The Guide to Play Therapy Documentation and Parent Consultation

The Guide to Play Therapy Documentation and Parent Consultation guides play therapists through the case-documentation process, from the initial inquiry for services through intake session, diagnosis, treatment planning, session notes, and termination summary. There’s a special focus on writing session notes, one of the areas in which play therapists most often request additional training. Chapters also identify play themes, explore clinical theories and case conceptualization, and guide play therapists from the playroom to the paperwork. The authors include several examples of case notes and treatment plans completed from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and vignettes and case studies illustrate ways to connect with caregivers, strategies for working with challenging caregivers, addressing difficult topics at different ages and stages of parenting (how to talk about sex, screen time, co-parenting, etc.), and much more. The book also includes a thorough discussion of ways to structure parent consultations to facilitate the therapeutic process. Expansive appendices provide many case examples and tips to explain and demonstrate documentation, and the authors provide form templates in the text and on the book’s website.

"What Homeyer and Bennett have learned and lived out as practicing play therapists and university professors appears on the pages of this practical, detailed, essential, stress-relieving resource. They have anticipated everything a play therapist needs to know and do and provide a template for every form and document needed, from informed consent to termination summary. Completed forms provide examples to follow. This is a HOW TO book, unique in the field of play therapy, that will help play therapists become more efficient and effective. Don’t miss the chapter on ‘Parents Who Challenge Us’ for new insights about what to do."

Garry Landreth, EdD, LPC, RPT-S, Regents Professor at the University of North Texas, founder of the Center for Play Therapy