migration process is by no means over. The child has merely entered what can be called a third phase with possible new complexities: economic situation, critical medical and psychological conditions, exclusion and poor socialization possibilities, and uncertainty about the future.
In other words, the avalanche begins to create itself well before the travel begins with departure from the country of origin, grows larger during the travel and continues to do so after the travel is over at the point of arrival in the host country. The intrinsic conditions of the migration process, which characterize all three of these phases, not only limit the child’s chances of growth and well-being but also carry the potential to negatively affect the possibility and the very ability to play.
If avalanches cannot be avoided, however, experience has taught us that child professionals and the application of therapeutic powers of play (Schaefer & Drewes, 2014) can prevent them from getting bigger and have a role in the dissolution of them. Our intervention may still seem like a drop in the ocean, but is the ocean not made of drops? And why not multiply these drops?
Recovering Lost Play Time “Play gives children the opportunity to change their passivity in the
From the perspective of professionals working with refugee children, it is crucial to offer time and space to recover through play the experiences and opportunities for healthy growth lost during a Recovering Lost Play Time (RLPT) was developed in the context asylum seekers and refugees and was presented to the public in 2015 (Cassina, 2023). Since then, it has been studied and applied, vulnerability such as hospitals and rehabilitation centers.
The RLPT concept has become an approach that guides play-based monitoring utilizing the RLPT Chart (Cassina & Mochi, 2024). The main steps of an intervention according to RLPT are: (1) needs activities. Multiple modalities and activities to collect information are encouraged considering that the
“typical refugee family”
does not exist and that the extent of adverse experiences and complexities are different for each child; (2) capacity-building of and in using expressive arts to foster personal well-being and self-
CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS:
Experiences of refugee children are diverse, and likely include future transitions. Play therapy should be tailored framework for recapturing losses of childhood.
children to send passive safety signals through natural light, soft cultures, creative-expressive materials, and a variety of soothing materials; (4) involvement of parents/caregivers inside and outside the playroom.
Some activities of different steps can be carried out in parallel but must be proposed gradually and given the time they deserve; interventions in vulnerable settings must be timely but not rushed. Moreover, they can be effectively integrated and complemented with later in this article.
The Safest Possible Environment
Feeling safe is necessary for growth, health, and recovery from have asked ourselves what be
guaranteed or when individuals’
to do when physical safety cannot life circumstances are
overwhelming and destabilizing and cannot be mitigated (Mochi, 2009).
In response to these circumstances, we formulated the
concept of the Safest Possible Environment (SaPE), which implies a series of interconnected actions that expand the number of positive interactions and experiences outside the playroom and promote the recovery and consolidation of a state of safety (Mochi & Cassina, 2024a). In fact, what happens outside the playroom is at least as important as what happens inside.
Polyvagal Theory emphasizes that the process that determines an individual’s feeling of safety occurs below the threshold of awareness (Porges & Carter, 2017). Reestablishing a state of safety is an internal, unconscious process and cannot be induced or forced by another person. Fortunately, the elements on which safety thrives can be made available and resilience exercised.
Our nervous system offers two ways to lower defensive systems and promote safety. One is passive and responds without awareness to safety cues such as prosodic voice, facial expressions, and
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