CONTENTS

About This Course

Table of Contents

1. School Bullying: What It Is and Why It Hurts
2. The Role of Bullies, Victims, and Witnesses
3. Factors Contributing to Bullying and Violence
4. Screening and Assessment
5. Treatment For Children and Adolescents
6. Prevention and Intervention
7. Legal and Ethical Issues

Supplements
Case Studies
Fact Sheets
References
Resources

The ABCs of Bullying
Addressing, Blocking, and Curbing School Aggression

Play Therapy (Counseling) in a School Setting

Play counseling stems from the broader play therapy field, but has been adjusted to reflect school counselor's needs for a short-term intervention that is consistent with the school's education-related goals. ref Play counseling is similar to play therapy in that the use of games, toys, and other creative materials is used to encourage a student to overcome obstacles. This approach is very helpful to children who have a hard time verbalizing frustration and/or anger. Toys allow a child who bullies to act out his or her feelings in a safe environment. Children who are bullied also are given the chance to express their feelings in a way that does not further victimize them. A counselor could use this approach to: ref

• Communicate with students
• Help students build a wider range of skills
• Improve peer relationships to prevent bullying, school violence, and other serious problems
• Improve students' adjustment to school and the classroom
• Address the needs of at-risk students
• Try to remove the emotional and behavioral obstacles to learning

Play counseling is especially appropriate for students younger than 12, when a child becomes more able to use cognitive and abstract reasoning. ref^, ref Younger children tend to process information and develop their skills through the use of play. Older students can still appreciate play counseling by using board games, art, sand trays, and creative ways to tell their life stories (i.e., bibliotherapy -- therapy by means of having a child write their life story).

Using play counseling in a school setting usually requires getting parental approval or at least notifying parents as to the approach being used. The interventions are usually short term, lasting between 6 to 8 weeks at 30-45 minutes each. All sessions remain confidential, just as with any other therapy session. ref Play counseling offers an alternative to those students who may resist formal therapy, or those who are withdrawn, isolated, oppositional, or defensive. Research has shown that children learn best in hands-on, activity-based situations. ref

Schools that actively encourage the use of play counseling by their school counselors usually do so with a team approach so that the teachers and parents also follow a child's progress and learn ways to encourage new skills and behaviors.