Research Strengthens Therapy and Therapeutic Relationships JARED ANDES, LCSW, RPT


Play therapists have a unique focus on the therapeutic relationship, even going so far as to describe it as, “The Art of the Relationship,” (Landreth, 2012). Clinicians who practice play therapy seek to identify and remove or mitigate barriers to their therapeutic relationships. While many obstacles may exist in developing therapeutic alliance, research in play therapy need not be one. The relationship between research and therapeutic relationships within play therapy


is long standing, necessary, and supportive.


Play therapy research has guided play therapists from the early days of the Association of Play Therapy:


        therapy research. Kevin O’Connor expanded on the research challenges  development of a comprehensive theoretical model. Charles Shaefer    


Each of these play therapy pioneers, along with many others, recognized and emphasized the importance of play therapy research. That research not only informs the individual practice of play therapy, but has shaped the Association for Play Therapy’s mission and is woven into many current programs and initiatives (O’Connor, 2016).


The role of research in play therapy is to empower therapists with the best information to support their clients. “It is necessary to study the mechanism  cause therapeutic improvement in a client” (Drewes, 2014). Implementing


COUNTER POINT


new interventions and techniques in play therapy may hold a perceived association with increased focus on extra-relationship factors, but      add to the therapeutic relationship rather than detract from it. For instance,  and characteristics of warmth and empathy (Rogers, 1995), universality and instillation of hope (Yalom, 2021), and “be with attitude,” (Landreth, 2012). Effective play therapists can marry research with relationship.


            framework in which they can establish the safety needed to foster a therapeutic relationship. Play therapists engage in rigorous training including supervision, consultation and continuing education. This level of instruction is designed to assist play therapists as they combine research and relationships into a cohesive therapeutic approach. Symbiosis between research and play therapy practice is evident when a play therapist integrates both into their “way of being with” their clients rather than a way of doing therapy with their clients (Landreth, 2012)


Far from creating rigidity, research engenders flexibility, warmth, compassion, and competency. It opens avenues of


healing and


connection. A foundation in existing and emerging play therapy research improves treatment while also assisting therapists to enhance therapeutic relationships. When integrating play


therapy


research, it may be helpful to consider the following question: How do I integrate this information into my play therapy relationships? When research is viewed and applied within the context of the relationship, play therapists are more likely to incorporate research and strengthen relationships.


could undermine the richness of training and experience.


This path has the potential


clinical judgement honed by for us to


abandon ourselves and the children with whom we work to follow the seductive yellow brick road of evidence-basedness. By letting someone else decide exactly what we should do in the playroom based on a research study or two (or even 10 or 20), we could easily  all sessions without having to take responsibility for making clinical and/or emotional decisions about what to do in the play or how to do it. An exclusively manualized, rigid approach to play therapy could lead to us going through our sessions on auto-pilot, not having to think or feel as the play unfolds.


Another important factor to be considered in this discussion is our motivation for pursuing research. Are we really focused on   the question, “Are you just playing in that room with all the toys or are you actually doing something worthwhile?” posed by parents, teachers, and others led to an inferiority complex which is the root of our motivation? Because of the very nature of play as the vehicle     ourselves) that what we are doing is helping clients. Do we actually care about research? Or are we just over-compensating in response to our fear of professional inadequacy in our quest for legitimacy and credibility?


www.a4pt.org | June 2022 | PLAYTHERAPY | 21


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