauma and that this will impact their brain, their bodies, their behaviour and their relationships with others. We also need to understand the wide range of other factors that will impact how children experience the world including learning needs and disabilities. We need to be able to understand and critique theories relevant to our practice such as polyvagal theory, neuroscience, child development and attachment theory, in addition to understanding relevant theories about play itself. We need to be deeply aware of our own limitations, both professional and personal and sometimes this involves letting families down when we feel we can’t help.
We are working with children at the deepest levels of their psyche, as they develop their growing sense of self, and so it is vital that we are well trained and always open to new learning and gentle guidance and challenge from our own Supervisors. Much harm can be done by underqualified and unsupervised practitioners, however well-meaning they may be.
So how did we get to a point where people are surprised that being a Play Therapist is actually a ‘real’ profession?”
Sadly, in the UK, although the training is rigorous, the title of ‘Play Therapist’ is not protected. Other creative therapies such as Art Therapy, Drama Therapy and Music Therapy are all protected titles which means that they are regulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and only people who have met their regulations may call themselves these titles by law. If I called myself an Art Therapist, I could be fined. But anyone can call themselves a Play Therapist and some unethical people do.
I have seen training providers offer on-line courses of just a few hours to train as a Play Therapist. If you are thinking of a change of career - please be wary of any course to train in any person centred role that is delivered entirely online.
Some Commissioners are equally to blame. Why employ a qualified Play Therapist (who are quite expensive because – well – three years training at our own expense!) when they can send a staff member on a one day ‘Play Therapy’ course and then employ them at a fraction of the cost. This practice in particular makes my blood boil as I hear so many desperate parents who believe that their child has received ‘play therapy’ when what they actually experienced was a 6 week programme of CBT with a bit of play thrown in. When this doesn’t work, children and parents are then excluded from further support and are left feeling that it is their fault that the therapy didn’t work, rather than that the intervention was wrong, or the Therapist misguided.
So how on earth do you protect yourself from unethical practitioners? Or unethical training providers? Although the title isn’t protected, the Professionals Standards Authority (PSA) oversees professionals who work in health and social care and accredit registers of professionals who have met their stringent standards of training, ongoing supervision and CPD. You can access the register here. www.professionalstandards.org.uk/check-practitioners/practitioner/playtherapist
Don’t be afraid to check your Therapist’s credentials. Ask them for how long they have trained, who they are registered with, how many years post qualifying experience do they have and do they have the experience of working in the specialist area that you and your child need.
So back to my original point, training to be a Play Therapist is very rewarding and very demanding, and rightly so. Children and families need and deserve the very very best.
Lots of love
Jacqui
Ps. This is relevant to UK only. If you are reading from outside the UK, training and registration requirements are different.