Welcome to the Play Therapy Circle Podcast

Welcome to part two of our conversation on working with parents and caregivers in child-centred play therapy. Picking up where last week left off, Kylie gets into the nuts and bolts of parent consultations: what to cover, how to structure them, and how to handle the challenges that inevitably come up when we partner with families.

Kylie begins by revisiting the initial consultation, which always happens before a child’s first session. She talks through confirming consent, explaining the limits of confidentiality, and highlighting the voluntary nature of consent so parents know they can step away at any time if the fit isn’t right for their family. She also shares why she makes a quick follow-up phone call after the first session, giving parents space to ask questions, debrief, and plan for the sessions ahead.

From there, Kylie unpacks her three-part structure for ongoing parent consultations every four to six weeks:

• Parent feedback first: why she strategically invites parents to share before she does, holding them at the centre as the experts in their child’s life and making sure they feel heard and seen
• Listening for connections: how what parents notice at home so often mirrors what she’s seeing in the playroom, and how that creates a natural launchpad for shared understanding
• Therapist feedback: referencing sessions completed, where the child is in the stages of play therapy, and the themes emerging in their play

One of the most valuable takeaways for newer play therapists is Kylie’s explanation of why she focuses on themes rather than the specific content of play. Describing every toy placed in the sand tray can lead parents to respond with “that just sounds like play,” and the professional integrity of the work can be lost. Instead, Kylie shows how to connect a theme, such as power and control, to what a child might be experiencing outside the playroom, like feeling an external locus of control in a separated family. As she reminds parents, children aren’t saving all their therapeutic content for a 45-minute session. Play is how they communicate everywhere.

Kylie also explores some of the most common challenges in parent work, including:

• Parents who want to be told what’s wrong with their child or are seeking a diagnosis
• Parents hoping therapy will “fix” their child
• Resistant or absent parents, and why consistent attendance matters (plus Kylie’s honest thoughts on monthly sessions)
• Separated parents with different views, and the importance of legal consent, neutrality and sharing the same information with both parents
• Parents whose own history is activated by their child’s therapy, and how to validate them while staying within scope and referring them on for their own support

Throughout the episode, Kylie returns to the heart of the person-centred approach: normalising, educating, attuning, connecting and validating, and genuinely believing in the capacity of every child, parent and family. Parents are not on the periphery. They are part of the therapeutic process and the primary healing environment for their child.

Next week, we move beyond the foundations into more advanced skills with a conversation on transference and countertransference.

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This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not provide therapeutic advice, and listening does not create a client-therapist relationship.