Elementary School Counselors' Experiences Delivering Child-Centered Play Therapy

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of 10 professional school counselors' usage of child-centered play therapy (CCPT). Research participants holding the CCPT credential means that they possessed former training to utilize play therapy in schools. At the time of this study, limited research existed about the experiences of professional school counselors' delivery of CCPT. A generic qualitative research methodology was chosen for this study, and data was collected from participant interviews aimed to highlight their unique experiences. Two themes were developed from a thematic analysis which included reviewing transcripts and utilizing NVivo to help analyze, code, and categorize the data. The themes were (a) child-centered play therapy effectiveness and (b) factors that influence the implementation of child-centered play therapy. Although findings indicated that school counselors found CCPT techniques to be effective with students for various reasons and that their play training is advantageous to their work, the results also showed that school counselors experience barriers, such as a lack of administrative support, that impact the fulfillment of desired play practices. The implications of the findings include the reduction of school discipline concerns, contribution to the field of both clinical and school counseling, and counselor education. The study offered relevant experiences of professional school counselors who possess insightful training that all share a commonality to increase the social-emotional well-being of elementary-aged students. The study aimed to focus on the experiences of delivering play solely, but a limitation to the study was that most of the data yielded to the participants' self-perception related to their counselor identity, role, and function. Due to novice research experience, the research question may have not been directly answered through the researcher-created guided questions. This is further addressed in the limitations section. Since the overall process of obtaining the SB-RPT credential was found very valuable to the participants, research on this sample should be explored further in the future. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]