Believing Is Not Enough If you are a play therapist, it is likely that you believe in the power and Schafer, stated, “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are stated, “Live out the moment with the child. The solution to the problem will take care of itself” (Landreth, 2023, p. 84). Their words, as well as the words of numerous leading play therapy trainers, are motivational and inspiring. We, as play therapists, are moved by their and their families who are fundamentally changed by play therapy,
The therapist’s belief in the mental health intervention they use and the client’s reciprocity in that belief is key to effectiveness for any therapy (Barkham et al., 2021). However, belief is not enough. Limiting statements such as the one in my child psychopathology on evidence, presented in the form of both research and theoretical grounding. Research provides the play therapist with factual data to demonstrate outcomes for play therapy interventions. Research shows the general public and fellow professionals that play therapy is
a proven commodity in the world of mental health interventions that can be trusted. Theoretical grounding is the ability of play therapists to explain the processes involved in their particular play therapy approaches and the relationship between process and outcomes of play therapy based on theory of human nature, development, and change. All play therapists should be able to answer the questions, “What evidence demonstrates that play therapy works?” and “How does play therapy work?”
Become Familiar with the Research Building upon being a critical thinker who moves beyond relying on a belief in play therapy to support practice, research knowledge promotes the ability of
play therapists to engage in effective
practices, as well as the credibility of play therapy. Not all play from being familiar with research. One of the unfortunate outcomes of the growth of play therapy is the proliferation of publications by authors who have various and limited levels of familiarity or training in play therapy. Additionally, play therapy has attracted an entrepreneurial crowd who appears interested in the income related to presenting and training at the expense of quality and integrity. To clarify, such trends are not unique to play therapy; they can be I am not stating that play therapists should not be entrepreneurs. Quality training is a marketable product and should be compensated accordingly. However, I am emphasizing that as play therapy has become more popular, more and more of training and publications for play therapists to be familiar with research.
Members of the Association for Play Therapy have access to the International Journal of Play Therapy (IJPT) which is the primary source of play therapy research. Although play therapy research concentrated collection of play therapy research accessible to APT members. In every issue of IJPT there are research articles regarding the practice of play therapy. Members who have a basic knowledge of research and a critical thinking attitude can scan research articles for research designs and outcomes that match the claims of the authors and/or presenters who cite such research.
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6 | PLAYTHERAPY December 2023 |
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For example, if a presenter states that their technique has been proven effective in research and cites an IJPT article, a play therapist participant inspired by their critical curiosity may look up that article. When the play therapist reads that the article was a of the intervention for that child, the play therapist now knows the technique was not proven effective but seemed viable for one child research knowledgeable a play therapist is, the more they can carry out the critical analysis of play therapy claims. When more critical analysis is conducted by each practicing play therapist, play therapy
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