Play Therapy UK has released results of a ten-year research program assessing the effectiveness of play therapy intervention. The comprehensive report, titled ‘An Effective Way of Alleviating Children’s Emotional, Behaviour and Mental Health Problems – the Latest Research’, is well presented, and the results should be inspiring to any practitioner.
Useful charts and uncomplicated language reveal the impact of play therapy on both an individual and societal scale. Factors such as age, gender, length of treatment, type of treatment (group, sand tray, puppets, etc.), and nationality are all addressed, and the report offers a cost-benefit analysis of play therapy, analyzing the money put into play therapy programs and the return received by society.
The big takeaway stat is a 74-83% positive change in children referred for play therapy–which of course comes as no surprise to us practitioners!
What do you think of these results? Share your opinions in the comments section!