Play Therapy Divorce

Effects of divorce on children

When considering the effect of divorce on your child it is important to remember the conditions of the family break-up and the extent that both parents will be involved with your child’s rearing. Your child cannot control the outcome of a divorce. Work, reasons for parental separation, distance of separate parents, changing residence, changing rules, new relationships in the family are only a few of the many factors that have an effect on the lifestyle, heart thought and behavior of your child.

The emotional behavior they display can be isolation, withdrawal, angry outbursts, crying spells, uncontrollable behavior, mouthing off, disregarding authority, hitting, biting, breaking objects, over or under eating, fearful of new situations, and/or separation anxiety.

The range and degree of the behavior expressed will vary according to your child’s developed cognitive coping ability and factors presented.

Helping Your Child Cope

Providing your child with a natural medium to explore self-blame, self-control, acceptance, rebuilding, self-confidence and moving forward is an active productive way for them to move through the difficult experience and emotional trauma.

Every child will have different emotional behavior reactions to divorce loss. The exploration and emotional release produced with expressive play therapy divorce gives your child individual help and a natural way for them to develop and strengthen their coping ability and unique character.

“Happily Ever After”

"Happily Ever After" is a series of six child expressive play counseling sessions focused on six typical emotional behavioral topics that effect your child when going through a divorce or loss. This child play therapy series starts with one additional beginning session to solidify a working relationship with your child, to build rapport and identify your child’s unique defense and coping mechanism to build upon.

This series of expressive play counseling for divorce uses storytelling and play-doh creature creation as a metaphor and medium for your child to express the life event they are experiencing. Your child working through each session allows for individual discovery and personal healing.

Focused clay therapy using a play-doh creation leads your child to explore how they are thinking, feeling and reacting to a major change in their life. Through touch, talk and storytelling they express and release negative thoughts and self-dialogue, learning new adaptive productive coping behavior. By squeezing and working with play-doh they release physical stress and tension. through storytelling they relate, express and develop behavior change.

Cause and effect, controlling life events, accepting what happens, regaining self confidence and moving forward by developing problem solving skills is enacted and talked about through the six session expressive play counseling divorceseries “Happily Ever After". If you would like to know more about this series of play counseling sessions please call 708-224-8528 or see services. This program is also provided in a group setting.