Ethics in Professional Roles & Boundaries for Play Therapists: Play Therapy Ethics Training

A Play Therapists' Ethics Training by Rosie Newman & Dr. Kade Sharp.

I was thrilled when my colleague Rosie Newman, LMHC, RPT-S™, reached out to see if I was interested in teaching about Professional Roles & Boundaries with her! We had both attended the training, which is now required for therapists in states like Washington and Idaho. Both of us recognized right away that a bulk of the content was geared toward therapists who work primarily with individual adults - even though we had attended different presentations! We knew right away that this wouldn't fully support the Play Therapist community and our unique roles with youth, guardians, family systems, and collateral individuals who collaborate in our clients' care.

So we got started on building a training that covered real issues: a Play Therapist's Ethics training! Rosie and I are both Registered Play Therapist-Supervisors, so we were able to create case vignettes based on real experiences we've witnessed, supported others through, or have experienced ourselves. Play Therapists deserve real-world scenarios (and, lets be honest, it helps the training feel more engaging and realistic!)

We considered discussing things like:

• custody concerns and our role(s)

• confidentiality and boundaries with guardians

• dual roles and navigating tricky situations

• honoring the client's need without fully sacrificing ourselves

And a lot more...

Ultimately we decided to cover three pretty common scenarios in our training:

1. How Play Therapists can navigate dual roles with a "key party"

2. What to do when a Play Therapist is asked to provide an opinion on custody

3. How Play Therapists can handle their child becoming classmates with a client

Let's take a peek at the scenarios we cover- and if they intrigue you, you can sign up for the self-paced training here!

How Play Therapists Can Navigate Dual Roles with a "Key Party" training scenario:

On December 1st, you have a free consultation call with Kim's mother and she says that Kim needs support around anxiety across all life domains, poor school attendance, and difficulties sleeping independently at night. You check in about custody near the end of the call and she lets you know that she's not even sure who Kim's father is because she was "playing the field" when she got pregnant. She says she's a single mom and although it's hard, she's happy to do it for her daughter and says "men complicate things." You agree to take Kim on as a client and do an intake on Dec 7th, then begin CCPT sessions on Dec 14th.

In your personal life, you switch churches on Dec 15th and start to get to know the congregation. There's a Singles Event coming up and you sign up to attend. At work, on Dec 21, you have a second CCPT session with Kim - so three meetings in total, including the intake- and things seem to be going well. Kim's play reflects night time anxiety; she doesn't talk much about school or family things, sticking to playing.

On Dec 22nd you go to that evening's Singles Event at the church and hit it off with a man who has been at that church for a few months now. You two bond over shared interests and he asks you out for a Christmas Eve date looking at Christmas lights, grabbing hot cocoa, maybe catching a Christmas movie afterward. You agree and the date goes really well on Dec 24th... but during the date, you two start sharing about your families. He lets you know that he's a little stressed out because his ex has been saying she's not going to let his daughter, who he has partial custody of, visit him for Christmas and is going to go against the parenting plan. The more he talks, the more you realize his daughter IS Kim: same name, same age, same mom's name, same challenges with sleep and school attendance... but you don't say anything, not wanting to break confidentiality and ultimately unsure of what to do.

You meet with Kim's mom on Dec 28th for a parent session, where you had planned to start teaching her Child Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) skills, but now you feel uncertain what to do for that session...

What to do when a Play Therapist is asked to provide an opinion on custody training scenario:

Ava is a 6-year-old child referred to play therapy by her mother due to concerns about difficulty with transitions between homes. During the initial consultation call, Mom reports that she has sole decision-making authority and would like to begin services.

The therapist requests a copy of the parenting plan and Dad’s contact information to clarify consent for treatment. Upon review of the parenting plan, the therapist notes that decision-making related to healthcare is designated as joint.

The therapist reaches out to Dad to obtain consent for services. Dad reports no concerns regarding Ava’s functioning while in his care. Both parents provide consent for therapy and participate in separate intake sessions.

The therapist begins Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) with Ava and completes five sessions. During this time, Ava engages in play involving themes of movement between homes, separation, and control, without expressing a clear preference for one home over the other.

Following these sessions, the therapist receives a letter from Mom’s attorney requesting the therapist’s professional opinion regarding the current custody arrangement.

How Play Therapists can handle their child becoming classmates with a client training scenario:

You have a consultation call with Nevaeh and her parents on Nov 1st and it sounds like she needs support with processing and the grief associated with her grandmother's recent passing. She actually asked her parents to get her into counseling. You've got those skills so you take her on as a client and you meet with her and her parents on the 8th for an intake, and have three sessions that go really well.

At the end of the fourth session on Dec 6, when you walk Nevaeh to the lobby, her parents say that they're actually going to be moving this month so they need to take a break until after Nevaeh's Winter Break ends in January. You agree that this will work fine, especially since there are no big risk factors for her and she has a good support system at home. You don't get any details about where they're moving but you figure you can hear more when they return to services early January.

In the meantime, right before Winter Break, your own middle school kid invites their classmates to come to your home for their birthday party during the Break. On the day of the party, guests start filing in (some with their parents, some without.) In walks Nevaeh and her dad! It turns out Nevaeh switched school districts during the move and received the invite right before the Break, but didn't realize that you had a middle schooler or that this was your kid.

Not wanting to make a scene or break confidentiality, you don't say anything in the moment outside of greeting them as if you didn't yet know them and letting them in for the party. But now we have to figure out what you do next!

How do Play Therapists make ethical decisions?

Well, we use an Ethical Decision-Making Model! Rosie and I are fond of the one by Carnes-Holt, et al. (2016) because it's thorough and easy to understand. Here's a graphic I created for the training - feel free to make it your screensaver or phone background 😉

The steps are self-explanatory and this model is referenced in many different articles. It also aligns with APT's Play Therapy Best Practices document. If you appreciate handouts, scripts, and other tools, Rosie provided a bunch from her Play Therapy Documentation Essentials book to those who attended the live training (and they're attached to the self-paced one too.)

Need a Play Therapist Ethics training?

If all of that sounds interesting to you and relevant to your work, you should go register for our Ethics in Professional Roles & Boundaries for Play Therapists training! We had a great group who attended the live version, so the recording includes us reading their great commentary, ideas, and questions, too. If you get a chance to watch, I'd love to hear your thoughts!