Homeless Play Therapy

INTRODUCTION Homeless families with children are often faced with many challenges daily. There are many reasons families become homeless and how they choose to handle their situation has a great impact on their children. Researchers say children can suffer from mental, physical, cognitive and behavior issues which can be attributed to their homelessness. Services such as play therapy can assist with behavior and cognitive development. Play therapy as an intervention is beneficial and helps develop relationships between the professional social worker and the child.

REVIEW

Nature of the problem, incidence, changes over time Families with children are one of the fastest-growing homeless populations in the United States (National Coalition

They often pick up social cues and behaviors from others living in shelters or on the streets. Parents are often either busy trying to deal with the day–to-day issues of supporting and managing a homeless family or have given up and the children are left to fend for themselves. They will accept nurturing from anyone willing to give it sometimes and when it comes from questionable sources, the children often do not have the mental capabilities to distinguish the difference between helpful and not. They have also learned that having “street smarts” is what will keep them alive day to day, thus affecting their behavior and social

Some parents will go to great lengths to hide it from their families and society. Schools do not always know which children are homeless and therefore, they cannot reach out and offer them the assistance they may need. Shelters are obviously aware; however, not all parents are willing to accept their help either. Play therapy is a service that is offered to help children learn how to adapt and function in society as well as manage their own emotions and feelings, but the parents need to let their children participate in these programs.

Interventions that have been tried and how they worked Child-centered play therapy (CCPT) is a mental health intervention that recognizes the relationship between counselor (or therapist) and child as the primary healing factor for children, ages 3 to 12 years, facing many types of challenges (Ray, Armstrong, Balkin, & Jayne, 2015). It provides children a safe environment where they may play with selected items, and consequently, communicate their feelings, thoughts, and behaviors through play (Baggerly & Jenkins, 2009). Rooms or areas are set up with appropriate toys that match the developmental and communication style of the children so the children can see that the therapist is working on their level. When the play therapist provides an environment that is nonthreatening and sends an empowerment message to the child, they emerge