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SOMERSET, Ky. Tasha Miller of

Pikeville, Ky., didnt know a lot about

play therapy at the start of last week.But by the end of June 4, the

Lindsey Wilson College human servic-

es and counseling senior thought she

might want to incorporate play therapy

into her career as a mental health pro-

fessional.

Its something that Im going to

consider using because I want to work

with children after I graduate, she

said.

Miller was one of more than 160

people from seven states who attendedthe first sponsored conference of the

Lindsey Wilson Appalachian Center for

Play Therapy. The two-day conference,

held June 3-4 at the Center for Rural

Development, featured Garry L.

Landreth, an internationally known play

therapy expert, who discussed play ther-

apy and its benefits.

Play therapy gives a voice to chil-

dren by using their play, said Landreth,

who is the founder of the Center for

Play Therapy at the University of NorthTexas, the largest play therapy training

program in the nation. The play thera-

pist listens to the meaning in thechilds play, just as the therapist listens

to meaning of an adults verbalization.

So while they are in a playroom setting,

their toys are viewed as being like a

childs words and play is the childs lan-

guage.

The task of the play therapist is tounderstand the childs play language,

Landreth said.

And that not as difficult to read the

play language as you might initially

think because play is a universal lan-

guage, Landreth said.

Children all over the world

play similarly, just the items

they play with differ. ... Give a

child in South Africa a pile of

sand and they play in it the

same children in Kentucky playin the sand.

Play therapy as a discipline

was first discussed in the 1940s,

but Landreth is responsible for

popularizing it over the last 40years, said Lindsey Wilson

Associate Professor of Human

Services & Counseling Jodi M.

Crane.

Landreth has published more

than 150 journal articles, books

and videos. His award-winningbook Play Therapy: The Art of

the Relationship has been trans-

lated into several languages.

Landreths articles, books and videos

are among the reasons play therapy has

become one of the fastest-growing areas

in the mental-health profession, Cranesaid.

The mental-health profession is

finally recognizing that its not effective

to sit children down in big chairs and

tell them what they need to do or give

them instructions about how to live

their lives it doesnt work, Landreth

said. We need to give them a chance to

communicate at their level, the same

way we give adults an opportunity to

communicate verbally. That recognition

is slowly catching on.Despite efforts to promote play ther-

apy, Landreth said the subject is taught

as a separate class in just about 30 per-

cent of the U.S. counselor-education

programs.

We are still struggling with the lack

of recognition of the childs ability in

their own way to solve emotionalissues, he said.

Central to play therapy is for the

therapist to see the child as a person,

not as a junior version of an adult.Children are people, they just hap-

Appalachian Center for Play Therapy Hosts National Conference

Play therapy pioneer Garry L. Landreth addresses mental-health professionals at the Lindsey

Wilson College Appalachian Center for Play Therapy conference, held June 3-4 at the Center for

Rural Development in Somerset, Ky.

L E T T H E M P L AY

WWe need to give (children) ae need to give (children) a

chance to communicate at theirchance to communicate at their

level, the same way we give adultlevel, the same way we give adultss

an opportunity to communicatean opportunity to communicate

verballyverbally. Garry L. Landreth. Garry L. Landreth

The Association for

Play Therapy defines

play therapy as thesystematic use of a

theoretical model to

establish an interper-

sonal process wherein

trained play therapists use the therapeutic

powers of play to help clients prevent or

resolve psychosocial difficulties and achieve

optimal growth and development.

LWC is one of three colleges or universi-

ties in Kentucky that offers course in play

therapy.

For more information about Play Therapy,go to the Association for Play Therapy Web

site: www.a4pt.org.

What is Play Therapy?

Continued on Next Page

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FRANKFORT, Ky. A

Lindsey Wilson College pro-

fessor was honored last

spring for efforts to raise

awareness about and preventsexual assault in Kentucky.

Assistant Professor of Human

Services & Counseling

Tammy Hatfield received the

Sexual Assault Awareness

Month Award also knownas a SAAMy from the

Kentucky Association of

Sexual Assault Programs.

Hatfield who was one of

four Kentucky residents rec-

ognized with a SAAMy washonored for her efforts to pro-

mote education and aware-

ness about sexual assault.

Since joining the faculty of

the Lindsey Wilson School of

Professional Counseling in

2006, Hatfield has encour-aged students to develop

skills that will improve their

understanding and service to

victims of sexual violence.

This is an issue that

should be important to all of

us because it affects all of usin the commonwealth of

Kentucky, said Hatfield,

who is also a licensed clinical

psychologist.

To raise awareness aboutsexual assault, KASAP pro-

moted the Green Dot

Initiative. Every act of sexu-

al violence such as stalking,

partner violence, rape, child

abuse is considered a red

dot. Conversely, a greendot represents a single inci-

dent that supports sexual-vio-

lence victims or decreases the

incidents of sexual assault.

Hatfield said the Green

Dot Initiative encourages

all of us to take steps that

can intervene and prevent

sexual assault from occur-ring.

It can even be simple

steps, such as calling atten-tion to sexist jokes when they

are told, she said.

pen to be younger people, Landreth

said. They are persons worthy of

respect, as any person is worthy of

respect. They just happen to be 3, 4 or 5

years old. They possess the same capa-bility of helping themselves emotionally

that adults possess. In fact, sometimes

its harder for adults to help themselvesbecause their minds get in the way

they keep thinking about all the things

that didnt work.

I love the childs approach and view

of their world they approach their

world with newness. Its new, eager,

creative and willing to explore.

In addition to exposing more than

160 mental-health students and profes-

sionals to play therapy, the June confer-

ence was also something of a coming

out part for the Appalachian Center forPlay Therapy. Founded early this year

by Crane, a nine-year veteran of the

LWC faculty, the centers goal is to help

educate and train mental-health profes-

sionals and others who work with chil-

dren about the benefits of play therapy.

The center makes it possible to train

greater numbers of people in how to use

play therapy, Crane said. Otherwise,its sort of hit or miss as to where that

training can be found in this region of

the United States.And Landreth said he was very

impressed with the centers first con-

ference.

It took me longer to get to where

Jodi is now than it has taken her to get

where she is today, he said. In less

than 10 years, she has started a play

therapy program, is building a center

for play therapy and has held a confer-

ence for play therapy. Thats very

impressive, and it also speaks of thetremendous need this region has, as evi-

denced by the fact that it attracted pro-

fessionals from seven states.

Connie Stallard of Clintwood, Va.,

was among those who attended the con-

ference and hopes to become a licensed

play therapist. A 30-year veteran of spe-

cial education, Stallard said she sees

numerous possibilities for integrating

play therapy into her work.

Ive seen such a need for this serv-ice in helping young people, she said.

Professor Raises Awareness About Sexual Assault

Play therapy pioneer Garry L. Landreth (left) chats with LWC graduate student Aaron Meriwether

of Columbia at the Appalachian Center for Play Therapy conference, held June 3-4 at the Center

for Rural Development.

Continued on Next Page

LWC alumnae Maja Cupac (left),

Heather Hurt-Klepper (center) and

LWC Assistant Professor of

Human Services & CounselingTammy Hatfield display a green

dot that promotes Sexual Assault

Awareness Month in Kentucky.