When Althea Simpson, a licensed clinical social worker, introduces an activity during a play therapy session to one of her young Black clients, she prefers to use Black dolls and books featuring Black characters.
It's one of the modifications she's made to her practice at Unicorn Life Play Therapy in Woodbridge, Virginia. "I've found play therapy to be very effective with Black children and families," Simpson says. "But everything we use has to be representative of that child's world."Simpson has been in private practice 12 of her 18 years as a therapist. Since 2016, she's been a registered play therapist-supervisor through the Association for Play Therapy, a national professional association promoting the value of play, play therapy and credentialed play therapists. It's a two- to seven-year credentialing process and includes 150 training hours, 35 supervised hours of clinical play therapy and 2,000 work hours. "Play therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses expressive strategies and interventions to help children express or communicate their feelings," Simpson says. "It has to be developmentally appropriate … and you have to be intentional about what you choose to bring in a session, and it should always be tied back to the child's treatment goals and treatment plan."Black Play Therapy Society, founded by Simpson in 2019, is raising awareness about Black play therapy and highlighting the knowledge and talent of Black therapists who are practicing play therapy. "I started the Black Play Therapy Symposium in 2019, which is a conference to teach culturally responsive techniques and about Black play therapy to all therapists, all mental health professionals who are working with the Black community," she says. "The needs are unique; the needs are different. You have to meet Black children and families with humility and empathy."Evolution of play therapy Over the past 120 years, forms of play therapy such as client-centered, relationship, structured, nondirective and filial, developed by white practitioners around the globe, have been used as interventions with children dealing with emotions and trauma. Virginia Axline, author of "Play Therapy," first published in 1947, influenced play therapy, according to "Play Therapy: Overview and Implications for Counselors" in the American Counseling Association's Professional Counseling Digest. The article, published in 2007, asserts that play therapy is "appropriate for most children regardless of ethnicity or cultural background because children everywhere play." Therapists Athena Drewes and Eliana Gil, authors of "Cultural Issues in Play Therapy," published in 2005 and updated in 2021, explored how cultural identities in children affect play therapy. Drewes and Gil suggested play therapy practitioners build cultural competence when working with clients across all dimensions of diversity. Although more research needs to be conducted on the effects of play therapy with Black children, a 2018 article in the International Journal of Play Therapy cites that it's helpful for those who have experienced domestic violence, maltreatment and trauma. Twelve Black elementary-age children participated in six weeks of child-centered individual play therapy, followed by six weeks of group play therapy. Furthering the research is Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Kristy Brumfield, a registered play therapist-supervisor and presenter at the Seventh Annual Black Mental Health Symposium held in September. Brumfield was a contributor to "Multicultural Considerations in Play Therapy Caregiver Consultation" in "Emerging Research in Play Therapy, Child Counseling and Consultation," a book published in 2017. Based on the literature, research and clinical work, Brumfield and her fellow authors suggested guidelines to use when working with culturally diverse clients and their caregivers. The power of toys Ami Camp, a national certified counselor and assistant professor at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, specializes in school counseling. She worked as a school counselor for three years and in mental health settings for two years before joining the faculty at ECU in 2021. Camp, Ph.D., holds a certificate in child-centered play therapy, just one of many approaches to treatment. "There are so many different modalities for which therapists can work with the child to process their issues," Camp says. "I gravitate to child-centered play therapy, but they all work. Play therapy is absolutely effective for all children."Within child-centered play therapy, developing a rapport with the child and family is key. The child directs the activities and invites the therapist into their world. "I am following the child," Camp explains. "They take me where they are safe."
Toys must represent the child's world and ways of communicating.. "Toys are their natural language," Camp says. A child living in a rural community will be more comfortable with animal figurines and tractors, says Camp. "I have to know who the child is that I am seeing and what their background is," she says. "I have to be culturally responsive and culturally sensitive in order to then provide them with the toys in the playroom. It's a necessary modification that should be made."Vanessa Infanzon is a freelance writer in Charlotte, North Carolina, whose wide-ranging work has been published by regional and national media outlets.
First published in Black Mental Health Today, Fall 2022 (Vol. 5).