Bringing CCPT Into Schools: Group Sessions, Teacher Buy-In, and Special Education Support

In this episode, I answer a question from Robin in New York, a school-based counselor who’s navigating how to implement Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) in an academic setting. From managing large caseloads and working in group formats to responding to teacher perceptions and supporting special education students, Robin’s questions reflect the real-world tension between clinical best practices and the demands of the school environment.

I share how CCPT can be delivered effectively in small groups, how to build relationships with faculty and leadership to gain trust and buy-in, and why setting expectations early is key to avoiding misinterpretation of the model. I also discuss how CCPT aligns beautifully with the needs of children in special education—because it’s not about cognitive ability, it’s about relationship, regulation, and unconditional acceptance. This episode is encouragement and practical guidance for anyone working to bring CCPT into schools with confidence and clarity.

PlayTherapyNow.com is my HUB for everything I do! playtherapynow.com. Sign up for my email newsletter, stay ahead with the latest CCPT CEU courses, personalized coaching opportunities and other opportunities you need to thrive in your CCPT practice. If you click one link in these show notes, this is the one to click!

If you would like to ask me questions directly, check out www.ccptcollective.com, where I host two weekly Zoom calls filled with advanced CCPT case studies and session reviews, as well as member Q&A. You can take advantage of the two-week free trial to see if the CCPT Collective is right for you.

Ask Me Questions: Call ‪[phone]‬, or email: [e-mail]
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APT Approved Play Therapy CE courses: https://childcenteredtraining.com
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Common 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. (2023). Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th ed.). 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.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,
your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.
Hi,
I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
The Kid Counselor.
This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get
a master class in child-centered play therapy
and practical support and application for your
work with children and their families.
In today's episode,

(00:21):
we are talking through
how to implement CCPT in a school-based
approach.
Robin in New York reached out with a question about
working in schools and what that looks like practically and feasibly
to be fully adherent to the model while
having some obligations of being in the school setting.

(00:41):
So I'm really looking forward to talking through
that and to those of you school-based counselors,
I wanted to let you know I had a listener reach out a while back
and I had referred to you all as guidance counselors in an episode.
Granted,
my disclaimer is not an excuse,
just,
just
helping you to understand when I was in the grad school,
many moons ago.

(01:03):
It was still the guidance counseling track and I was
told that you all are no longer called guidance counselors,
so I wanted to correct that.
I do know now
that that term has changed
and I wanted to let you all know the more
school-based play therapists and the more CCPT we can get into schools,
the better our entire world is for it.

(01:25):
So for those of you who are school-based counselors.
And you are providing CCPT in the academic environment.
Huge high five and thank you for
helping teachers and staff and faculty and principals
and all of that
dynamic
to understand the value of CCPT

(01:45):
and I just wanted to
let y'all know I do,
I do have a better understanding of how you all refer to yourselves now,
so
I will no longer say guidance counselors.
OK.
So,
let's read parts of Robin's email and then we'll dive in.
I am a school counselor who has always
felt like grad school and my experiences have not

(02:05):
given me the proper clinical training necessary to do
my job as effectively as I would like.
I'm interested in learning how to utilize play therapy in my counseling lessons.
And I'm worried how to work that out in a school setting.
For example,
case load size requires me to group students.
Additionally,
I'm not sure what the reception by teachers would look like.
For example,
recently,

(02:25):
a first grader was acting out by throwing chairs.
I had him for counseling right after,
and he really wanted to paint.
I felt nervous to allow him to bring his painting back to the classroom,
as I'm sure his teacher would interpret it as me rewarding bad behavior
when really I was trying to see if anything meaningful would come out in his art.
Lastly,
many of my students have special ed and in general I find communicating

(02:48):
with them to be challenging.
I wonder if play therapy would be helpful for this population.
All right,
Robin,
lots of questions.
We'll tackle all of them together.
Thank you for emailing and sending this in.
So let's talk through just the logistics first and foremost.
At the beginning,
you said,
I'm wondering how to utilize play therapy in my counseling lessons
because my case load size requires that I group students.

(03:11):
The beauty of CCPT is it can be provided in a group setting,
so we have proven efficacy
that we can have group play sessions.
Obviously the larger the group,
the more difficult it is.
So I would hopefully encourage you to have no more than 4 kids in a group at a time.
2 or 3 would be ideal,

(03:32):
but you can absolutely remain adherent to
the model and provide the therapeutic value
for children in a group play setting.
And you structure it exactly the same way you have the toys,
you give them the autonomy and freedom you can play with
all the toys in most of the ways that you want
and then they're able to

(03:52):
take charge,
play together,
play individually,
and you are able to use the reflective responses and the pillars
just as you would if you were doing a one on one session.
As far as what the reception by teachers would look like,
I've coached a lot of school-based
play therapists,
and here's what I've learned in collaborating
with them and having lots of conversations.

(04:14):
It really comes down to treating
your faculty and staff
like your customers,
and I,
I can't get into the depth of that in this episode,
but I just want to make it known
we talk about our child is the client and our parent is the customer.
When you are in a school setting.
The faculty and staff,
specifically the principal and or,

(04:35):
you know,
high leadership in the school,
they become your customer so you have to pour a lot of energy and attention
into really making sure that they build relationship with you directly.
The more relationship you have with them,
the more you'll be able to help them understand the value of what you're doing.
It can't be on the periphery,

(04:57):
it can't be ad hoc,
you know,
in the hallway in a five minute conversation.
You really prioritize building relationships
and then helping them understand why you're doing what you're doing
as relationship continues to unfold.
So that would be my recommendation
because really it's about setting expectations.
You have to set expectations of what CCPT is,

(05:20):
why it works,
what the outcomes are,
what the value is,
and that's your articulation,
but articulation falls flat
when there isn't relationship first.
The,
the pouring into the relationship with the faculty and staff,
that's the very
beginning of the expectation setting.
Specifically,

(05:40):
the first grader that you provided as an example,
when you said I felt nervous to allow him to bring his painting back to the classroom,
you wouldn't feel nervous if you had already articulated to teachers
the importance of that time with you
and that the child gets to decide what to do and that every decision that
is made in the playroom has therapeutic value.

(06:02):
There's significance and intention in every single
thing that happens in a play session.
He needed to paint whether it was for
self soothing whether it was for decompression,
whether it was for
expression of emotion,
whether it was for all kinds of reasons there was need and desire
in him choosing to paint.
Therefore,

(06:22):
we wouldn't feel nervous about that
because we could justify the therapeutic necessity
of anything that was chosen
and whether the teacher understands it or not.
We try to help them get there,
but we also know that sometimes they won't understand,
but we fall back on theory and we fall back on outcome that we know will emerge.

(06:43):
And as far as.
Let the students that are
in special education and finding communicating with them to be challenging.
We know that
children
who have learning disabilities,
have developmental delays,
have any kind of special education diagnoses,
they're very well suited for child-centered play therapy.

(07:06):
Because it's not predicated on cognitive ability,
it's not predicated on logic,
it's not predicated on intellectual processing
all of a sudden it's meeting the child where they are,
it's building relationship
and it's about helping them to
feel unconditionally accepted,
unconditionally loved.
They don't need to talk,

(07:26):
they don't need to think,
they just come in and play.
And so when you said I find it hard to communicate with them,
often it is hard to verbally communicate.
It's hard to intellectually communicate,
but it is not hard at all to communicate via play.
And that's what CCPT provides
is the ability to communicate through play,

(07:48):
understand through play,
and relate through play.
So yes,
very much well suited for children
in special education or with learning disabilities,
cognitive delays,
any of those things.
So Robin,
thank you so much for those questions.
I hope that that is helpful and again for those of you
who are school based and are bringing CCPT into the academic environment,

(08:10):
please continue to do that.
Please continue to advocate for the model,
advocate for your children,
advocate for play therapy as a whole.
It's a very different model
than the education model
and it's about
helping them understand
the ways that they can be integrated,
the ways that we can support each other.
The ways that we can understand each other,

(08:31):
it becomes very collaborative in a school environment
and you all are really at the heart of that.
So huge thank you to you all,
those of us that do not work in the school system,
we are very appreciative for those of you that do because you become
liaisons for those of us that are not in that school environment.
And related aside really quickly,
those of you that

(08:52):
are in schools,
you have a unique ability
and a unique platform
because you understand
the plight of teachers,
you understand what it's like to be in a school,
you understand the politics of leadership in a school,
you interact with staff,
you are an insider
and for those of us that are not in the schools,

(09:13):
we often interact with those who are.
But we are
not typically as well received because
they automatically say,
sometimes,
not always,
but automatically say often,
well,
you have no idea.
You don't understand,
you don't get it.
You only work with one kid at a time,
not 25 kids at a time.
And

(09:33):
we struggle to
get buy in and we struggle to find inroads.
You already naturally are there
pour into teachers,
help them feel appreciated and understood and valued,
connect with your
leadership,
your staff and faculty.
Make sure that you
build relationships

(09:55):
because you already have that unique dual relationship where you
understand the mental health side and the academic side.
And that gives you a lot of leeway.
So huge thank you to those of you who are in the schools.
All right,
love y'all.
We'll talk again soon.
Bye.
Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.
Brenna Hicks.
For more episodes and resources,

(10:17):
please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.