APPROACHES

Play therapy has been a well-established and popular approach of child treatment in clinical practice.  “For children, toys are their words, and play is their conversation” (Hall, Kaduson, Schaefer, 2002).  

Often time, children have difficulty verbalizing their feelings and thoughts when directly questioned.  Therefore, playing games or toys can reduce children’s defenses and they are more likely to share their feelings in an enjoyable and appropriate manner.  Play Therapy involves a journey with the child to engage in self-discovery and self-exploration.  Children have creative, forward-moving, inner directional and self-healing power. 

As a play therapist, my role is to provide a warm and caring relationship with your child.  I would create a feeling of safety and permissiveness in the relationship so your child feels free to express and explore self completely.  I am also sensitive to your child’s feelings and gently reflects those feelings in such a manner that the child develops self-understanding.

The Executive Functions are a set neurologically-based skills that have to do with managing oneself and one’s resources in order to achieve a goal.  People with ADHD may be as much as 30% delayed in their Executive Functioning skills (Cindy Goldrich, 2017).

I will help clients to assess their executive functioning skills and provide information about ADHD and Executive Function skills.  I will also help parents with systems and structure and recommend resources such as books, websites, and parent training.

In cognitive behavioral therapy, individuals respond to situations cognitively, behaviorally, and emotionally through a set of core schemas or interpersonal strategies that people construct in response to their environment.  Core cognitive schemas are developed during childhood, are motivated by past consequences, and are elaborated throughout lives.  The schemas people develop may be dysfunctional and adaptive.  Therefore, cognitive distortions and deficits are the processes that lead to psychological problems and disorders.  

Cognitive behavioral therapy is problem-focused, directive, collaborative, and psychoeducational.  When clients feel overwhelmed with negative thoughts and maladaptive feelings and behaviour, cognitive behavioral therapy can help them overcome and challenge their automatic beliefs, and use practical strategies to modify their behaviors.  Through a learning process, clients can practice and acquire new skills and learn new ways of thinking and effective ways of coping with problems.  

Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT) is a modified type of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).  DBT helps clients who have difficulty with emotional regulation or are having self-destructive behaviours.  Mindfulness skills is one the most important benefit of DBT.  Mindfulness skills help clients to stay calm, focus on the present moment, and avoid engaging in automatic negative thought patterns and impulsive and self-harming behaviours.  Distress tolerance is another crucial skill in DBT that helps clients to learn how to cope during a crisis and build up resiliency.  Distraction, self-soothing techniques and emotion regulation skills are also used in DBT.  

 Person-centered therapy believes that each person is capable of finding self-awareness and a personal meaning and purpose in life, and moving toward “awareness, spontaneity, trust in self, and inner-directedness” (Corey, 2016, p. 432). In person-centered therapy, clients develop positive regard, warmth, love, and respect to develop feelings of worth.  

Having a secure attachment relationship with a parent or a caregiver is very critical in a children’s development and their development in the future.  The security of the attachment experienced by young children will affect their capacity to form relationships, to develop self-reflection, to be empathetic, and to express emotions and control behaviors.  

Attachment-Based Approach is to help clients to explore their relational past that continues on in the interpersonal present, to focus on clients’ primary emotions and unmet attachment needs, and to facilitate corrective attachment episodes.