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MINOT, N.D. () — Play therapy refers to a wide range of exercises and techniques, focusing on children’s natural urge to play, in order to help improve a child’s mental health.
But becoming a registered play therapist is not an easy task.
500 hours of supervised play therapy experience, 2,000 hours of clinical experience, and 150 hours of play therapy training are just some of the prerequisites needed to become a play therapist.
It takes years and that’s in addition to the masters degree or higher a therapist has to earn in mental health.
“For me, it means the opportunity to grow professionally in my knowledge and my skills and working with children and families, to me it is that accomplishment, that accreditation and being able to help families, children, and individuals,” said Sandi Richter, the therapist and owner of Creative Counseling PLLC.
In 2019, Richter attended the North Dakota Play Therapy Association’s training session.
It was there that she set a new goal for herself.
“You know Albert Einstein said it best. It is one of the quotes play therapy and play therapists use the most that play is the highest form of research,” said Richter.
She says play therapy helps kids in so many ways.
“It is a wonderful way that it lowers the defensive mechanism. It helps work on them being able to express their inner thoughts and emotions about the world around them, what they are experiencing in their world, and to be able to resolve what is happen internally and learn different kinds of therapeutic coping skills to be able to navigate their everyday life,” said Richter.
She uses fidgets and other toys to help kids with their coping skills.
And while the kids are playing, she is observing them to see what they are trying to communicate.
“Social skills, we work on receptive and expressive communication. We work on learning how to identify emotions, how to regulate those emotions, how to regulate behaviors. Behaviors really are our external expression of internalized thoughts and feelings,” said Richter.
Licensed play therapists use play to help their clients, most often children ages three to 12 years, to better express themselves and resolve their problems.
Richter says this type of therapy is popular.
Right now in Minot, there is on average a four to six month wait list for families.
