TraumaPlay™ is a flexibly sequential play therapy model for treating traumatized children that has been in development for the last 20 years as Paris Goodyear-Brown has worked with children and families with complex trauma to integrate several evidence based treatments into a developmentally sensitive play-based treatment continuum.
TraumaPlay™ is informed by our current understandings of the neurobiology of play and the neurobiology of trauma, and is built on the power of one to heal the other. Grounded in attachment theory, the child or family is met moment-to-moment as therapeutic needs are assessed. The framework of seven therapeutic treatment goals serve as the umbrella under which clinicians have freedom to employ a variety of interventions. A subset of goals related to enhancing the role of Parents as Partners expands clinicians’ finesse in integrating parents into trauma treatment.
TraumaPlay™ allows room for both non-directive and directive approaches to be employed and incorporates clinically sound elements of other evidence based treatments such as Child Centered Play Therapy, Theraplay, and Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy, while offering original interventions that were developed in real-world clinical settings to maximize therapeutic absorption through every play-based learning portal. This training will equip clinicians with a wealth of targeted techniques that are tied to the model’s umbrella treatment goals.
TraumaPlay™ offers a best practice framework for trauma work with families while encouraging ongoing assessment and offering flexibility to the clinician to tailor treatment to the needs of individual families. See the flowchart below for a better understanding of the treatment continuum.
