Why Play Therapy at Camp? populations for a variety of clinical needs including anxiety, environment brimming with metaphor. A range of therapeutic interventions incorporating nature exist including adventure therapy
At Camp Phoenix we utilize principles and skills from both Child- centered, and strengths-based environment in which campers feel seen, heard, understood, and empowered within a natural setting. While the camp environment lends itself to more structured activities, campers always have choice, and dysregulation and challenges are addressed primarily using CCPT skills including the A-C-T model of
expressive arts and various forms of play as well as some related model of brain functions going from brainstem to midbrain to higher
Utilizing the conceptual frameworks of Expressive Therapies
sequence of engagement moving from Regulate to Relate to Reason of positive, trauma-informed therapeutic experiences, or the 6’Rs: relational, relevant, rhythmic, repetitive, rewarding, and respectful it encourages cooperation and non-verbal relational play, all couched within the context of engaging multiple senses: you feel the movement of the group’s hands in unison, you hear the drum beat and the crackle, you smell the charred oak and sweat from a long day, and you taste the sweet refreshing lemonade. The natural world in combination with purposeful, multisensory engaging activities provide uninterrupted opportunity for regulation, healing, and growth
Regulation and Metaphor Interwoven Metaphor provides an opportunity for therapeutic learning at camp, engaging curiosity while allowing a safe distance for processing and meaning making. There are myriad applications of metaphor concepts, see change, alter schemas, change behavior, induce
CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS: Summer camp provides a therapeutic environment for youth with trauma histories to experience safety and connection.
hypnotic trance, strengthen parent-child relationships, change or construct a personal narrative, trigger an aha moment, or reduce opportunity for the client to become reflective and metacognitively space for flexible exploration and mindful connection to parts of self
Metaphors appear in nature on camp hikes in the form of metamorphosis, renewal in springtime, or cactus that has found a way to protect itself by developing prickly spines. Metaphors are also created by campers as they participate in the ropes course, expressive art activities, and processing groups.
Following a morning yoga session, the group therapist asks the group of adolescent girls to select a lemon from a bowl and invites them study your lemon. Notice everything about it.... Think about how your members begin tossing their lemons back and forth, noticing the weight, observing subtle changes in color or noting imperfections.
roll in.
because it was facing away, almost like it didn’t want me to see it. Sometimes I don’t want to show the parts of me that are messed up
The group stays in the metaphor, overflowing with responses, heads nodding in connection. Once everyone has shared, some in the group begrudgingly put their lemons back in the bowl while others they would be able to pick their lemon out of the bowl again. As the bowl is passed around, there is a sense of overwhelming relief as each person reconnects with their lemon, now a representation of
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