Collaborating With Parents to Establish Behavioral Goals in Child-Centered Play Therapy

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide specific guidelines for child-centered play therapists to set behavioral outcome goals to effectively work with families and to meet the demands for accountability in the managed care environment. The child-centered play therapy orientation is the most widely practiced approach among play therapists who identify a specific theoretical orientation. While information about setting broad objectives is addressed using this approach to therapy, explicit guidelines for setting behavioral goals, while maintaining the integrity of the child-centered theoretical orientation, are needed. The guidelines are presented in three phases of parent consultation: (a) the initial engagement with parents, (b) the ongoing parent consultations, and (c) the termination phase. In keeping with the child-centered approach, the authors propose to work with parents from a person-centered orientation and seek to appreciate how cultural influences relate to parents’ concerns and goals for their children. A case example is provided to demonstrate how child-centered play therapists can accomplish the aforementioned goals.

Effectiveness of Solution-Focused Consultations on Parent Stress and Competence

“…This finding is important because although many family therapy practitioners work directly with parents, there are few community-based and empirically supported models directly linked to positive parenting outcomes and high parent satisfaction. The brief solution-focused model used in this study is flexible and can be integrated into family therapy practices ranging from individual play therapy to therapy with adolescents and to stand-alone parent only interventions (Post, Ceballos, & Penn, 2012; Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2011). Findings from this study suggest that parents who receive this positive approach are likely to feel less stress, more competent, and satisfied with their consultation experience.…”

Child-centered play therapy parent services: A Q-methodological investigation.

“…In this study, we utilized three successive stages to develop a Q set that consisted of behaviors that parents may expect from play therapists (e.g., “Teaches me more effective parenting skills” or “Seeks to understand and addresses my specific concerns about my child”). Phase I began with an extensive review of literature, including CCPT texts (Axline, 1974; Cochran et al, 2010; Landreth, 2012; Ray, 2011; VanFleet et al, 2010; Wilson & Ryan, 2005), peer-reviewed articles specific to CCPT parent consultations (Bornsheuer & Watts, 2012; Brumfield & Christensen, 2011; Campbell et al, 2000; Cates, Paone, Packman, & Margolis, 2006; Post, Ceballos, & Penn, 2012), the Association for Play Therapy’s (2012) Play Therapy Best Practices, the American Counseling Association’s (2014) Code of Ethics, and other general guidelines for working with parents in child counseling (Henderson & Thompson, 2010). Based on initial review of relevant literature, we generated an initial set of 85 statements.…”

A Psicoterapia Infantil no Setting Clínico: Uma Revisão Sistemática de Literatura

“…Também compreende-se um importante destaque ao acompanhamento de psicopatologias, ora com discussão crítica acerca da ênfase no diagnóstico (Post, Ceballos, & Penn, 2012;Alves, Machado, Gastaud, & Nunes, 2013), como ressaltado por Hoffman (2020), ora limitando o estudo ao como proceder com aquela patologia específica, tornando secundária discussões acerca de aspectos sociais e culturais envolvidos na problemática apresentada pela criança (Barzegary & Zamini, 2011;…”

“…Segundo Rodrigues e Nunes (2010), o brincar aparece como via principal para expressão da singularidade e acesso àquilo que é trazido pela criança e que antes fora apreendido em seu meio. Há uma relevância do reconhecimento e estabelecimento da dimensão lúdica no processo de psicoterapia infantil, sendo este um fundamental meio de expressão da criança e de suas questões (Campos & Cury, 2009;Post et al, 2012;Botha & Dunn, 2015).…”