Solution-Focused Play Therapy
with Children & Families
2-DAY WORKSHOP OUTLINE
Pamela King
DAY 1 — FOUNDATION OF
RELATIONAL SOLUTION-FOCUSED PLAY THERAPY
1. Welcome & Orientation
- Emphasis
on therapist–parent–child-teacher partnership.
- Why
Solution-Focused Therapy fits children and families:
- Children
naturally imagine hopeful futures.
- Families
strive for connection and harmony.
· Practice: Get-to-know-you with play as a shared language
2. Core Principles: Relational SFT With Children
- Preferred
future as a shared vision of family functioning.
- Exceptions
as moments of cooperation and mutual support.
- Small
steps as ripple effects
3. Parent–Child–Therapist Triangle
- Honoring
child as expert on self and parent as expert on family
- Positioning
parents as partners and holders of hope
- Noticing useful family or classroom interactions
4. The Role of Play
- Play
as a conversational tool
- Creating
a non-pathologizing, discovery-rich play space
· Practice: “Build the Village”
5. Listen–Select–Build
- Listen-Select-Build
applications with children
· Practice: Using vignettes to practice solution-focused listening and responding
DAY 2 — COLLECTIVE TOOLS & PLAY INTERVENTIONS
1. Collaborative Goal
Setting Through Shared Play
- Play-scaling video and demonstration
- Practice: Play-scaling
2. Scaling-in-Action
- Scaling questions for families or
groups:
- Generate ways of asking relational
questions
· Practice: Steppingstones of Support
3. Case Application: School Refusal
- Using play and SF strategies to co-create
morning routines and small, achievable steps
- Parent involvement and
collaborative planning
- Identify collective “almost” successes
4. Integrated Session
Flow
- Participants run mock sessions
including:
- Joining → shared
preferred future → scaling → exception-building → cooperative play →
feedback
5. Closing
- Key
takeaways:
- Q&A
and resource sharing
