CCPT is a counseling approach in which the child-therapist relationship is the foundation for change.

Children believe they are just playing just like an adult may believe that they are “just talking” in therapy.

CCPT is grounded in decades of research supporting its effectiveness for a wide range of childhood concerns.

Your child is struggling, and you receive a referral to play therapy. You start to make calls and quickly realize it's more overwhelming than expected. Play therapy itself can be hard to grasp, and to make things more confusing, every therapist seems to do it a little differently. Then you come across something called Child-Centered Play Therapy, and it raises questions. "If I let my child take the lead, how is that actually going to help them?"

What Is Child-Centered Play Therapy?

According to Child-Centered Play Therapy International, Child-Centered Play Therapy (or CCPT) is “a counseling approach in which the relationship between the therapist and the child is the foundation for therapeutic change.” In this approach, “the child leads the content of therapy to gain greater levels of self-acceptance, decision making, and coping skills.”

Why We Follow Your Child’s Lead

In CCPT, your child chooses what to play, how to play, and when to change direction. This is by design and one of the most important things that makes this approach work. As a parent, I understand the skepticism. If you are bringing your child into therapy because they are having a hard time regulating their anger, how could letting them be in charge for 45 minutes possibly make things better?

Children communicate differently from adults. They don’t always have the words for what they are........

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