An insight: Online therapy

Online therapy tools could be teddies, puppets, miniatures, story-telling games or books. Our therapists use all of these to engage children and young people in therapy online…

In an online dramatherapy session children may use a ‘bad witch’ and a ‘good wizard’ (and vice versa) puppet scenario to create a story of how the virus has come to cast a spell of powerlessness in the family. The ending of the story could be how the health professionals can give the child ‘healing potions of resilience’ and an ‘army of animal protectors’ to guard the family home.

However, it is also the dramatherapists’ role to remind a child that what on the surface might appear to be bad may not be so bad after all. There can be positives for the child who might be thriving from spending more time with mum and dad at home. But likewise, it is the therapists’ role to get to the bottom of what might appear to be good and to explain using the puppets (or other tools) why it may not be so good after all. In some cases, too much time at home might cause the child to miss school and his friends, resulting in social isolation.

It is up to the therapist to support the child and to explore different scenarios and outcomes within the story and within real life.