What is Play Therapy?

Sandplay. Storytelling. Art. Role-playing. Games. Music.  This is the language of children and families.

Children are designed to play.  Families are designed to play, as well. Long before they can talk, children learn to interact with their world and the people in it by curious exploration by playing. Play is the natural language of children. In-play therapy, children are allowed to play out feelings and experiences they are not developmentally equipped to talk about. Our therapist additionally utilizes play techniques to work with adults who have experienced trauma in their lives and through the use of sandplay and other play techniques can share their experiences through play.

Play therapy is a research-based discipline that has been used for decades. Play therapy sessions take place in our therapist's office that is equipped with a special selection of toys and a sand tray. Most play therapy sessions are one-on-one, though small sibling groups or families may sometimes be seen together. At Peaceful Solutions Counseling Services, play therapy sessions are sometimes child-led, meaning the child has the freedom to choose how to use the time in the session and is sometimes guided by the therapist.

Play therapy capitalizes on the power of play to help children, families, and adults learn to develop self-control and problem-solving skillsaccept responsibility, and manage the unmanageable in their worlds.

For more information about play therapy, visit the Association for Play Therapy's article titled Play Therapy Makes a Difference ( http://www.a4pt.org/ps.index.cfm?ID=1653).

Melissa Dianne Van Blaricom Jones, LPCC  

Phone: 270-586-4645

Fax: 270-586-4647


608 South Main Street
PO Box 1331
Franklin, KY 42134