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Play Therapy in a Natural Setting: A Case Example
Abstract
Play therapy is commonly used when working with children in counseling. Play therapists work at a developmentally appropriate level to assist children with a variety of mental health and behavioral concerns. Traditionally, play therapy and many counseling methods occur in office settings. We propose that play therapists and other mental health professionals working with children integrate nature and natural settings into their work. The use of nature has been shown to be effective in helping people cope with mental health and physical ailments. In this article, we explore the benefits of the use of nature in mental health and provide a case example of the use of nature and natural settings in counseling.
... Most social workers are not trained in play therapy, a method that Kottman (2011, 3) defines as "an approach to counselling young children in which the counsellor uses toys, art supplies, games and other play media to communicate with clients using the language of children -the language of play". However, social workers often use drawings, puppets, rocks and clay as games when they conduct counselling sessions with children (Marais and Van der Merwe 2016;Peterson and Boswell 2015). Sadly, in South Africa, the application of games during counselling does not often reflect an awareness of children's indigenous games. ...
... In many parts of South Africa, natural and freely available materials such as stones, clay, sticks and papers are often used by children as playing tools. Similarly, rocks are widely used in therapy, for example, in Peterson and Boswell's (2015) study, child counselling incorporated rocks as objects which held magical powers and at times these rocks were painted and redesigned to function as magic bombs which could grant wishes to a child. In that study, rocks were therefore used as an outdoor therapeutic intervention with children. ...
... In that study, rocks were therefore used as an outdoor therapeutic intervention with children. Peterson and Boswell (2015) argue that natural environments improve children's physical and mental health well-being. However, privacy and maintaining confidentiality are key when child-related activities are outdoors. ...
This paper reports on the adaptation of local indigenous children’s games in South Africa that can be integrated during child counselling. There is a plethora of literature that advocates for the reconceptualisation of social work in non-western societies to align it with the values of clients being served. However, there is a dearth of literature on available indigenous social work games that can be applied particular in child counselling. Using a qualitative design, six social work practitioners, purposively sampled, were individually interviewed to explore their integration of indigenous games during child counselling. The findings indicate that through reflexivity, social workers learn and observe context-relevant knowledge from the communities they serve and that accumulated knowledge informs innovative practice interventions in social work. In this paper, children’s social background, culture, play behaviours and community assets informed social workers’ choice of the games they could incorporate in child counselling. The integration of local games, such as Uchiki, Umangqalutye, Eight Stones and riverbank clay, in child counselling sessions promotes a sense of mutual learning that benefits the helping profession to deliver a context-relevant service.
... Other studies have demonstrated that ecotherapy can help with the development of empathy, relationship skills, and self-concept . Researchers Peterson and Boswell (2015) proposed the integration of nature elements and natural settings to traditional therapies. In this case study, the researchers found that by working outdoors, the child had gains in areas like decision-making abilities, creativity, confidence, self-acceptance, and a sense of control. ...
In the highly technological society we currently live in, children are spending more time in front of screens instead of engaging in play or spending time in nature. Screen time has increased significantly in the past year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Excess screen time poses a threat to the motor development of preschool-age children. The fields of art therapy and ecotherapy have theoretical and practical groundings that make them an alternative to traditional therapies in the area of skill development and deficit prevention for children's motor skills. This study focuses on the benefits that art therapy and ecotherapy can have on the motor skill development of preschool-age children. A literature review was conducted to find the benefits of art therapy and ecotherapy concerning the motor development of preschool-age children. Existing research indicates that art therapy and ecotherapy individually and together (eco-art therapy) have benefits in the area of child motor development and well-being. These benefits can serve as protective factors and help mitigate the negative impact on motor development of preschool-age children that are associated with excessive screen time.
... Instead, George creatively borrowed from the budding field of ecotherapy, which applies ecopsychology to clinical practice (Davis & Atkins, 2009). George encouraged his clients to explore their outdoor worlds, gathering "toys" such as rocks, twigs, and flowers (Peterson & Boswell, 2015). While his clients played with the found objects, George continued to provide the safe therapeutic environment they had grown accustomed to. ...
The fictional lives of Dr. Smith, Ruby, George, and his clients have all been overturned by the Covid-19 crisis. With each having to continue to fulfill their professional responsibility to an institution, to students, to supervisees, and to clients, they have little time to make the appropriate transitions into the world of telehealth, in conjunction with practicing self-care to maintain their own anxieties over the global pandemic. This necessitates a consideration of three core competencies – ethical practice, multicultural competence, and cognitive flexibility. Their unique individual commitment to these three competencies is discussed on a practical and applicable level. Additionally, these rapid changes have led to an assessment and report of where current research is deficient.
Children today (who live in a modern and digital society) experience the greatest disconnection from nature than any generation in history. This chapter examines how the separation from nature, coupled with being heavily indoctrinated into the web of technology, is linked to many of the common ailments that children suffer from today including ADHD and attentional problems, depression, anxiety, obesity, and impaired social development. Clinical interventions are presented for how therapists can incorporate nature into the therapy process with children and families, both as an antidote to nature deficit, and also because engagement with nature tends to be therapeutic even in cases where nature deficit is not part of the presenting issue.
Depending on what is in the view, looking out the window may provide numerous opportunities for restoration. Unlike other restorative opportunities, however, window viewing is more frequent and for brief moments at a time. The setting is also experienced from afar rather than while being in it. A study conducted at six low-rise apartment communities, using a survey with both verbal and visual material, provides considerable support for the premise that having natural elements or settings in the view from the window contributes substantially to residents’ satisfaction with their neighborhood and with diverse aspects of their sense of well-being. Views of built elements, by contrast, affected satisfaction but not well-being. Views of the sky and weather did not have a substantial effect on either outcome. The potential of nature content in the view from home to contribute so significantly to satisfaction and well-being suggests clear action mandates.
The results of a comprehensive literature review of 82 play therapy research studies from 1942–2000 are summarized with an emphasis on the effectiveness of play therapy with specific presenting issues and populations. Studies are organized by research topic in chart form to allow play therapists to readily utilize the information to educate parents, schools, judicial systems, managed care systems, other mental health professionals, and other populations with whom they work. Although positive outcomes were noted with each of the research areas, self-concept, behavioral adjustment, social skills, emotional adjustment, intelligence, and anxiety/fear are topics demonstrating the most significance regarding the efficacy of play therapy. Although not all outcomes have supported the use of play therapy as viable intervention, the authors focus primarily on significant findings regarding play therapy effectiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Describes Adlerian play therapy, with an emphasis on the basic tenets of the approach, the view of the child and his or her capacity to change, the role of the therapist, the goals of therapy, and the unique characteristics of the approach. Adlerian parent consultation is also described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The efficacy of psychological interventions for children has long been debated among mental health professionals; however, only recently has this issue received national attention, with the U.S. Public Health Service (2000) emphasizing the critical need for early intervention and empirically validated treatments tailored to children's maturational needs. Play therapy is a developmentally responsive intervention widely used by child therapists but often criticized for lacking an adequate research base to support its growing practice. A meta-analysis of 93 controlled outcome studies (published 1953-2000) was conducted to assess the overall efficacy of play therapy and to determine factors that might impact its effectiveness. The overall treatment effect for play therapy interventions was 0.80 standard deviations. Further analysis revealed that effects were more positive for humanistic than for nonhumanistic treatments and that using parents in play therapy produced the largest effects. Play therapy appeared equally effective across age, gender, and presenting issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Purpose
This paper aims to determine educators' perceptions about the benefits of contact with nature for children's mental, emotional and social health.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach was exploratory using qualitative methods. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with school principals and teachers as well as professionals from the environmental education industry. Interviews focused on the perceived benefits for children's health from school activities involving hands‐on contact with nature.
Findings
Hands‐on contact with nature is perceived by educators to improve self‐esteem, engagement with school and a sense of empowerment, among other benefits. Different types of activities are perceived to have different outcomes. A model is proposed to illustrate the findings.
Research limitations/implications
Activities involving hands‐on contact with nature may have significant health outcomes for children. Further empirical work is needed to determine the extent of the benefits and provide further evidence.
Practical implications
Findings support the value of activities involving nature and provide further incentive to include such activities in teaching curricula. Activities involving hands‐on contact with nature at school may be a means of promoting children's mental, emotional and social health at a crucial time in their development.
Originality/value
This paper addresses two gaps in current knowledge: much research on contact with nature and health and wellbeing has focused on adults not children; despite the popularity of nature‐based activities in schools there has been no investigation into the potential of these activities to promote children's mental, emotional and social health.
Sustainable design has made great strides in recent years; unfortunately, it still falls short of fully integrating nature into our built environment. Through a groundbreaking new paradigm of "restorative environmental design," award-winning author Stephen R. Kellert proposes a new architectural model of sustainability. In Building For Life, Kellert examines the fundamental interconnectedness of people and nature, and how the loss of this connection results in a diminished quality of life. This thoughtful new work illustrates how architects and designers can use simple methods to address our innate needs for contact with nature. Through the use of natural lighting, ventilation, and materials, as well as more unexpected methodologies-the use of metaphor, perspective, enticement, and symbol-architects can greatly enhance our daily lives. These design techniques foster intellectual development, relaxation, and physical and emotional well-being. In the works of architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen, Cesar Pelli, Norman Foster, and Michael Hopkins, Kellert sees the success of these strategies and presents models for moving forward. Ultimately, Kellert views our fractured relationship with nature as a design problem rather than an unavoidable aspect of modern life, and he proposes many practical and creative solutions for cultivating a more rewarding experience of nature in our built environment.
"For constructive personality change to occur, it is necessary that these conditions exist and continue over a period of time: (1) Two persons are in psychological contact. (2) The first, whom we shall term the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious. (3) The second person, whom we shall term the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship. (4) The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client. (5) The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client's internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this experience to the client. (6) The communication to the client of the therapist's empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Whilst urban-dwelling individuals who seek out parks and gardens appear to intuitively understand the personal health and well-being benefits arising from 'contact with nature', public health strategies are yet to maximize the untapped resource nature provides, including the benefits of nature contact as an upstream health promotion intervention for populations. This paper presents a summary of empirical, theoretical and anecdotal evidence drawn from a literature review of the human health benefits of contact with nature. Initial findings indicate that nature plays a vital role in human health and well-being, and that parks and nature reserves play a significant role by providing access to nature for individuals. Implications suggest contact with nature may provide an effective population-wide strategy in prevention of mental ill health, with potential application for sub-populations, communities and individuals at higher risk of ill health. Recommendations include further investigation of 'contact with nature' in population health, and examination of the benefits of nature-based interventions. To maximize use of 'contact with nature' in the health promotion of populations, collaborative strategies between researchers and primary health, social services, urban planning and environmental management sectors are required. This approach offers not only an augmentation of existing health promotion and prevention activities, but provides the basis for a socio-ecological approach to public health that incorporates environmental sustainability.
Traditional family therapists often work with family members of similar cognitive levels and exclude small children from the therapeutic process. Recent research indicates that children and families benefit when all family members can be involved in counseling (e.g., Thompson, Bender, Cordoso, & Flynn, 2011). Using an integrative intervention model, this article will focus on specific play-based activities which can be used to effectively include children in family therapy. A developmental, step-by step protocol is introduced and specific play-based activities are discussed.
Research and teaching in environmental health have centered on the hazardous effects of various environmental exposures, such as toxic chemicals, radiation, and biological and physical agents. However, some kinds of environmental exposures may have positive health effects. According to E.O. Wilson’s “biophilia” hypothesis, humans are innately attracted to other living organisms. Later authors have expanded this concept to suggest that humans have an innate bond with nature more generally. This implies that certain kinds of contact with the natural world may benefit health. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is presented from four aspects of the natural world: animals, plants, landscapes, and wilderness. Finally, the implications of this hypothesis for a broader agenda for environmental health, encompassing not only toxic outcomes but also salutary ones, are discussed. This agenda implies research on a range of potentially healthful environmental exposures, collaboration among professionals in a range of disciplines from public health to landscape architecture to city planning, and interventions based on research outcomes.
The authors describe the creation and implementation of a graduate-level counseling course in ecotherapy. Specifically, the rationale for the course, the selection of students, and course content and activities are outlined. In the spring of 2001, the authors developed and offered a team-taught special topics course in ecotherapy in the university's graduate counseling program. For this course, ecotherapy was based on an organic rather than a mechanistic theory, with the living system of the earth as the focus. This article presents the story of the authors' journey, as a community of learners, into concepts of ecotherapy, the lessons of other cultural worldviews, and most basically, the lessons of the natural world.
The paradigm of ecotherapy posits that personal health and healing are directly related to the health of the natural environment. Based on ideas in ecopsychology that involve the integration of psychology and ecology, ecotherapy is the application of ecopsychology to therapeutic practice. Described in this article are the paradigm of ecotherapy, the experiences of students taking a course in ecotherapy, and its implications for nature, healing, and therapeutic practice.
Presents guidelines for outdoor play that are important when young children have special needs. Details a decision-making process for planning adaptations and practical strategies for making adaptations and interventions to enhance outdoor play for children with special needs. Lists adaptations for a child who is blind, is deaf, has physical challenges, has autism spectrum disorder, or has cognitive delays. (KB)
We are facing a societal trend of lethargy in today's youth. Technology, fear, and limited green spaces keep our children inside and inactive. This article explores this trend and proposes ecotherapy, which promotes mental health in the context of the environment and through the use of green spaces, as a method the counseling profession can utilize to benefit our clients and society as a whole. A case example illustrates this concept.
Groups in high schools that use creative techniques help adolescents express their emotions appropriately, behave differently, and gain insight into themselves and others. This article looks at seven different creative arts media—music, movement, visual art, literature, drama, play, and humor—and offers examples of how they can be used in groups for high school students.
Presents a working model for combining the basic principles of Individual Psychology with tested techniques in play therapy for optimal intervention with children in school and private practice settings. The author supplies play therapists with the necessary tools to strengthen therapeutic relationships with children--especially those with problematic attitudes--their parents, and their teachers and to engage them all in making changes that benefit the client. Detailed information on developing treatment plans, innovative strategies for using art and metaphors with children, and realistic case studies that illustrate each stage of Adlerian play therapy are included in this indispensable handbook. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Play is essential to the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical well-being of children beginning in early childhood. It is a natural tool for children to develop resiliency as they learn to cooperate, overcome challenges, and negotiate with others. Play also allows children to be creative. It provides time for parents to be fully engaged with their children, to bond with their children, and to see the world from the perspective of their child. However, children who live in poverty often face socioeconomic obstacles that impede their rights to have playtime, thus affecting their healthy social-emotional development. For children who are underresourced to reach their highest potential, it is essential that parents, educators, and pediatricians recognize the importance of lifelong benefits that children gain from play.
(This reprinted article originally appeared in the Journal of Consulting Psychology, 1957, Vol 21, 95–203. The following abstract of the original article appeared in PA, Vol 33:842.) For constructive personality change to occur, it is necessary that these conditions exist and continue over a period of time: (1) Two persons are in psychological contact. (2) The first, whom shall be termed the client, is in a state of incongruence, being vulnerable or anxious. (3) The 2nd person, whom shall be termed the therapist, is congruent or integrated in the relationship. (4) The therapist experiences unconditional positive regard for the client. (5) The therapist experiences an empathic understanding of the client's internal frame of reference and endeavors to communicate this experience to the client. (6) The communication to the client of the therapist's empathic understanding and unconditional positive regard is to a minimal degree achieved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research and teaching in environmental health have centered on the hazardous effects of various environmental exposures, such as toxic chemicals, radiation, and biological and physical agents. However, some kinds of environmental exposures may have positive health effects. According to E.O. Wilson's "biophilia" hypothesis, humans are innately attracted to other living organisms. Later authors have expanded this concept to suggest that humans have an innate bond with nature more generally. This implies that certain kinds of contact with the natural world may benefit health. Evidence supporting this hypothesis is presented from four aspects of the natural world: animals, plants, landscapes, and wilderness. Finally, the implications of this hypothesis for a broader agenda for environmental health, encompassing not only toxic outcomes but also salutary ones, are discussed. This agenda implies research on a range of potentially healthful environmental exposures, collaboration among professionals in a range of disciplines from public health to landscape architecture to city planning, and interventions based on research outcomes.
Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth. Play also offers an ideal opportunity for parents to engage fully with their children. Despite the benefits derived from play for both children and parents, time for free play has been markedly reduced for some children. This report addresses a variety of factors that have reduced play, including a hurried lifestyle, changes in family structure, and increased attention to academics and enrichment activities at the expense of recess or free child-centered play. This report offers guidelines on how pediatricians can advocate for children by helping families, school systems, and communities consider how best to ensure that play is protected as they seek the balance in children's lives to create the optimal developmental milieu.
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