Catherine Ford Sori

Training Graduate Students to Work With Children and Families A Content Analysis of Students’ Perceptions of a Child-Focused Course

Previous studies revealed that an alarming number of family therapists exclude children from family therapy, largely because they lacked comfort with children and perceived that their training, especially in play therapy, was inadequate. Implementing findings from one earlier study, a child-focused course was designed to address these issues. This current study examined students’ perceptions of the efficacy of this course in developing their knowledge and skills to treat children individually and in family sessions. Following institutional review board approval, 43 out of the 44 students enrolled in the child course over five semesters agreed to participate. A qualitative content analysis was utilized to explore participants’ written responses to open-ended questions on a questionnaire administered in the last class. Four overall themes emerged from the data: (1) training, (2) skills, (3) impact of training, and (4) knowledge. Frequency counts revealed the three subthemes/topics with the most comments: (1) the benefits of hands-on training, (2) students plan to continue child-focused training, and (3) general comments about the training in play interventions. Many reported increased comfort with children, and that they were more likely to work with children. Students’ comments reflect a significant increase in their perceived ability to work effectively with children and families. The findings indicate that many students experienced personal growth and significant development of their child-related knowledge, skills, and use of play therapy techniques. Included are a description of the course, recommendations, and limitations of the study.

Animal-Assisted Play Therapy An Interview With Rise VanFleet

Rise VanFleet is a well-known family therapist who is a licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania, and a leading expert in Filial Therapy, having studied with the founders and creators, Bernard and Louise Guerney. She is also a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant. In this telephone interview, VanFleet discusses her involvement in animal-assisted play therapy (AAPT), her research, and the training methods she has developed. She is a prolific author and conducts trainings throughout the globe in both filial therapy and AAPT.

Trauma-Focused Integrated Play Therapy An Interview With Eliana Gil, Part I

In this article, Catherine Sori interviews Dr. Eliana Gil about her work with traumatized children and their families. Eliana Gil discusses her trauma-focused integrative play therapy model, and gives practical tips on how to use the model to improve practice with this population. This is the first of two articles from an interview with Dr. Eliana Gil.

Integrating a Neurosequential Approach in the Treatment of Traumatized Children: An Interview With Eliana Gil, Part II

In this article, Catherine Ford Sori interviews Dr. Eliana Gil regarding how to incorporate recent findings in interpersonal neurobiology with current attachment-enhancing play therapy approaches. Dr. Gil discusses how to incorporate the work of Daniel Siegel and Bruce Perry’s groundbreaking neurosequential model into clinical practice in the treatment of abused and traumatized children and their families.