Career Development in Therapeutic Play & Play Therapy
Introduction - The Need for Practitioners of Therapeutic Play
The latent need for practitioners using therapeutic play, filial play, creative arts and play therapy skills varies from country to according to:
- The population of children aged 0 – 14
- The incidence of emotional, behaviour and mental health problems caused by social conditions, parenting disabilities, traumatic events etc
- Statutory legislation governing the social welfare of children
The actual need will then be modified by factors such as:
- The acceptance of therapeutic play as a healing medium
- Cultural, ethnic and religious caveats
- Policies concerning education, health and social welfare
- Funding available for commissioning services and training
- The relative attractiveness of the therapeutic play professions as a career
PTUK built the first known demand model for play therapy practitioners in England and Wales in 2002 at the same time as it conceived the Profession Structure Model (PSM). Both were presented at the 2004 Play Therapy World Congress and adopted as PTI standard methods.
The demand model takes into account:
- The number of children in age bands and the propensity of children to respond positively to therapeutic play in each age group
- The average number of sessions required to produce an improvement
- The session capacity of a therapist
The updated version estimates that at least 15000 practitioners using therapeutic play, filial play, creative arts and play therapy skills are required for England and Wales. There are probably less than 1200 therapists at present, in these countries, with the level of expertise that is required, so there are plenty of potential career opportunities.
Figures have also been calculated for other countries: