PLAY THERAPY CORE COMPETENCIES

Contents

Introduction
Professional Qualities
Personal Qualities
Related Documents

Introduction

The effective deployment of skills and knowledge in Play Therapy are of the up-most importance to clients, families, the public and the profession. Play Therapists must ensure that their practice is based on clear and coherent competence. The core competencies of Play Therapists are defined as a set of professional and personal qualities that are a pre-requisite of good practice. A Play Therapist’s core competencies are:

Professional Qualities

Assess Need
To assess the emotional, psychological and social needs of clients

Plan and Contract Play Therapy
To formulate clear, meaningful and appropriate therapeutic contracts, including therapeutic aims, goals, boundaries and rules.

Intervene and Provide
To intervene and provide Play Therapy to achieve therapeutic change. This necessiates knowledge of Play Therapy approaches and formal/informal assessment approaches and the capacity to formulate treatment plans.

Initiate and plan ending
To provide planned and coherent opportunities to enable work to end with clients in a therapeutic manner

Ability to utilise agents of change
To implement and use agents of change to effect therapeutic change and meet defined aims and goals.

Maintain rules and boundaries
To maintain clear professional, personal and therapeutic boundaries

Maintain and uphold Confidentiality and Privacy
To maintain the confidentiality and privacy required by clients and significant others; meeting both legal and ethical standards and therapeutic aims and goals.

Work effectively with different client groups
To be able to practise effective Play Therapy with diverse client groups

Communication
To communicate effectively, through non-verbal and verbal expression, with clients and significant others. Also to have the ability to collaborate and communicate (in writing and/or verbally) with other professionals

Facilitate Communication
To facilitate verbal and non-verbal communication with clients and significant others

Listen
To listen actively to the verbal and non-verbal communications of clients and significant others

Engage and facilitate therapeutic relationship
To engage and facilitate the therapeutic relationship with clients and significant others

Utilise Supervision
To utilise supervision in an appropriate and effective manner

Utilise personal therapy and support
To utilise personal therapy and support in an appropriate and effective manner

Work effectively in different settings
To contribute effectively to the work of organisations

Specific Knowledge and Understanding
To have clear and coherent understanding and knowledge of Play Therapy, childhood development, child protection, child mental health and other relevant areas. To understand developmental perspectives, both normal and psychopathalogical.

Knowledge and understanding of therapeutic change and agents of change
To have understanding and knowledge of agents of change and change process within the Play Therapy process

Knowledge and understanding of other therapeutic modalities
To have understanding and knowledge of other therapeutic modalities

Knowledge and practice of working with parents/carers
To have the ability to articulate /translate Play Therapy practice /process and if appropriate to engage with the child's parents /carers in therapeutic process via Filial Therapy or other recognised treatment models.

Knowledge and understanding of laws relating to Play Therapy
To uphold and maintain legal standards for working with clients and significant others in Play Therapy

Knowledge and understanding of Ethical practice relating to Play Therapy
To uphold and maintain ethical standards for working with clients and significant others in Play Therapy

Knowledge and Understanding of Multicultural and Equal Opportunities issues
To uphold and maintain non-discriminatory practice in Play Therapy, grounded in awareness of equal opportunities legislation, policies and principles

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Personal Qualities

Humility
To assess, review and consider own competencies, strengths and weaknesses as a Play Therapist

Self Responsibility
To operate and practise efficiently within own level of competencies

Empathy
To empathise with the emotional and psychological expressions, experiences and needs of clients and significant others

Sincerity
To have commitment to being honest and genuine to self and others

Integrity
To act in a whole and sound manner towards self and others

Respect
To acknowledge and show esteem to people’s understanding, experiences and abilities

Courage
To be able to disregard fear and act upon own convictions and beliefs

Wisdom
To be able to apply knowledge and experience critically

Congruence
To be congruent with clients and significant others

Compassion
To be sympathetic, caring and concerned towards others

In-depth Personal Reflection
To reflect upon the emotional, social and psychological world of clients, significant others and the Self

Develop Professionally
To continue professional development in a responsible and effective manner

Develop Personally
To continue personal development in a responsible and effective manner

Related Pages

Complaints Procedure
Ethical Basis for Good Practice in Play Therapy

(Revised October 2006)