Interview 2 – Amber Wicelinski

I have had the integrity to do an email interview with a clinical social worker, Amber Wicelinski, in the United States of America. She holds a master’s degree in social work and has been in the field for about seven years. Mrs. Wicelinski specializes in working with children, adolescents, and their families. As of now, her current position is working as an outpatient therapist with children, adolescents, and young adults ranging from the age of six to twenty-five, meaning that she focuses on the individual client in an office setting. She uses a range of evidence-based treatment modalities with the clients to build coping skills and process emotions and trauma. The following paragraphs are the questions as well as her answers.

1. Is play therapy considered an effective method to help children? Is play therapy a 100% guarantee for the young ones?

While there is not a 100% guarantee to therapy, however, there are many research studies that support play therapy as a positive and effective treatment modality. When considering a child’s developmental status, most children learn about their environment through play. This is a universal idea that is seen across different cultures. According to Jean Piaget, “play provides the child with the live, dynamic, individual language indispensable for the expression of [the child’s] subjective feelings for which collective language alone is inadequate.” When a young child comes to therapy, they cannot have a direct conversation about their behaviors and thoughts that an adult might, and we as treatment providers need to meet them where they are at.

2.What happens during play therapy?

There are many different types of play therapy. It is helpful to look at 2 main different types, such as directive and nondirective play therapy. In directive therapy, I as the clinician would have a prepared activity, set goals and questions for the child to lead them through an exercise/ activity. This type is helpful when creating boundaries and a safe space but also can be restrictive and may not lead to as much processing in later stages of therapy. Nondirective play therapy is setting any toys or tools and letting the child create a world, and the clinician is an observer to what the child chooses and talks about. This is helpful as a child can act out different situations and begin to process various issues. Either way, at the end of a session the clinician would talk about and process with the child anything that came up in the session.

3. Is play therapy suitable for adolescents? 

Certain parts may be helpful when starting to build a therapeutic relationship or if an adolescent struggles to verbalize their feelings.

4. Which techniques of play therapy do you mostly use to aid the patient?

I have used different types, which include: nondirective play therapy, sand tray therapy, directive play therapy (in which I lead the activity and ask questions), and drawing/painting.

5. Within your job experience, to which types of problems within a child do you face often? (ex. abuse, sexual harassment, separation anxiety disorder, selective mutism, etc.)

I work with a range of mental health diagnoses. Symptoms I work with include generalized anxiety, separation anxiety, social anxiety, depression, hyperactivity, and trauma.

6. How many sessions would a child need to take to see any visible changes?

This question is difficult to answer as the healing process looks different for everyone and depends on many factors. I would hope to see progress within 6 to 12 months.

7. What is your opinion on digital play therapy? Would a new method of digital technology benefit the use of play therapy?

 I am interested in this developing field as it creates better access to care. It is also a possible cost-effective tool to use with clients and can be used with various ages and languages. 

8. Are you experienced/aware of the use of digital play therapy?

I do not currently use any digital play therapy in my sessions.

9. At what age would it be relevant for a child to use technology?

In today’s world, most young children are exposed to technology as a form of entertainment and play. Depending on how much language is incorporated into the application, young children around 4 to 6 could use it as a helpful tool. Anything language-based will need to be simplified for younger children or those with learning disabilities.

In conclusion, Mrs. Wicenlinski supports the idea of Digital Play Therapy and hopes that it will develop and create better access to care. As of today’s world, she mentioned that most young children are exposed to technology as a form of entertainment and play, meaning that digital devices that contains simplified language are effective towards the age of four to six.