Non-Directive Play Therapy
"Play is used as a means of helping children deal with emotional and behavioural issues. In a safe, emotionally supportive setting the child can play out concerns and issues in the presence of a therapist who can help them feel heard and understood.”(2p.16)
The toys and creative material in the playroom inform the child that they are given permission to be a child and feel free to be fully themselves. This allows the child to experiment with and experience a sense of mastery.
In NDPT the power of change resides within the child and is not a result of direction, advice, or information the therapist might have to offer. In this approach, play fosters mastery, learning, and release from painful emotional experiences and feelings.
The therapist’s role is to develop a trusting relationship with the child and to reflect and respond to the child’s thoughts, feelings, and activities in such a way as to facilitate the resolution of the child’s emotional difficulties.
“Play is the most natural method of self-healing that childhood affords”. (13p42)