Play Therapy FAQs

A Registered Play Therapist (RPT)™ is the term for a licensed mental health professional who has successfully completed all the requirements set by the Association for Play Therapy for credentialing. This credential lets parents and caregivers know that the child therapist has obtained the national standard in specialized play therapy training and experience.

RPTs have:

• a master’s degree (with course work in child development, theories of personality, child & adolescent psychopathology, cultural/social diversity and ethics).

• At least 150 additional hours of play therapy-specific continuing education.

• A minimum of 350 completed hours of play therapy experience under the supervision of a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor.

• Annual continuing education requirements to fulfill in order to renew credentialing.

As a parent, you will complete a check-in form at each of your child’s sessions to communicate any changes or updates on your child’s emotions or behavior since the last session. You will also be required to meet for a parent consult session every 4-6 sessions to review your child’s progress and parenting skills to implement at home.

Parent expectations include:

• Reading recommended materials/resources and books.

• Prioritizing your child’s attendance at scheduled therapy sessions.

• Helping your child complete any assigned take-home activities.

• Completing any parenting resources or skills provided, such as tracking logs, worksheets, reading/podcasts, and new parenting skills.

• Meeting for parent consults every 4-6 sessions to review your child’s progress and parenting skills/questions.

• Following up on recommendations and referrals, such as parenting coaches, neuropsych evaluations, educational advocates, pediatrician check-ins.

The very first session is called an intake session and it usually takes 60-75 minutes. Prior to this session, you will be asked to complete onboarding and intake paperwork, which we will review these policies at the intake. During the intake, I will meet with just the parents/caregivers via telehealth to get a full history of their child and the presenting issues as well as any other information I need so I can best support you and your child. We will review goals for therapy and any questions you might have.

Then your child comes to their first individual session at the play room. If you anticipate your child will be shy or anxious at the first appointment, we will discuss specific strategies to help them feel more comfortable and at ease. Inside the playroom, I let the child know that this is a safe space for all their feelings and they can say and do most of the things they want to say and do in here. Then I follow their lead!

Play therapy sessions are typically 45 minutes long and occur on a regular, weekly basis to start. This is so that the play sessions become a regular and dependable part of your child’s life, providing a sense of security, predictability, and consistency. Children’s sense of time is also different so their experience of a two week time period feels much longer than for adults.

It is also because a main foundation of therapy is the relationship between the therapist and the client, and it is difficult to build a strong relationship without regular sessions. It’s much more difficult and slow to make therapeutic progress if meeting less than once a week! After your child has made consistent progress, it makes more sense to meet less and focus on maintenance rather than active growth/healing.

Typically, I will greet your child in the waiting area and they will come back to the play room with me for their individual session. Occasionally, you may be invited back into sessions for family therapy.

Sometimes I use non-directive child-centered play therapy, meaning children have the ability to choose what to do and direct the session based on the belief that children can resolve their issues and fears within the play process when given the freedom to play without external influence or direction. Sometimes I may use directive play therapy strategies, where I offer a specific game, book, or activity for the session that may be helpful or relevant but never force the child to engage.

Consider the difference between an adult chatting over coffee with a friend vs talking to their therapist. In both instances, there’s talking happening, but the difference isn’t in the “what” that’s being said but more in the “who” it’s said to, “why” it’s being discussed, “how” it’s being shared and received. The same goes for children playing in therapy vs playing with their friends or at home.

Play therapy is different from regular play because the therapist is trained to help children use the play in a therapeutic way to express their emotions, develop coping skills, and resolve emotional, behavioral, or developmental challenges. The play therapist observes patterns and themes, provides a safe and accepting space where the child can feel fully seen, heard, and understood, and helps facilitate emotional growth. Unlike playing at home or with friends where there is no therapeutic goal, Play Therapy is an intentional process and treatment.

While many children think of their sessions as “just playing with Ms. Terri”, it is important to highlight that it is therapeutic play and not all sessions are fun and lighthearted. Sometimes play is used to process heavy feelings around grief, trauma, anxiety, low self-esteem, shame, and anger.

Those afternoon slots are super prime time, and they fill up fast. Examine whether prioritizing therapy for a short time would outweigh the negatives. Depending on the severity of the issues, your child might already not be in best position to succeed academically, such as a child who is getting in trouble a lot for aggression or a child who is missing instructional time because they’re frequently at the nurse’s or school counselor’s office. If a child is struggling with behavioral challenges or other forms of emotional dysregulation, therapy can provide the essential coping skills that ultimately help them function better in school.

Even if your child’s functioning at school isn’t currently negatively impacted, being proactive about getting mental health treatment can prevent emotional and behavioral struggles from escalating and interfering with their learning, social relationships, or self-esteem.

Schools are often happy to accommodate therapy appointments, and I provide written excuse letters for schools free of charge upon request.

Clients with appointments during the school day are given priority for afterschool/evening openings as they become available.

Some things to consider for daytime scheduling:

-      8/9 am sessions or 1/2 pm sessions so the child is missing the very beginning or end of the school day

-      Lunch hour for working parents

-      Picking a specials class or subject with your child’s teacher that your child is excelling in that they could miss without impacting their learning.

-      If I have a biweekly afterschool slot available, consider alternating afterschool and daytime slots to decrease missed school time (ex, week 1 @ 10 am, week 2 @ 5 pm, week 3 @10 am, week 4 @ 5 pm)

As a LPC, I am allowed to give an informal diagnosis of anything in the DSM-V-TR if the symptoms meet the criteria. However, whether or not I give a certain diagnosis depends on a variety of factors including specific issues being addressed in therapy, your preference/desires, insurance involvement, and the helpfulness or harm that a diagnosis might bring.

It’s important to remember that a diagnosis is just a name for a specific set of symptoms, and it’s worth considering the short-term and long-term impacts a diagnosis can have. Before giving a diagnosis, I prefer to discuss more in-depth with parents on what is best for the child and give the most lenient diagnosis possible.

For certain diagnoses, even if I have the informal ability to diagnose them, additional neuropsychological evaluations or testing may be recommended and needed to obtain a formal diagnosis, ensure accuracy, and rule out other potential diagnoses. Formal diagnoses are needed for things like accommodations.

I have made the intentional decision to be private pay/out-of-network. This helps me provide you with the quality of care that you deserve. (Read more on why here.) I am happy to provide superbills for you to submit to your insurance for reimbursement if your plan includes out-of-network benefits. 

I recognize that therapy can be a costly investment into your child’s current and future well-being, and I aim to support making therapy more accessible. Ask me for more information about my sliding scale policy!

Currently I do not offer regular telehealth sessions for children under the age of 10. A telehealth session may be offered occasionally under certain conditions, such as pivoting from in-person due to weather or illness, specific age/developmental level of the child, and having a pre-established strong therapeutic rapport. Your child will have a much richer therapeutic experience overall within the context of the play room!

I am a neuroaffirming therapist, meaning I view neurodivergence as a natural and valuable part of your child’s identity rather than a diagnosis needing to be “cured” or “fixed”. Therefore, my focus is on understanding, accepting, and supporting neurodivergent kids and their emotional well-being, acknowledging their unique strengths, and providing accommodations and advocacy for the unique way their brains work, rather than trying to get them to fit into neurotypical expectations.

I offer individual sessions to siblings if they’re starting therapy at the same time to promote equality in ability to develop the therapeutic relationship with less potential feelings of resentment or damaged therapeutic relationship for either sibling.

I also invite client’s siblings and parents into family sessions as indicated depending on the therapeutic goals but not as the primary therapy focus (meaning the individual child is the main client and family sessions are supplemental).