What is Theraplay?

As an integrated clinician, I am eternally grateful for this wonderful technique, deceptively simple, amazingly accessible, and tested over decades with thousands of parent-child dyads. It’s application is without bounds, and my purpose here is to encourage clinicians to think about Theraplay as a therapy of choice for trauma and its subsequent clinical issues.

My son is a whole new boy. I have not had to restrain him in months, and there is no more self-mutilation. He is compassionate, loveable and considerate. He can play and take turns, and he trusts adults. He turned six recently, and I feel that there is so much hope now. When we first came to The Theraplay Institute, we were afraid that we could not be the forever family we had promised him. Now we can fulfill that promise. If I had not come to The Theraplay Institute, we would probably not be together today.

I highly recommend Theraplay. Based on my principles of attachment, Theraplay enables parents and their children – of all ages – to again experience reciprocal joy and interests, cooperation and delight. This provides them with safety and sense of closeness which creates a context where ongoing conflicts and worrisome behaviors are likely to decrease.

Until my introduction to Theraplay, I struggled to successfully engage Ellen in physically intimate and challenging ways. Now, I can truly say that Theraplay has shown me ways to engage with children irrespective of age, ability or needs.

Theraplay is an efficient mode of therapy. Theraplay seamlessly incorporates within a play environment several elements that are shared with models of psychotherapy. From a Polyvagal perspective Theraplay respects the biobehavior state of the child, applies therapists initiated social engagement strategies to trigger a state of safety in the child, and promotes synchronous reciprocal interactions as a neural exercise that increases social flexibility and improves emotion regulation.

Of all the services we engaged to help this child, Theraplay had the most immediate and lasting effect on Amanda, as well as our family. Amanda is now 17, is the blessing of my life and a model young woman. Without Theraplay, I would not have seen this happy ending.