359 | Mobile Play Therapy Challenges: Keeping Kids in the Play Space

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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'm answering a question from Andrea in Florida.

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Shout out to my Florida people.

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I don't know if you're a native,

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Andrea,

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but

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the,

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the,

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the few of us that happen to have been born and raised here,

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that's a source of pride,

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100%.

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So,

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Floridians,

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it's nice to have you

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around if you're from here.

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A lot of Floridians are certainly not from here,

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and they

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just carry their northern ways down with them.

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So,

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you know,

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how we roll down here.

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All right,

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so let me read parts of.

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Andrea's email.

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This is about when you do CCPT in clients' homes.

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And I've actually been getting a lot of questions about mobile CCPT lately

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and in-home CCPT and just the,

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the navigation of the challenges and,

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and how that works when you don't have a playroom.

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So,

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I'm actually really glad,

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Andrea,

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that you emailed.

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We'll read this together and then we'll process.

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I provide at-home community therapy and work within the space of the house.

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I have a client,

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and her home space we use as the playroom doesn't have a door.

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We're on our 4th session,

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and I see a lot of power and control and aggressive themes coming up.

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She started last session not wanting to be in the

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playroom and left and followed Mom around the house.

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I practiced giving choices and ultimate limit setting.

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She eventually came into the playroom and stayed the remainder of the session.

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The same thing happened this week where she

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was able to self-control the urge to leave

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as when I reminded her of the limit.

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Eventually though,

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she left,

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didn't come back until her mom walked her back and agreed to stay

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when in her session.

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Then she visibly hung on to her mom and

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then said some passive aggressive comments to her mom.

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Her mom told her she'd lose the iPad if she didn't stay in the room,

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and then left.

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My client then curled up,

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sucked her fingers,

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and expressed emotion through crying.

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She said things like,

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I don't have choices.

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You say I'm the leader,

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but you don't let me do what I want,

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meaning leave and walk around the house.

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I reflected behavior and feelings and reminded her that

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she is the leader while she's in the playroom.

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She was able to regulate by the end of the session,

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and then our time was up.

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I'm lost on how to keep her in the playroom

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during our next session as I foresee this happening again.

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All right.

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So,

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there is no doubt that when you are not in a playroom,

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it is far harder to have control and governance over the session.

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That's one of the reasons why a playroom is

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a part of CCPT

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because it is easier to maintain

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the parameters

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of a session.

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If you are doing it

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outside,

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if you are doing it in a yard,

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if you're doing it in a hallway,

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if you're doing it in a room with no doors,

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it's really hard to have structure.

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It's really hard to govern

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where a child goes,

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where they play,

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all of those things.

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So,

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Andrea,

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I understand.

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I've done mobile sessions,

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I've done sessions at churches,

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I've done sessions in different environments.

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So,

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I do understand the challenges that go with this.

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So,

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one of the things that I highly recommend

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is if you're going to be doing mobile sessions,

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and this is true for any of you that are traveling CCPTs.

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So,

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you have your kit of toys and you show up,

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sometimes it's to a school,

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sometimes it's to a home,

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sometimes it's to a center,

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wherever you happen to set up,

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be mindful

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that you need to be selective with where you have your playtime.

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There are lots of spaces in a home.

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There's lots of places in a school.

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There's lots of places in a church.

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There's lots of places in a community center,

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in a library,

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wherever you happen to be.

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Get lay of the land and determine

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where in this location

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is going to set us up for the most success

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and give us the least amount of struggles and

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difficulties for maintaining the integrity of the model.

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So where you said

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you have the playroom,

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if it doesn't have a door,

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I would argue that is not the ideal place for your setup.

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So,

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maybe that means it's in a bedroom,

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maybe that means it's in a corner of the home that is kind of blocked off.

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Maybe it means that it's in the

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back area.

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Of the home.

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Like in Florida,

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we actually have Florida rooms,

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ironically,

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that's what they're called.

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And it's kind of like a room off the

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back that's typically screened in or just windows.

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Maybe that would be an appropriate place.

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Why?

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Because you want to have

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the least amount of need for limits.

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And obviously a room with no doors,

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that's very difficult because the child can literally just

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get up and march off.

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So,

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I think a lot of this comes down to choosing

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a scenario wherever you happen to be,

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that's going to be the easiest

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to maintain the integrity of the model.

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What I'm hearing and what you're sharing though,

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Andrea,

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is she does self-regulate,

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she does self-control.

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And especially early on,

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you know,

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3rd and 4th session,

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this is very early.

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You did not mention how old the child is,

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but I suspect she's young based on what you're describing.

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And

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younger kids move quickly

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through their

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play.

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So she might already be hitting resistance 3rd and 4th session,

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and that's appropriate.

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It makes sense according to the timeline.

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So we also need to understand the why.

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Why is she leaving?

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It's not arbitrary.

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It's not meaningless.

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There's always significance there.

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So what is at the heart of her leaving?

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Is it attachment?

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Is it resistance?

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Is it avoidance?

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Is it power and control?

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Is it whatever?

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There's all kinds of options there.

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So,

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I would make it clear this is going to

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be communication with mom leading up to the session,

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not when you're there for the session.

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You'll need to have a phone call with her

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beforehand.

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You'll need to set expectations of how mom handles things,

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what she does,

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how she

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stays out of the process.

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It's really important that mom does not enter the playroom.

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Mom does not engage if the child were to go find her,

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and certainly mom does not make threats

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or do any kind of bribery or negotiation

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as part of the playtime.

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So you're going to have to have clear communication with mom

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about expectations and process

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and set her up for success as well.

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And then as far as

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the little girl saying I don't have choices,

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you say I'm the leader,

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but you don't let me do what I want.

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You're going to have to fall back on the why behind the limit.

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And in this case,

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the why is

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our playtime is for

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this part of the

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home.

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So yes,

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you're going to reflect feelings.

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Oh,

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you really wish that you could walk around,

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you really wish that you could go see mom,

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you really wish that you could go somewhere else in the house,

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whatever needs to be reflected.

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But our play time is for right here on this rug

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or this sheet or this blanket or whatever you set up.

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That's another thought.

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I don't know.

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You didn't indicate,

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Andrea,

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one way or the other,

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but

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there needs to be a visual boundary for the playtime.

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So are you putting a sheet or a blanket or a quilt

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or is there a rug

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that very clearly provides visual boundaries of

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where the playtime is taking place.

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If there's nothing on the floor,

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it's real hard to govern where the child's going to be.

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So you might want to say our playtime is for staying on this rug.

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And

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you absolutely want to reflect that she wants to do other things,

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but the why remains consistent.

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Our play time is just for you and me.

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Our play time is for staying in this room.

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Our play time is for staying on this rug.

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Our play time is for using these toys.

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Whatever is going to help her understand the why behind it.

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And

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she regulated,

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she participated in the session.

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All of that bodes really well for future sessions and the work that she's doing.

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So really,

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I think this is just about being confident in your ability to set parameters,

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communicate with mom,

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make sure that the child sees consistency in the limits.

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And govern the space as much as possible

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to create

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a very easy to comply with the expectations

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situation for your client.

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So I hope that that is helpful for all of you

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that are traveling and mobile and going all over the place.

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It is tricky,

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but it is worthwhile,

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and we know that

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kids are going to benefit from their time with us

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regardless of the environment.

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And so it's about relationship.

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It's about preserving that relationship.

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And giving kids that unconditional acceptance,

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and we can do that anywhere.

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So it comes with its challenges,

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yes,

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but it certainly comes with its rewards.

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So,

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Andrea,

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thank you so much for the question.

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I hope that that is helpful for all of you.

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Make sure

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that

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you think through,

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even if you are not mobile,

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if you are in a standard static playroom,

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make sure you think through

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setting you and the child up for success.

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Is there something in your playroom that always requires limits?

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Is there something in your playroom that really puts you at

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ill ease?

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Is there something in the playroom that

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is a struggle every single week?

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Address that

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because we have to set up for success as much as possible

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when we provide CCPT.

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All right,

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I love y'all.

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Reach out if you would like to say hello,

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brenna@thekidcounselor.com.

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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.