What is Child-Centred Play Therapy?

Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT) sits within the broader umbrella of play therapy — a well-established, evidence-based therapeutic approach that uses play as the primary medium through which children communicate, process experience, and heal. Just as talking is the natural language of adults in therapy, play is the natural language of children. Play therapy recognises this and meets children where they are, using the therapeutic power of play to facilitate emotional expression, self-understanding, and psychological growth.

Drawing on the same person-centred philosophy that underpins Saga Psychology's broader approach to child and adolescent care, CCPT places the child's autonomy, inner wisdom, and capacity for self-direction at the very heart of the therapeutic relationship.

The History and Founders of Play Therapy

The roots of play therapy stretch back to the psychoanalytic tradition, where pioneers such as Melanie Klein and Anna Freud first recognised the therapeutic significance of children's play as a window into the unconscious. Over time the field evolved significantly, moving away from interpretive, analyst-led approaches toward more humanistic frameworks. The most influential of these was the person-centred approach developed by Carl Rogers, whose core conditions of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence laid the philosophical foundation for child-centred practice.

Virginia Axline, a student of Rogers, was the first to apply these principles directly to play therapy, articulating eight foundational principles that placed the child's autonomy and inner wisdom at the heart of the therapeutic relationship. Her landmark work, including the celebrated case study Dibs: In Search of Self, demonstrated the profound capacity for healing when a child is truly seen and accepted. Garry Landreth later expanded and systematised Axline's work, developing CCPT into the structured, research-supported model practised widely today.

 Why Play? The Developmental Case for CCPT

CCPT is particularly well suited to children moving through the concrete operational stage of development — typically between the ages of seven and eleven — as described by developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. During this stage, children's capacity for logic and abstract thinking is still actively maturing. They are not yet equipped to engage in the kind of verbal, insight-oriented therapy that works well for adults and older adolescents. Play therapy bypasses this limitation entirely, providing children with a medium that is both developmentally appropriate and deeply expressive.

 CCPT at Saga Psychology

Psychologist Saga Arthursson is currently completing a professional certification in Child-Centred Play Therapy under Brenna Hicks — widely known for The Kid Counselor blog and podcast — and is due to graduate in September 2026. This training equips practitioners with the theoretical grounding, practical skills, and supervised experience required to deliver CCPT to a high standard of clinical competence.

What Can CCPT Help With?

The evidence base for CCPT is robust and growing. Research consistently demonstrates its effectiveness in supporting children experiencing a wide range of difficulties, including anxiety, depression, trauma and adverse childhood experiences, behavioural challenges, social difficulties, grief and loss, adjustment to family change such as divorce or bereavement, and the psychological impact of chronic illness.

Importantly, CCPT does not require children to talk about their difficulties directly — the therapeutic process unfolds through play, at the child's own pace and on their own terms. This makes it particularly accessible for children who have experienced trauma or who struggle to articulate their inner world in words. The result is a modality that is not only effective but deeply respectful of the child as a whole person — one that trusts in every young person's innate capacity to direct their own healing when given the right conditions to do so.