197 | Mobile Child-Centered Play Therapy: Tips for Success Outside the Playroom

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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, I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks, The Kid Counselor.

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This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get a master class in child-centered,

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play therapy and practical support and application for

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your work with children and their families.

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In today's episode. I am answering a question from actually quite a few

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listeners

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and this has become a hot topic lately.

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So I feel like I've been getting hit with this in all kinds of places.

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So we've been chatting about this in the Collective.

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I've gotten several emails from listeners and then it's

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also been in a couple of the coaching calls.

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So

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this is certainly something that is

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noteworthy, worthwhile to discuss.

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And I'm excited to be talking about if

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you are a mobile child-centered play therapist.

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In other words, you do not consistently have a singular playroom

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and you are traveling to clients or traveling to different

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locations and you're kind of operating as a mobile therapist,

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how to most effectively handle that. So

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really

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those questions and

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so I got specifically two emails that I'm going to read

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parts of and then several others have mentioned it as I said

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in coaching and in the collective,

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so Falon from Pennsylvania wrote in and Rudi from Colorado wrote in.

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So I'm going to kind of fuse both of those emails together and I'll give

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you a sense of what the questions are and then we'll dive in together.

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So Falon from Pennsylvania says,

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during my internship and even now in my career, as I work, work more with children,

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I've developed a deep love for child-centered, non

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directive play therapy.

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I'm so excited.

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I listen to your podcast every day and I walk into homes

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and try these skills out with children as a mobile therapist.

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Here's my question. How can I practice child-centered non

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directive play therapy in the home of

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my kids with parents present and often interjecting

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one child I'll see at a home one I see in a library setting.

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I will begin next week with a new child in their home as well.

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On the weekends,

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I work at a therapy practice where I see kids on Saturdays and I've

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incorporated play into our therapy sessions but

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would certainly benefit from more training.

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Any help

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advice, pointers you could provide, I would be eternally grateful.

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I love what I do even in its infantile state and desire to help children to feel seen,

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heard, valued, cared for and delighted in.

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And then she says,

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I listen to you every day. So I remember the be with attitudes.

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I'm happy that you remember the be with attitudes, Falon.

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OK. And then

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my follow up question that came in after

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that from another listener from Rudi in Colorado

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and very similar scenario

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and certainly something that

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aligns with this. So we're going to kind of combine these two together.

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So Rudi says, hey, Brenna,

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I'm a first year child therapist and listen to your podcast weekly.

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I do a lot of home visits for the

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almost without fail, one of the kids siblings,

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so one of the clients siblings will try to

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enter the playroom or outdoors and interrupt my sessions.

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The only place that I can really do therapy is a nearby park or in the kids bedrooms.

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Any suggestions?

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All right.

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So yes,

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lots of suggestions and certainly something that is a little tricky to navigate,

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but it is doable.

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I have several coaching participants that were also

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mobile therapists and we navigated that together.

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So

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it is possible. So let me give some thoughts

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and just kind of debrief on this a little bit

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as a general rule.

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I do not advocate for sessions outdoors. And there are quite a few

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therapists in the Collective that have mentioned an outdoor space

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and some have mentioned, you know, doing kind of outdoor sessions and having

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outside play, things like that nature play, I think is what they termed it.

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I actually feel like that is difficult to navigate. And here's why

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the child-centered model is predicated on the notion that

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there is a defined boundary of the play space,

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which is why we have a rug, which is why when parents are doing CPRT with their kids,

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they set up a sheet, a blanket or a rug,

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it provides a visual boundary and it provides parameters

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for the play session.

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When you are in an outdoor area,

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it is really hard to set limits.

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It's really hard to give choices, especially if the child were to run,

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were to

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dart off to another spot outside.

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It would be very difficult to not only manage the play, but also use the skills.

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So as a general rule,

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I think having an outdoor play session is going to be very tricky to navigate.

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Now, of course, there are certain kids that would walk outside,

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sit down and throw rocks into a lake and never move

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for the entire session.

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And so that would be obviously an outlier and

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not the kind of child that I'm talking about.

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But as far as an entire play session outside,

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not only do you not have the toys,

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you can't move all of the toys outside, I think that would be difficult as well,

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but it also just does not give the boundaries and the parameters

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that really are required to do CCPT.

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So that's just my thought about outside.

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But then let me talk through some other things.

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All right.

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So as far as being in a library, a home, you know,

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going on mobile visits to do play therapy.

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First of all, you absolutely have to have a well equipped mobile play kit.

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And we talked about this in the Collective call a couple of weeks

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ago and I've recommended this to some of my coaching participants as well.

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There are websites that offer premade mobile play therapy kits.

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I think playtherapysupply.com

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maybe is one of them

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just search mobile play therapy kit and you will see what I mean.

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It's essentially a rolling duffel bag

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and it has all kinds of toys in it and you can just buy it as a premade thing.

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I actually don't recommend doing that.

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Here's what I recommend you doing.

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I think you can look at what is included in

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that kit and you can arrange it all for yourself much

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more inexpensively.

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So I would look at everything that's included

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and they typically have different levels of kits.

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So they kind of have the basic kit and then the medium kit and then the, you know,

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super duper kit, whatever.

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I'm sure those aren't the words. But

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you know what I mean?

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Like the really,

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really thorough kit is really expensive and then like the basic kit

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is pretty cheap and it only has a few things in it.

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I would look at the most expensive mobile kit that they have

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and they'll include everything that's in that kit.

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I would make note of that and I would secure all of those things for yourself.

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So get them used, get them at dollar stores, get them at thrift stores,

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get them from friends and family.

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Do you know how many people, you know,

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are constantly purging toys and things as their kids grow up?

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So your nieces, your nephews, your neighbors, your friends, your own children,

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whatever, you will always have toys that would be appropriate for a CCPT mobile kit

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and you'll have access to those. So I would compile that for yourself.

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Make sure that you have all three categories of toys represented.

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You wanna make sure that you have the real life,

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you have the acting out aggressive and

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you have the creative artistic expression toys.

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As long as you have a representation from all three,

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that's what you want in your kit and then that is consistently put in

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the rolling duffel and those exact same things are with you every single time.

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I know a lot of people just kind of throw stuff in the back of their car and

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it's kind of hit or miss hodge-podge like some days I have this some days I have that

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you want consistency and predictability.

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That's also another tenet of the CCPT model.

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We have three categories of toys represented

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and the same toys are always available.

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So make sure that your mobile kit is well stocked,

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well equipped and purposefully assembled so that it has what you need.

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Ok.

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Here's my greatest thought on this for those of you that are doing mobile therapy,

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control what you can,

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there are always going to be things over which you have no control.

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You have no control that you go into people's homes.

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You, I mean, I would assume not,

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I would assume that if you could do it at a brick and mortar location, you would.

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So

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with the assumption that you have to go into people's

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homes or you have to meet them at other locations.

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If you don't have control over that,

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you have control over setting boundaries and expectations with parents,

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you have control over making sure that you clearly communicate

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and articulate what's going to happen for that therapeutic hour.

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You're going to maybe have them sign a contract

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that agrees to these stipulations. I will secure all pets.

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I will make sure other siblings are being attended to.

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I will make sure that there will be no phone or

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you know, other interruptions.

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I will ensure that someone is with other children at all times.

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I will make sure that the toys are set up before you get here.

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If sometimes parents will agree that they will set up toys for you,

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I don't know what your scenario is.

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But the goal is that you make it extremely clear what you need

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to not undermine the therapeutic process.

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And this is the same thing we do in a brick and mortar location.

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That's why we do an initial parent consult.

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We sit down

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and we make sure everything is clearly articulated to parents

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so that they're bought in and they're invested

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and they understand what the expectations are.

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You're doing. The exact same thing in these scenarios.

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And this is to have control over which you have control,

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you do not have control over certain scenarios.

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So it's really important that you set yourself up

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in a room with the fewest and least distractions

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where in the house, where in the library where wherever you happen to be,

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is it

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the least fragile?

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In other words, kids can be the most rambunctious without fear of breaking things

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and the most

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distraction free.

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So is that a bedroom, is that a loft? Is that the kitchen? Is that the living room?

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It doesn't matter,

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but it needs to be a room that is closed off

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and is going to have the least amount of distractions.

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Ideally,

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you don't really want it in the center of the house

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because the center of the house is the hub for activity.

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So what if the kid really needs a drink and you're in the kitchen

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that not your client, a sibling really needs a drink

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and the mom is likely not going to say you're

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gonna have to wait till the play session is over.

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So just be mindful of securing a location in the house or in the building

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that is going to be the most out of

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the way filled with the least distractions and the least

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concern for what would happen in a play session.

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And above all, you preserve the relationship.

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So even when there are distractions, even when there are interruptions,

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even when things don't go as planned,

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you address it out loud with your client.

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Oh, someone popped in. We didn't expect that

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you normalize it. You neutralize it, you address it out loud

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and then that allows both of you to regroup and move on

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and pick right back up where you were.

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Now,

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are there times that a distraction will be a little bit

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disruptive and the child will deviate from what they were playing originally

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because it kind of threw them off. Yes.

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But again, that's something over which you have no control.

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So you do everything you can from your side

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and then you just go with whatever happens

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and then you make sure that it's addressed directly with the child.

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Boy.

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Every time we play, your brothers and sisters wanna come in here,

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they must really wish they could play.

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So you just have to normalize it,

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acknowledge it out loud and then it allows the child to process if they choose

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or they can just get right back into their play.

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And that's the most effective way to handle any kind of un

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unexpected or unintended surprises that happen when you're in an environment that

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you don't have the governance as you would in a regular playroom.

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So Falon Rudi and all of the other people

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that have brought that up in the Collective.

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I hope that that's helpful for you all.

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It is a little bit tricky to do mobile play therapy, but with certain

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mindsets and certain parameters and certain goals, it is certainly doable.

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I have actually done mobile sessions

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and I've, I've completed treatment from session one all the way through

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in a mobile play therapy capacity. So

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it is possible it is something that you can do.

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You just have to kind of learn some tricks to, to best manage it.

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So,

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thanks so much for emailing me for both of you and the others that have mentioned it.

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Hope that that was helpful.

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And if you want to reach out to me, please do so. brenna@thekidcounselor.com.

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Have a great week. Y'all. Love you. Talk again soon. Bye.

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Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast

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with Dr. Brenna Hicks for more episodes and resources.

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Please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.