302 | Bringing CCPT Into Schools: Group Sessions, Teacher Buy-In, and Special Education Support

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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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we are talking through

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how to implement CCPT in a school-based

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approach.

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Robin in New York reached out with a question about

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working in schools and what that looks like practically and feasibly

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to be fully adherent to the model while

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having some obligations of being in the school setting.

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So I'm really looking forward to talking through

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that and to those of you school-based counselors,

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I wanted to let you know I had a listener reach out a while back

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and I had referred to you all as guidance counselors in an episode.

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Granted,

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my disclaimer is not an excuse,

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just,

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just

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helping you to understand when I was in the grad school,

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many moons ago.

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It was still the guidance counseling track and I was

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told that you all are no longer called guidance counselors,

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so I wanted to correct that.

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I do know now

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that that term has changed

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and I wanted to let you all know the more

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school-based play therapists and the more CCPT we can get into schools,

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the better our entire world is for it.

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So for those of you who are school-based counselors.

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And you are providing CCPT in the academic environment.

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Huge high five and thank you for

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helping teachers and staff and faculty and principals

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and all of that

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dynamic

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to understand the value of CCPT

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and I just wanted to

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let y'all know I do,

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I do have a better understanding of how you all refer to yourselves now,

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so

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I will no longer say guidance counselors.

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OK.

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So,

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let's read parts of Robin's email and then we'll dive in.

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I am a school counselor who has always

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felt like grad school and my experiences have not

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given me the proper clinical training necessary to do

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my job as effectively as I would like.

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I'm interested in learning how to utilize play therapy in my counseling lessons.

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And I'm worried how to work that out in a school setting.

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For example,

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case load size requires me to group students.

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Additionally,

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I'm not sure what the reception by teachers would look like.

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For example,

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recently,

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a first grader was acting out by throwing chairs.

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I had him for counseling right after,

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and he really wanted to paint.

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I felt nervous to allow him to bring his painting back to the classroom,

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as I'm sure his teacher would interpret it as me rewarding bad behavior

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when really I was trying to see if anything meaningful would come out in his art.

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Lastly,

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many of my students have special ed and in general I find communicating

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with them to be challenging.

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I wonder if play therapy would be helpful for this population.

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All right,

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Robin,

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lots of questions.

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We'll tackle all of them together.

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Thank you for emailing and sending this in.

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So let's talk through just the logistics first and foremost.

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At the beginning,

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you said,

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I'm wondering how to utilize play therapy in my counseling lessons

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because my case load size requires that I group students.

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The beauty of CCPT is it can be provided in a group setting,

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so we have proven efficacy

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that we can have group play sessions.

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Obviously the larger the group,

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the more difficult it is.

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So I would hopefully encourage you to have no more than 4 kids in a group at a time.

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2 or 3 would be ideal,

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but you can absolutely remain adherent to

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the model and provide the therapeutic value

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for children in a group play setting.

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And you structure it exactly the same way you have the toys,

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you give them the autonomy and freedom you can play with

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all the toys in most of the ways that you want

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and then they're able to

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take charge,

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play together,

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play individually,

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and you are able to use the reflective responses and the pillars

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just as you would if you were doing a one on one session.

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As far as what the reception by teachers would look like,

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I've coached a lot of school-based

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play therapists,

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and here's what I've learned in collaborating

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with them and having lots of conversations.

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It really comes down to treating

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your faculty and staff

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like your customers,

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and I,

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I can't get into the depth of that in this episode,

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but I just want to make it known

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we talk about our child is the client and our parent is the customer.

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When you are in a school setting.

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The faculty and staff,

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specifically the principal and or,

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you know,

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high leadership in the school,

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they become your customer so you have to pour a lot of energy and attention

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into really making sure that they build relationship with you directly.

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The more relationship you have with them,

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the more you'll be able to help them understand the value of what you're doing.

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It can't be on the periphery,

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it can't be ad hoc,

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you know,

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in the hallway in a five minute conversation.

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You really prioritize building relationships

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and then helping them understand why you're doing what you're doing

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as relationship continues to unfold.

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So that would be my recommendation

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because really it's about setting expectations.

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You have to set expectations of what CCPT is,

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why it works,

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what the outcomes are,

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what the value is,

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and that's your articulation,

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but articulation falls flat

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when there isn't relationship first.

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The,

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the pouring into the relationship with the faculty and staff,

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that's the very

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beginning of the expectation setting.

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Specifically,

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the first grader that you provided as an example,

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when you said I felt nervous to allow him to bring his painting back to the classroom,

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you wouldn't feel nervous if you had already articulated to teachers

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the importance of that time with you

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and that the child gets to decide what to do and that every decision that

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is made in the playroom has therapeutic value.

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There's significance and intention in every single

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thing that happens in a play session.

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He needed to paint whether it was for

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self soothing whether it was for decompression,

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whether it was for

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expression of emotion,

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whether it was for all kinds of reasons there was need and desire

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in him choosing to paint.

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Therefore,

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we wouldn't feel nervous about that

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because we could justify the therapeutic necessity

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of anything that was chosen

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and whether the teacher understands it or not.

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We try to help them get there,

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but we also know that sometimes they won't understand,

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but we fall back on theory and we fall back on outcome that we know will emerge.

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And as far as.

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Let the students that are

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in special education and finding communicating with them to be challenging.

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We know that

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children

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who have learning disabilities,

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have developmental delays,

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have any kind of special education diagnoses,

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they're very well suited for child-centered play therapy.

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Because it's not predicated on cognitive ability,

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it's not predicated on logic,

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it's not predicated on intellectual processing

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all of a sudden it's meeting the child where they are,

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it's building relationship

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and it's about helping them to

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feel unconditionally accepted,

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unconditionally loved.

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They don't need to talk,

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they don't need to think,

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they just come in and play.

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And so when you said I find it hard to communicate with them,

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often it is hard to verbally communicate.

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It's hard to intellectually communicate,

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but it is not hard at all to communicate via play.

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And that's what CCPT provides

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is the ability to communicate through play,

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understand through play,

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and relate through play.

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So yes,

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very much well suited for children

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in special education or with learning disabilities,

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cognitive delays,

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any of those things.

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So Robin,

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thank you so much for those questions.

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I hope that that is helpful and again for those of you

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who are school based and are bringing CCPT into the academic environment,

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please continue to do that.

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Please continue to advocate for the model,

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advocate for your children,

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advocate for play therapy as a whole.

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It's a very different model

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than the education model

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and it's about

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helping them understand

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the ways that they can be integrated,

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the ways that we can support each other.

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The ways that we can understand each other,

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it becomes very collaborative in a school environment

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and you all are really at the heart of that.

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So huge thank you to you all,

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those of us that do not work in the school system,

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we are very appreciative for those of you that do because you become

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liaisons for those of us that are not in that school environment.

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And related aside really quickly,

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those of you that

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are in schools,

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you have a unique ability

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and a unique platform

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because you understand

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the plight of teachers,

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you understand what it's like to be in a school,

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you understand the politics of leadership in a school,

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you interact with staff,

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you are an insider

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and for those of us that are not in the schools,

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we often interact with those who are.

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But we are

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not typically as well received because

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they automatically say,

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sometimes,

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not always,

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but automatically say often,

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well,

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you have no idea.

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You don't understand,

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you don't get it.

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You only work with one kid at a time,

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not 25 kids at a time.

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And

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we struggle to

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get buy in and we struggle to find inroads.

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You already naturally are there

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pour into teachers,

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help them feel appreciated and understood and valued,

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connect with your

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leadership,

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your staff and faculty.

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Make sure that you

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build relationships

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because you already have that unique dual relationship where you

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understand the mental health side and the academic side.

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And that gives you a lot of leeway.

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So huge thank you to those of you who are in the schools.

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All right,

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love y'all.

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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.

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Brenna Hicks.

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For more episodes and resources,

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please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.