Apprenticeship training course

Play therapist (level 7)

There are 7 training providers who offer this course. Check if a training provider can deliver this training in the apprentice's work location.

Information about Play therapist (level 7)

Work to improve children’s mental health, emotional well-being, learning capabilities and social relationships.

• Knowledge, skills and behaviours:
  View knowledge, skills and behaviours

  Knowledge

  • What is required of a play therapist by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA), government and professional bodies
  • The importance of play and attachment theory in child and adolescent development and its role in play therapy
  • What is required to be fit for play therapy practice taking into consideration physical and mental health and social factors
  • How to manage the equipment used in play therapy practice to ensure that it meets the needs of the children irrespective of their physical developmental needs
  • Psychopharmacology for working with children receiving play therapy
  • Requirements to manage a playroom/ play space for therapeutic uses
  • The workings of and the relevant components of children's brains, and how the mind is created and changed
  • The Integrative Holistic model of Play Therapy for children who have mental health and emotional well-being issues not exclusive to trauma, loss, neglect, abuse, anxiety, relationship issues
  • How to use a wide range of therapeutic activities including creative arts media for play therapy purposes
  • Indirect and direct play therapy modalities, as appropriate with individual and with groups of children to build positive relationship with the child
  • Effective and efficient referral procedures for play therapy
  • Research relating to the efficacy, effectiveness and efficiency of children's mental health and emotional well-being of play therapy interventions
  • Physical safety risks and how to mitigate them in play therapy practice
  • How to respond therapeutically to a client when the client plays and moves within the 4 quadrants of the Play Therapy Dimensions Model
  • What is required to work ethically with clients
  • The importance of therapeutic boundaries within clinical working
  • How attachment and child development theories are related to play therapy practice
  • How to record, process and store sensitive data in-line with GDPR
  • Effective reporting with stakeholders, parents and professionals identifying the on-going needs of the child.

  Skills

  • Apply in practice play in child development with children and early adolescents
  • Identify, acquire and manage the safe use of materials and equipment for use in the playroom for therapeutic purposes these are: paper, art materials, clay, sand, sand trays with symbols, musical instruments, puppets, dressing-up clothes, water, movements items, this is an example of the minimum therapeutic media required which would be adapted to meet the physical needs of the children
  • Recognise personal issues that arise as a result of sessions with children, clinical supervision and training; takes actions such as personal therapy or CPD to deal with these
  • Apply neurobiology to work with children in observation, assessment, during sessions and reporting upon clinical outcomes
  • Manages the consultation process through interview and discussion skills, adequate assessment of client needs, obtaining consent, agreeing a therapy contract including therapeutic objectives or making a referral to another professional concerned with children’s well-being if the case is outside their competence or resources
  • Make clinical assessments using psychometric tools such as the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)
  • Applies a theoretical framework to play therapy practice including child development and attachment theory
  • Use the Integrative Holistic Model of Play Therpay: therapeutic stories, clay, role play, drawing and painting, puppets, games, sand-play, music, movement, creative visualisations, masks, dressing up, blocks/lego, water, messy play, relaxation
  • Decide and practice when to work indirectly or directly, and with unconscious or conscious processes using the Play Therapy Dimensions Model as a guide to session activities
  • Plan and use play therapy for groups of children
  • Establish, agree and enforce boundaries to keep the children safe
  • Respond to different children’s behaviours such as aggressive/acting out or passive children in play therapy sessions
  • Assess and deliver play therapy interventions with a variety of conditions on a spectrum of needs from low risk to high risk as measured by the SDQ and other factors
  • Apply ethical principles to ensure personal safety within individual or group play therapy sessions.
  • Manages the handling of sensitive clinical data in practice
  • Ability to effectively communicate to stakeholders, parents and professionals identifying the on-going needs of the child

  Behaviours

  • Integrity and coherent in dealings with others
  • Demonstrate at all times a personal commitment consistent in their approach
  • Demonstrate empathy through communicating and understanding of another person's experience from that person's perspective (including the children's)
  • Resilient through having the capacity to work with parents' and children’s concerns without being personally diminished
  • Ability to make decisions in the best interest of the child when needing to refer to others
  • Demonstrate how to apply appropriate criteria to inform decisions and actions regardless of personal views without discrimination
  • Show compassion through kindness, consideration, dignity, empathy and respect
  • Respect confidentiality of the child and parents, recognising the differences between a therapeutic role as compared to eg a teaching role
• Apprenticeship category (sector): Care services
• Qualification level: 7; Equal to master’s degree
• Course duration: 36 months
• Maximum funding: £20,000 ; Maximum government funding for ; apprenticeship training and assessment costs.
• Job titles include:
  • Practitioners in therapeutic play skills
  • Accredited play therapist
  • Certified play therapist

View more information about Play therapist (level 7) from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.