Chapter 7 - Treatment Planning

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter is dedicated to an important play therapy activities, i.e., treatment planning. Treatment planning has four components. First, the play therapist must develop accurate and comprehensive treatment goals that are consistent with the case formulation and the theoretical model being used. Second, the play therapist must find a way to work with both the child client and his or her caregivers to develop a treatment contract. This contract is designed to address each party's needs in a way that will keep them actively engaged in the treatment process over time. Third, the play therapist must organize the treatment goals and the treatment contracts into a realistic and sequential treatment plan. Finally, the play therapist must devise both experiential and cognitive/verbal interventions that will move the client toward the treatment goals. The chapter addresses the first three components of this process. It presents a strategy for developing and organizing specific treatment goals. It then combines the case conceptualization with the organized treatment goals to develop certain things. It develops a treatment contract that addresses the needs of the child and the significant others in the child's life. It also creates a global play therapy treatment and a detailed session-by-session play therapy treatment plan.