T I P T O E S
The Initiative for Play Therapy
Outreach, Education, & Support
About Play Therapy
In a world dominated by adults…are counselors being taught to address the needs of children?
Most counseling students do not take a single course in mental health interventions for children. Yet kids need mental health support now more than ever.
There is a children’s mental health crisis in the United States and a shortage of professionals trained and available to help.
- Only 1 in 5 children with a mental, emotional, or behavioral disorder receives care from a qualified professional. (CDC, 2023)
- Suicide is the second leading cause of death, after gun violence, in children ages 10-17. (CDC, 2021)
- Fewer than 4% of psychologists are trained to work with children and adolescents. (APA 2021 Survey of Health Service Psychologists)
- The American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health, calling for urgent expansion of child-specific training and services.
- The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and the Children’s Hospital Association have jointly declared a National State of Emergency in Children’s Mental Health and called for urgent expansion of child-specific training and services.
What is play therapy?
- “Play is a child’s language, and toys are their words.” – Dr. Gary Landreth.
- The Association for Play Therapy defines play therapy as “the systematic use of a theoretical model to establish an interpersonal process wherein trained play therapists use the therapeutic powers of play to help clients prevent or resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve optimal growth and development.”
- Play therapy is to kids what talk therapy is to adults.
- Child-centered play therapy was first developed by Virginia Axline, a student of Carl Rogers, the esteemed founder of person-centered counseling and humanistic psychology. Axline adapted Rogers’ techniques for use with children.
- Children express emotions, process experiences, and work through difficulties through play just as adults do through talking. Play therapists are trained to understand this language of play and use it for healing and growth.
- Learn more about play therapy by visiting the Association for Play Therapy at a4pt.org.