Game Therapy: What it Is, Why it Works, and Who it’s For
- Working definition of game-based play therapy; scope
- When and why to use structured games in clinical practice
- Therapeutic benefits of using games in play therapy
- Limitations of the research and potential risks
Getting Started with Games in Play Therapy: Considerations for Game Selection, Client Fit, and Therapeutic Setup
- Game types (board games, cards, imaginative)
- Adapting commercial games for therapeutic use in play therapy
- Age, developmental, cultural, neurodiversity considerations
- Game selection based on presenting problem, stage of play therapy, client goals
Clinical Skills: Game-Based Assessment, Skill-Building, and Processing
- How to present the game to your play therapy client
- Using gameplay therapeutically to explore relational dynamics, core beliefs, skills, and self-concept
- Recognizing therapeutic “points of departure” in play therapy sessions
- Techniques for steering game play toward meaningful insight and reflection
- Therapeutic responses that validate, reframe, or deepen a child’s experience
- Strategies for managing dysregulation, cheating, or competition during gameplay
- Transitioning from play to processing when the game has ended
Game-Based Play Therapy in Action: Case Studies and Activity Demonstrations
- Rapport building: Reduce anxiety, build positive therapeutic rapport
- Feelings expression: label, identify, and safely express a range of emotions, and explore emotional intensity, body cues, and triggers
- Focus and self-regulation: target attention, impulse control, emotional modulation, and active regulation
- Social skills: promote cooperation, communication, perspective-taking, conflict resolution, listening, and empathy
- Anxiety and fears: provide psychoeducation and strategies for managing anxiety
- Trauma and stress: Normalize common responses to trauma, address cognitive distortions
- Self-Esteem: identify strengths and build positive self-concept and resilience, as well as identity exploration
- Family interaction: attachment, communication, and problem-solving within families
- Termination: Affirm therapeutic progress and provide a positive ending to play therapy


