and coming up with buttons that could help a “character” cope or “distance and protection for the child from troubling thoughts and feelings” (Mountain, 2016, p.195).
Supervisor’s Intervention Guidance Understanding and valuing a child’s play language (within the session and outside the session) is one of the keys to helping them play their way through a problem. I often pass along the guidance to learn about what type of play the child loves in supervising counselors-in-training. An expressive and play-based approach that I use with children is prompting them to create their own remote control. This technique is based in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in helping clients with thought change (Beck, 1997; Hayes, 2004; Linehan, 1993). I found that I could adapt this strategy to a more relevant gadget for clients like Adam, a video game controller. The video game controller could have many options for shifting focus, emphasizing coping skills, and/or providing avenues for navigating a tough situation. During supervision with Alicia for this client, I suggested this intervention. Of course, an intervention alone is not the healing agent, it is how the counselor maintains the relationship within and/or beside the use of the technique.
Utilizing the Video Game Controller Intervention After processing through my clinical dilemma with Dr. Spangler, I was ready to try this new technique. When I mentioned the video game controller idea to Adam, he was a little hesitant but agreed. Together, we came up with buttons to put on the controller. As I was assisting, I was hyper-focused on helping him come up with emotional regulation coping strategies. However, Adam had ideas of his own; his buttons and throwing erupting cupcakes at the perpetrator. Although I wanted to go in a different direction, something in the back of my mind was telling me to let him create what he wanted to create. He created a controller all his own, of which he was very proud.
lesson was not only learning
Before our next session the school counselor informed me that a family member had attempted to break into Adam’s home earlier that it may come up in our session. When I started our session that day, I asked Adam if he wanted to talk about anything. He shrugged and continued to eat his lunch. Feeling slightly defeated, I dropped the
26 | PLAYTHERAPY September 2024 |
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video game controller we made last time?” He nodded. “Well, you’re going to use it today!” He looked at me confused, but I went on to review the meaning of each of the buttons he had created.
After the review, I stood. “Now Adam, what’s going to happen is you are going to come up with a problem. Then, I’m going to be the character who is dealing with the problem, and you are going to use the controller to control how I cope or solve the problem. Does that sound okay?” At this, Adam smiled and began to nod, giggle, and a moment and thought. After a few seconds, he said, “You’re being robbed.”
Without thinking, I said, “Well, let’s come up with a different problem. Maybe something that happens in everyday life.” He looked a little disappointed, but I could tell he was thinking about another problem. As I watched him think, I remembered what the elementary school counselor had told me about what had happened – the break-in. I realized what was happening. Adam was trying to tell me something; he wanted to work through a scary, uncontrollable situation that of the main character being robbed demonstrated how children naturally initiate play to express themselves and make meaning of distressing experiences (Pliske et al., 2021). I shifted my focus to what he requested and welcomed whatever the child needed to bring into the light (Gil, 2015). So, I said, “Actually, yeah. Let’s go with being and down excitedly again.
After that, fun ensued. I completely let go of every inhibition and acted elaborately as he vigorously pushed the buttons. He pushed huddle in the corner of the room. We giggled together through the entire process. I did not think about how I looked or how I sounded; minutes until he said, “Okay! We did it! We fought him off!” I was completely exhausted, but the look on his face made it completely worth it.
Thinking back on this session brings me to tears. In letting go of my own agenda and surrendering myself to his, Adam experienced control of a situation through play that he would have never been able to control in real-time. While I prompted and guided parts of the intervention, the client showed the actualizing tendency by leading play that was both fun and “designed to work out problems or challenges, similar to the process of an adult in counseling who talks continues because of the recognized need to work through the hard emotions” (Ray, 2019, p.76). This was a session that I – and hopefully he – will never forget.
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