Abstract
Counseling and play therapy supervision have similarities and differences, but both have a goal of helping supervisees develop into ethical and effective counselors. Counselors adhere to a supervision model as a guide in this process. Play therapy is a specialty area with a specific scope of practice and thus requires additional counseling knowledge. Play therapists are trained in the use of expressive arts, bibliotherapy, and other creative techniques for use in therapy. These same techniques can be beneficial in supervision. Using creative approaches in counseling supervision is catalytic for inspiring supervisees to include creative methods in their own work with clients. Books have frequently been used with clients to reach their mental health goals and incorporated into counseling supervision. This chapter will discuss the use of books in therapy, supervision, and provide case studies on its implementation.
TopBackground
The use of books in helping people dates back hundreds of years to the 1800s to help people in behavioral institutions (De Vries et al., 2017). The original thought was that books would distract clients from their presenting issues (Levin & Gildea, 2013). It wasn’t until the early 1900s that Crothers created the term bibliotherapy to define the use of books in the health care field (De Vries et al., 2017). Bibliotherapy has been used with adults, adolescents, and children in multiple health care fields. This section will focus on the use of bibliotherapy with children.
McCulliss and Chamberlain (2012) define the goal of bibliotherapy as “to elicit change in the attitude or behavior of the reader to enhance their problem-solving skills, hence increase their resourcefulness” (p. 14). Pardeck and Pardeck (1993) proposed four stages in bibliotherapy, issue identification, book selection, planned guided readings, and follow-up. Bibliotherapy for children follows classic psychotherapy stages of identification, catharsis, insight, and universalism (De Vries et al., 2017). Identification is when a child can identify a character within the story that they can relate too, catharsis is when a child can have an emotional connection and release from the story, insight is when they know that change is possible, and universalism is when children can look beyond themselves and gain empathy for others (De Vries et al., 2017).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Play Therapy Supervisee: A less experienced play therapist who needs help in their development of play therapy skills and competencies.
Supervisee: The person in the counseling supervision relationship who is less experienced and needs help in their development as a counselor.
Integrated Developmental Model: A model that helps supervisors assess where their supervisees are in their developmental process. It focuses on three areas: motivation, autonomy, and awareness. The levels are: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 3i.
Play Therapy Supervision: The process of a more experienced play therapist supervising a less experienced play therapist that involves skill development, evaluation, and gate keeping. It can involve play therapists from multiple disciplines in the mental health field (counseling, social work, psychology, marriage and family therapists).
Counseling Supervision: The process of a more experienced mental health professional working with a less experienced mental health professional, focusing on development.
Bibliotherapy: The use of books to help clients work through their issues using the classic psychotherapy stages of identification, catharsis, insight, and universalism.
Discrimination Model: A flexible supervision model that has roles and foci that can help a supervisor in a session attend to the needs of their supervisee.
Graham Model of Bibliosupervision: The use of books to help supervisees counseling development, with a focus on using children’s books and the three classic psychotherapy stages of identification, catharsis, and insight.
Supervisor: The person in the counseling supervision relationship who helps the less experienced mental health professional develop as a counselor through evaluation and interventions.
Play Therapy Supervisor: An experienced play therapist who has extensive training in play therapy and play therapy supervision, who helps a less experienced play therapist in their development through evaluation and interventions.