Group Play Therapy

A Dynamic Approach

Daniel S. Sweeney, Jennifer Baggerly, Dee C. Ray

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781136247194
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Group Play Therapy presents an updated look at an effective yet underutilized therapeutic intervention. More than just an approach to treating children, group play therapy is a life-span approach, undergirded by solid theory and, in this volume, taking wings through exciting techniques. Drawing on their experiences as clinicians and educators, the authors weave theory and technique together to create a valuable resource for both mental health practitioners and advanced students. Therapists and ultimately their clients will benefit from enhancing their understanding of group play therapy.

1 Introduction to Group Play Therapy

Group play therapy is a cross-theoretical play therapy intervention that can and should be used by trained therapists. It encompasses a wide variety of approaches and orientations, and allows for both theoretical and technical eclecticism with a range of clients from across the developmental scale. This book will consider many dimensions of group play therapy, but is still a foundation upon which to base a considerable variety of interventions.

Sweeney and Homeyer (1999) advocate for group play therapy in their edited book, The Handbook of Group Play Therapy:

Group play therapy is a natural union of two effective therapeutic modalities. Play therapists and group therapists share several important traits. Both are committed to a therapeutic process that is creative and dynamic. Both are centered on the development and maintenance of safe and therapeutic relationships. Both are focused on facilitation of an unfolding process, as opposed to the application of an immediate solution. Both are engaged in efforts requiring prerequisite training and supervision. The marriage of play therapy and group process is a natural and intuitive response to the needs of emotionally hurting children.

(p. 3)

Arguably, the partnership Sweeney and Homeyer suggest is too rarely exercised. We would contend that group play therapy is not only a powerful therapeutic intervention, but it often provides a more compelling and expedient milieu than individual therapy—with both children and adults.

Group play therapy deals not only with presenting problems, but also with conscious and unconscious motivations, with the goal of insight, behavior shifts, and personality change. Groups can be focused around themes, diagnostic areas, skills development, reduction of negative emotions or behaviors, or a variety of issues. Having said this, however, we are firmly committed to a perspective that is growth-oriented, and one that is person-focused as opposed to problem-focused. While it can be argued that this is a theoretical perspective, we believe that this focus should be cross-theoretical. Fundamentally, when any therapeutic process focuses on a problem or diagnosis, the causes of the problem, or the symptomatic results of the problem, the client and the development of relationship with the client is at least minimized, and possibly lost.

This is more than sentiment; rather, it is the core of therapy. While this book will focus in many places on academic material and clinical technique, it is important that we emphasize this focus.

Group play therapy is more than an approach to working with children, adolescents, and adults. It is a process of exploration that group members embark upon, and the therapist has the privilege of partnering in. While the therapist may direct the group play therapy process, the underlying premise is that the therapist is a witness to the process, a fellow sojourner with the group members. It is upon this attitude that group members feel safe to explore, both with the therapist and with other group members. Sweeney and Landreth (2005) suggest that play therapy: “is not a cloak the play therapist puts on when entering the playroom and takes off when leaving; rather it is a philosophy resulting in attitudes and behaviors for living one’s life in relationships with children” (p. 123). So it is with group play therapy and therapists, with clients of all ages.

Definition of Group Play Therapy

Denning group play therapy needs to begin with a definition of play therapy. There are several definitions for play therapy, but we have chosen Landreth’s (2012) definition. Although Landreth comes from a specific theoretical orientation, his definition is arguably cross-theoretical and offers a solid basis for a definition of group play therapy. Landreth’s definition is:

Play therapy is defined as a dynamic interpersonal relationship between a child (or person of any age) and a therapist trained in play therapy procedures who provides selected play materials and facilitates the development of a safe relationship for the child (or person of any age) to fully express and explore self (feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors) through play, the child’s natural medium of communication, for optimal growth and development.

(p. 11)

Sweeney (1997, 2011a) expands upon this definition. We firmly believe that all therapy should be dynamic and interpersonal. Relationship is arguably the most curative element in psychotherapy, and indeed should be an element of all approaches. In group play therapy, there is the inherent benefit to a multitude of relationships, in addition to the therapist-client relationship.

The play therapist must be trained in play therapy procedures. While this should be an obvious factor, it is unfortunately often overlooked. All too often, therapists using projective and expressive techniques such as play therapy have too little training, and often an embarrassing paucity of supervised experience. The group play therapist obviously needs to be trained in both play therapy and group therapy. One of these is wholly inadequate.

Play therapists must provide selected play materials. It is insufficient to provide a random collection of toys. Landreth (2012) reminds us that toys should be selected, not collected. Group play therapy materials should be intentionally gathered, consistent with the theoretical rationale and specific therapeutic intent. Just as the general therapy process, expressive media should be congruous with therapeutic goals and objectives.

Therapy of any kind should facilitate the development of a safe relationship with clients. Clients who are in a state of transition, experiencing chaos, or navigating the challenge of trauma need a place of safety because people do not grow where they do not feel safe. Facilitation brings about this place of safety. This is true for both directive and nondirective therapeutic interventions.

Within this context of safety, clients can fully express and explore self, which is the basis for further therapeutic advancement. We would argue that if insight and behavioral change are therapeutic goals, the ability to express and explore self is foundational. In group play therapy, of course, clients not only get to explore and express self, they get to explore others, be explored by others, express self to others, and experience other’s expression of self.

Play is indeed a child’s natural medium of communication. This is a key element of play therapy. It is also, however, a key means of communication for clients who have a challenging time verbalizing for a variety of reasons. This is what makes expressive and projective interventions so exciting for clients of all ages. In group play therapy, this dynamic is magnified, which will be further discussed below.

These elements collectively create an environment that stimulates optimal growth and development. This again is a cross-theoretical goal of therapy, for clients of all ages.

Sweeney (2011a) uses Landreth’s (2012) definition as the basis for a group play therapy definition. For the purposes of this book, group play therapy is defined as:

A dynamic, interpersonal, and reciprocal relationship between two or more clients and a therapist trained in both play therapy and group therapy procedures. This involves the selection of specific expressive and projective play media, and the facilitation and development of safe relationships for clients to express and explore themselves and others (including feelings, thoughts, experiences, and behaviors). This occurs through expressive play, a natural medium of communication for children and a nonverbal means of expression for persons of all ages.

Rationale for Play Therapy

Without knowing the background of this book’s readers, it seems important to summarize the basic rationale for play therapy, before explaining the rationale for group play therapy. Sweeney (1997) and Homeyer and Sweeney (2011) list several.

1 .Play is the child’s natural medium of communication. This is opposed to “adult therapy,” which presupposes the client’s ability to engage verbally and cognitively, and process abstract concepts. Children are developmentally different than adults, and do not communicate the same way adults do. To expect children to leave their world of play and enter the adult world of communication is fundamentally dishonoring.

2 .This is also true for the verbally precocious child as well. It is an error to assume that children who appear to have verbal skills are therefore able to express their emotional lives in words. Their verbal abilities may be a reflection of advanced intelligence or parentification (or a variety of other sources). This does not mean that words are the appropriate means of relational connection.

3 .Play and expressive therapies have a unique kinesthetic quality. Expressive media provide this unique sensory experience, and meet the need that all persons have for kinesthetic experiences. This is a fundamental reality that is an extension of basic attachment needs, which is met through experience and relationship.

4 .Play and expressive therapies serve to create a necessary therapeutic distance for clients. Clients in emotional crisis are often unable to express their pain in words, but may find expression through a projective medium. It is simply easier for a traumatized client to “speak” through a puppet, a sandtray therapy miniature, or an art creation than to directly verbalize the pain.

5 .This therapeutic distance that expressive therapies provides creates a safe place for abreaction to occur. Children, adolescents, and adults who have experienced turmoil and trauma need a therapeutic setting in which to abreact—a place where repressed issues can emerge and be relived—as well as to experience the negative emotions that are often attached.

6 .Play and expressive therapies create a place for individual or group clients to experience control. A primary result of trauma or crisis is a loss of control for those in its midst. The loss of emotional, psychological, and even physiological control is one of the most distressing by-products of crisis and conflict. Clients in turmoil feel the frustration and fear of having lost control. A crucial goal for these clients must be to empower them, following any personal or family trauma that has been disempowering.

7 .Play and expressive therapies naturally provide boundaries and limits, which in turn promotes safety for clients. Boundaries and limits define the therapeutic relationship, as well as any other relationship. Sweeney (1997) suggested: “A relationship without boundaries is not a relationship; rather, it is an unstructured attempt at connection that cannot be made because the people have no specific rules for engagement. A world without limits is not a safe world, and children do not grow where they do not feel safe” (p. 103).

8 .Play and expressive therapies naturally provide unique settings for the emergence of therapeutic metaphors. It can be argued that the most powerful metaphors in therapy are those that are generated by clients themselves. Expressive therapy creates an ideal setting for this to occur. The toys and expressive media facilitate clients expressing their own therapeutic metaphors.

9 .Play and expressive therapies are effective in overcoming client resistance. Children generally do not self-refer, and not all group or individual clients are enthusiastic about entering therapy. Expressive therapies, because of their non-threatening and engaging qualities, can captivate and draw in the involuntary or reticent client.

10.Play and expressive therapies provide a needed and effective communication medium for the client with poor verbal skills. In addition to the developmental importance of providing children with a nonverbal medium of communication, there are clients of all ages who have poor verbal skills, for a variety of reasons. This includes clients who experience developmental language delays or deficits, those with social or relational difficulties, physiological challenges, etc.

11.Conversely, play and expressive therapies can cut through verbalization that is used as a defense. For the pseudo-mature child or the verbally sophisticated adult, who may use rationalization and/or intellectualization as defenses, expressive therapies can cut through these defenses. This is an important dynamic to be aware of, because an individual or group that presents as verbally well-defended may also include one or more members unable to establish effective communication and relationship.

12.The challenge of transference may be effectively addressed through play and expressive...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction to Group Play Therapy
• 2 Theoretical Approaches to Group Play Therapy
• 3 Multicultural Issues
• 4 Ethical Considerations
• 5 Group Play Therapy Procedures and Stages
• 6 Structural and Relational Limit-Setting
• 7 Integrating Directive and Nondirective Group Interventions
• 8 Expressive Arts in Group Play Therapy
• 9 Group Puppet Play
• 10 Group Sandtray Therapy
• 11 Activity Group Therapy for Adolescents
• 12 Disaster Response Group Play Therapy Procedures
• 13 Group Play Therapy in Schools
• 14 Healing Bereavement and Loss
• 15 Research and Outcomes in Group Play Therapy
• References
• Index