play A WINDOW INTO the LIFE OF A CHILD

How Play Therapy Can Heal

WORDS : ERIN ROCHELEAU and ANGELA CAVETT PHOTOGRAPHY : Provided by CHRYSALIS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SERVICES

I have the honor and privilege of watching children learn, grow and heal. What goes on in a child’s brain and how they process the world around them is a beautiful thing. My window into their world is play. Kay Red eld Jamison, a clinical psychologist, wrote, “Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.” This statement rings especially true as we, as a community, heal from the Coronavirus pandemic which impacted all areas of our lives. We all processed the virus in di erent ways as adults. We took on new hobbies, perfected recipes, connected to nature and connected to others in digital ways. Living rooms and guest rooms were transformed into o ces and classrooms, as schools and work places switched to distance schooling and working from home became the norm.

In my own children, I saw them process all of these changes through play. My son who was 2.5 years old at the start of the pandemic grappled with these changes through his love for superheroes. He lined up Spiderman, Batman and Captain America to defeat the evil villain, the Coronavirus, who is invisible, and lives in the air all around us. His sister who was 5 at the start of the pandemic struggled with missing friends from preschool. Her play centered around parties and vacations to Disney World with her preschool friends. Both of these play scenarios were integral in allowing my children to sort through and process a complex and strange time when their worlds were turned upside down.