How does the therapeutic relationship help children to make sense of Essay

How does the therapeutic relationship help children to make sense of difficult life experiences - Essay Example To determine how play therapy could enable children to positively deal difficulties in life, the researcher will examine the importance of play therapy in different health care settings. Prior to the conclusion, the researcher will discuss some ways on how to maximize the use of play therapy when dealing with difficulties in life. Play Therapy – â€Å"a developmentally sensitive therapeutic modality that is used by well-trained play therapists to allow children to easily resolve their psychosocial difficulties in order to enable them to reach their optimal growth and development.† (Bratton et al., 2003) When designing the type of play suitable for each child, health care practitioners should consider the cognitive, physical and social development of the child. According to von Gontard & Lehmkuhl (2003), among the five new approaches to play therapy includes: (1) the Parent-Child interaction therapy; (2) the behavioral approaches such as the Cognitive-Behavioral play therapy; (3) therapies designed for preschool childrean such as the Filial therapy, developmental play therapy and thera-play; (4) developmental play therapy; (5) the focussed of play therapies for specific disorders; as well as and (6) family therapy. Selecting the type of play is necessary to effectively arouse the child’s interest in participating in the play therapy. Depending on the number of children as well as the child’s gender, cognitive, physical and social development, health care professionals may choose to implement either the use of Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT), Group Play Therapy, or a Non-Directive Play Therapy. (Ray, 2008; Jones, 2002) Even though further study is required, the study of Ray (2008) shows that the application of Child-Centred Play Therapy is more effective in terms of reducing the parent-child relationship stress among children with internal and external