Play therapy can be a tool for children and adolescents because play is their language. Children and teens sometimes don’t have the words to express emotions or relationships especially when those emotions are too strong or the relationships too threatening. There are many play therapy interventions that can be used to facilitate change, express feelings, help with self-regulation, and resolve problems. Children and adolescents who have been through trauma have a difficult time expressing what happened by simply using talk therapy which is why play therapy is so useful in their healing. Examples of play therapy techniques include puppets, therapy games, sandtray, dress up, dollhouses, and many more. Through this play, children and adolescents are able to process the feelings they have about certain situations without feeling too overwhelmed and by using the language that they are most familiar with.
