Last week I had, arguably, the most challenging session with a child that I've ever had to deal with. I've had a lot of questions from listeners about how to handle aggressive play, so I thought this would be good to debrief with you to explain how child-centered play therapy works in this situation.   These are the topics I discuss in this episode:

• A summary of my session
• Mess-making play
• Anger and aggression masks vulnerability
• Holding and/or restraining
• How to personally/internally handle something like this
• How to discuss what happened with parents

  Podcast HQ: https://www.playtherapypodcast.com Email me: [email protected] Follow me on Twitter: @thekidcounselor   https://twitter.com/thekidcounselor   References: Cochran, N., Nordling, W., & Cochran, J. (2010). Child-Centered Play Therapy (1st ed.). Wiley.  VanFleet, R., Sywulak, A. E., & Sniscak, C. C. (2010). Child-centered play therapy. Guilford Press.  Landreth, G. L. (2002). Play therapy: The art of the relationship (2nd ed.). Brunner-Routledge. Bratton, S. C., Landreth, G. L., Kellam, T., & Blackard, S. R. (2006). Child parent relationship therapy (CPRT) treatment manual: A 10-session filial therapy model for training parents. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. Benedict, Helen. Themes in Play Therapy. Used with permission to Heartland Play Therapy Institute.