T
CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS: Play therapists are crucial in recognizing and
domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence (IPV), as a current or former partner’s physical violence,
such as hitting, kicking, or other types of physical force; sexual violence of forcing a partner to take part in a sex act; stalking of repeated unwanted contact that causes fear; and psychological aggression of verbal and non-verbal communication with the intent to harm mentally or emotionally. Surveillance data from 2011 showed that over 10 million Recently, the World Health Organization (2020) reported that IPV has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. This increase in violence may volatile interactions, because work and school are no longer an escape, and less checks and balances from outside family members, friends, and teachers (Ragavan et al., 2020). Given the prevalence and severity of this phenomenon, it is important to be able to identify children’s exposure to IPV, to describe play behaviors of children who witnessed IPV in general and during COVID-19; to explain trauma-informed child centered play therapy (TI CCPT) procedures; and to encourage self-care strategies for play therapists working with child witnesses of IPV.
Identifying Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner
Violence Even in the midst of the pandemic, parents who experienced IPV may seek mental health services for their children. To avoid objection by an abusing partner, some parents justify their child’s behavior as the reason to obtain play therapy. During intake sessions, many parents may not report or even recognize they have experienced IPV. However, they may give subtle clues, such as, “Her dad sure has been grumpy lately and now my child is acting up,” or “We are both working from home now while managing our children’s school and it has gotten overly intense.” Play therapists can ask parents to expand upon these comments by saying, “I sense your distress. Describe for me what happened during some of the worst times.” “What part of it did your child see or hear?”
Play therapists may also become aware of IPV through children’s play children exposed to IPV had play themes of aggression, killing, death, and escape. For example, they described a boy who engaged in aggressive play of shooting, hitting, and killing bobo until he collapsed in exhaustion. Another girl used scary animals (i.e., spiders, snakes, alligator, and other wild animals) to re-enact the escape from her home after a violent episode.
Similarly, Tyndall-Lind (2010) detailed siblings re-enacting domestic violence during group play sessions. For example, a boy played “daddy” and demanded that “mommy,” played by his sister, make dinner. When it was not ready, he would yell at her and push pots and food on the floor.
treating the consequences of domestic violence in child witnesses.
Another boy played army with his brother and told his troops to retreat because someone was hiding, ready to attack them.
a four-year-old girl exposed to her father’s rageful outbursts and physical assault of her mother. The girl would alternate between roles of “good” and “bad” animals and even asked the play therapist to tell the “bad” animals to go away. When the play therapist did, the girl was excited and said, “My daddy hit my mommy. He is bad and can’t live with us anymore”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I also observed children’s play behavior reflecting domestic violence compounded by quarantine ( Baggerly, 2021). put “bugs” (i.e., toy spiders) on my shoulders. She said, “There are bugs all over you and they are trying to crawl up your nose.” This appeared to be her concrete explanation of COVID-19, which is sometimes explained as a “bug” to children. Then she used a rope to tie me to my chair, saying, “You can’t escape these bugs. Now I have you trapped, and no one is going to come over to see.” Then she proceeded to use a knife to pretend to stab me. This appeared to be her perception of danger within her family, who had limited protection due to the quarantine. Another general example of children’s play during COVID-19 occurred when a child playing in the doll house, moved the “mommy” doll to another area of the room “to go to work.” Then she said, “Someone breathed on mommy while at work so she died of COVID.” This anxiety of losing a parent to COVID is especially heightened for children who have witnessed IPV. They may worry about who would protect them from the person who is violent.
Trauma-Informed Child Centered Play Therapy The compounding impact of domestic violence during the COVID pandemic requires an enhanced play therapy treatment approach for children. TI CCPT (Baggerly, 2013) is a comprehensive treatment strategies with Landreth’s (2012) child centered play therapy. The format of TI CCPT is 30 minutes of CCPT as described by Landreth (2012) neurophysiology and core components of children’s trauma interventions (National Children’s Traumatic Stress Network [NCTSN], n.d.). TI CCPT
www.a4pt.org | September 2021 | PLAYTHERAPY | 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
