Trauma and Play Therapy Competencies and Confidence: A Qualitative Exploration
Open Access DepositedThis study explored the experiences, opinions, and perspectives of provisionally licensed counselors’ trauma and play therapy training and competency and confidence development who work with children exposed to trauma using play therapy as a modality to treat trauma. There were eight provisionally licensed counselors who participated in this study. The study addressed the following research questions: how do new provisionally licensed counselors who work with children who experienced trauma in play therapy describe their experiences with trauma-informed development and two sub-questions: a) what training and preparation have new provisionally licensed counselors undergone towards trauma-informed development working with children who have experienced trauma in play therapy, and b) how do new provisionally licensed counselors describe their counselor competence and perceived self-efficacy when working with children who have experienced trauma? Through a basic interpretive design, participant data was collected by two semi-structured interviews and three visual reflective journals and analyzed using a thematic analysis (Percy et al., 2015) with a thematic analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001) as a supplemental tool. The findings of this study resulted in an overall global theme, three organizing themes, and twelve basic themes which were presented using the thematic network (Attride-Stirling, 2001). Based on the analysis and the findings of the study, implications were articulated, limitations were identified, and future recommendations for research was discussed.
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