365 | Just Because They're Older Doesn't Mean We Change the Model

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You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,

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your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.

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Hi,

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I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,

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The Kid Counselor.

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This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get

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a master class in child-centered play therapy

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and practical support and application for your

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work with children and their families.

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In today's episode,

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I am answering a question from Katrina in the UK

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and this is about working with

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tweens and teens.

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With CCPT

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and

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how that may look a little bit different.

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The question is if it should look different.

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So we'll tackle that together.

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Briefly,

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before I dive into the question,

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and I'll read parts of the email.

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I just want to wish all of you a really,

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really happy New Year celebration.

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I hope That you're able to

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reflect back on 2025 and celebrate all of the good

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things that you've been given and all of the wins

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and all of the successes and accomplishments.

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I hope that you're able to

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pensively look forward to 2026

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and think about what you would like to achieve,

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what your goals are,

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how you would like to dive more deeply into CCPT

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and what that looks like in the way of advocacy and

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putting yourself out into the public as a leader in the field.

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And it is just one of my greatest joys to share life with you all.

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So,

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thank you so much for hanging out with me each week.

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Thank you for all the emails and texts and messages and,

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and everything that you send my way.

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Thank you for the random gifts that show up at my door.

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Thank you for

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all the things that you all do to let me know that

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we are in this together.

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I'm so Very grateful for you all.

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So,

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please know that as I reflect back on 2025,

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I look forward to 2026,

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you all are very much at the heart of my past and my future.

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So,

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I appreciate y'all.

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Speaking of 2026,

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if you all have been thinking about the live event in Tampa,

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Field of Dreams,

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January 31st,

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February 1st,

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2026.

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You only have like one more day

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to save $100.

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So,

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early bird pricing ends December 31st at midnight.

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So,

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right as you ring in the new year,

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you have lost your opportunity to save yourself $100

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and

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you can do a lot with $100.

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So,

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don't wait until January.

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Obviously,

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the event's not till the end of January,

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so you can register

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a while.

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But I'm trying to save y'all money.

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So,

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if you've been thinking about it,

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even if you cannot come live,

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register for the webinar

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where you can actually be there live,

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but just watch it on your

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laptop or whatever.

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And then there's also the on-demand option where you

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can catch all the information after the fact.

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So,

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You're gonna save money whichever option you choose.

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I'm just trying to make you aware you only have through December 31st at midnight.

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So,

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if you've been thinking about it,

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if you've been trying to make plans,

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and now that the craziness of Christmas is over,

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hurry up and sign up.

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I don't want y'all to spend more money than you have to,

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and I really want to hang out with y'all.

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So,

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whether it's looking at you on the screen or looking at you in person,

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so come hang out.

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OK,

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so let me read parts of Katrina's email and then we will dive in together.

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I have a question about check-ins,

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and it's

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aimed more toward when we work with teens and tweens

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with neurodiversities

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who can be less inclined to identify and offer up their emotions,

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less inclined to engage in role play or small role play,

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and tend to practice a repetitive kind of play

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such as ball games,

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card games,

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and other games involving competence and self-esteem.

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Is it ever OK to check in directly with them on how school,

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for example,

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is going?

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And if so,

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when would you do this and how?

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All right,

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I'm really glad for this question.

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So,

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let me

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unpack a couple of things before I actually tackle the answer.

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When we work with teens and tweens,

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we know that it is going to become more

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of an activity-based play than a toy-based play.

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That is a very normal developmental process

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where they will still want something to do.

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But it will not necessarily be as toy-based and play-based as our younger clients.

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So what you're describing,

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Katrina,

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is very age appropriate.

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They are going to likely want to do something more concrete

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and more activity-driven.

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My second comment

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is

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kids on the spectrum are very repetitive in their play.

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They are not likely to do a lot of creative and imaginative play.

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They will often do the same thing every time,

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and they will often

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take something that they're very familiar with or that they love,

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and they will replicate it.

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So they will replicate video games.

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They will replicate characters.

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They will replicate

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TV shows or movies.

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Things that they really love and have a lot of knowledge of,

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they will work that into their play and then across sessions,

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their play is extremely repetitive.

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So that is also another very normal and appropriate observation that you've had.

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So now,

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let me get to the answer.

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Is it ever OK to directly check in with them on how school's going,

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for example,

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and when would you do this and how?

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It's no longer CCPT if we do that.

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We know that kids

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are going to address what they need to.

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We know they're going to bring up what they need to.

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If they need to talk to us about something,

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they will.

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If they are needing to tackle something,

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we trust the child.

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We trust the process.

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We know that it will naturally work itself in,

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and it may not be

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in conversation.

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In fact,

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most likely it will not be.

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With older kids sometimes they're they're OK to talk,

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but most often

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it will be either a one sentence thought

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woven into an otherwise activity driven session,

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or

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they'll work out what they need to through what they're doing

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in session.

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They don't always need to say it out loud

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for it to be tackled.

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And so what we find often is

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kids are working on self-confidence

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in the playroom.

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And that is so that they can better interact at school.

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They're working on becoming

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more aware of their emotions

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and their emotional vocabulary development

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so that they are able to relate differently to peers.

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They naturally work together,

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so a kid doesn't have to come in and say,

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I don't get along with anyone at school,

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or I feel really lonely because I don't have any friends.

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They're naturally working on that stuff even though it hasn't been disclosed.

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So if we were to say,

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I wonder how school's going,

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we've now brought in a topic that the child didn't bring up 1st.

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2nd,

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we have an agenda.

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And 3,

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we're forcing a child into their heads when they live in their hearts.

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Most kids don't feel comfortable,

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nor do they want to talk about stuff.

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Older kids sometimes are OK with it,

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but certainly not younger kids.

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And if a child doesn't start the conversation,

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then we know that they're not willing or able to talk about it.

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So by us bringing it up,

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that puts a child in an interesting position.

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They either have to indulge the question because they feel like they have to,

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or they have to ignore you,

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which they likely don't want to do either,

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or you get the

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fine.

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Which is a non-answer answer because they don't want to engage.

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So the goal is,

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even when

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And a child is older,

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even if they are on the spectrum or have neurodiversities,

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we are going to fully adhere to the model

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and trust the process because we know the outcome.

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As soon as we do something different,

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we no longer know the outcome.

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We know CCPT is effective for ADHD.

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We know CCPT is effective for ASD.

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So as soon as we do anything to add anything in,

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take anything away.

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We don't have guaranteed gains and outcomes anymore.

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And so 100% Katrina,

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you just stay the course.

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And if they bring something up,

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it's because they're willing,

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ready and able to do so.

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They might play it out instead of bringing it up verbally.

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They're

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ready,

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willing,

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and able to do so.

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We don't want to take charge and make it our timeline,

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our pace,

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our topics.

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So,

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trust the process,

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always and forever.

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Trust the model,

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trust the child.

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Say those things on repeat,

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and then we'll all be adherent it as we can possibly be.

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I was just talking about that on a call earlier today.

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You might get sick of saying that to yourself,

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but trust the child,

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trust the model,

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trust the process

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over and over and over on repeat,

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and that helps you really recenter yourself

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and know that you're doing exactly what you need to

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as long as you remain very

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faithful to CCPT.

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Katrina,

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thank you so much for the question.

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I hope that is helpful for all of you.

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Know how much I love you.

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Happy New Year.

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We'll talk again soon.

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Bye.

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Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks.

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For more episodes and resources,

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please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.