CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS: Bridging theory and practice, this article introduces the
et al., 2020; Halbur & Halbur, 2019), which helps clinicians understand development, conceptualize the client’s experience, and respond with play, set limits, or return responsibility; however, not all can clearly explain why they are using those play therapy skills in a particular moment (Landreth, 2023). Play therapy becomes more intentional not by choosing the “right” theory, but by learning to work from theory in moment-to-moment clinical decisions.
The Association for Play Therapy (1997, as cited in Seymour, 2016, model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent to play therapy practice. Regardless of theoretical orientation, play therapists are continually making moment-to-moment decisions about how to understand children, conceptualize their experiences, and respond intentionally within the therapeutic relationship.
What Is Rooted Beneath the Surface? Play
therapy is a developmentally responsive psychotherapy
approach that is grounded in theoretical orientations that shape case conceptualization, therapeutic goals, and intervention choices (Landreth, 2023). Play therapy practice, like a growing plant, is shaped by what is rooted beneath the surface. While toys, techniques, and interactions are visible in the playroom, the theoretical orientation guiding those choices often remains unseen. These theoretical behavior, and decide how to respond. When these foundations are unclear, practice can feel unsteady, making challenging moments harder to navigate (Murdock et al., 2012). When they are intentional, they provide stability, direction, and grounding in the playroom.
Consider a four-year-old boy referred for play therapy due to frequent externalizing behaviors at home and school, including hitting, pushing, and biting. Across several sessions, he repeatedly enters put their hands out to be cuffed because they have not been listening and are in trouble. As this pattern continues session after session, respond. They can think of several interventions but feel less certain about what should guide their next step.
This clinician, like many of us at times, can identify a response to use in the moment but struggles to explain or understand the rationale behind it. The issue is not a lack of care, effort, or skill. The issue is that the technique has become more available than theory (Fall et al.,
INTENT framework to help play therapists translate theoretical orientation into intentional, moment-to-moment clinical decision-making.
2017). Many play therapists can use common therapeutic responses, guide those responses and why. In moments like this, clinicians may choices in session (Halbur & Halbur, 2019).
In the repeated handcuff scene, the question is not only, “what should I do next?” but “what is helping me make that choice?” One way to developed by the authors to support intentional clinical decision- making. INTENT is not a new play therapy theory or a prescriptive clinical decisions and return to the theoretical roots of their practice.
Identity: The clinician begins by noticing what they are bringing into the room. In this moment, repeated handcuff play may evoke discomfort, self-doubt, frustration, protectiveness, or a desire how personal values (Barth, 2020), beliefs about children, and the urge to respond in a particular way.
Neurodevelopment: Next, the therapist considers the client’s developmental level and what repeated play may be communicating. For a four-year-old, the handcuff scenario may represent an effort to express power, test the relationship, communicate felt injustice, or organize overwhelming experiences through repetition. A developmental lens helps the clinician shift from reaction to grounded response (Landreth, 2023).
Theory of Change: The clinician then asks how their theoretical orientation understands healing and growth in this moment (Fall et al., 2017). A child-centered play therapist may understand the repeated handcuff scene as communication within the therapeutic relationship and respond in ways that protect the child’s lead, emotional expression, and capacity for self-direction. An Adlerian play therapist may attend more directly to the child’s
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