Spotlight of the Month:

Athena Drewes

1.  What led you to the Play Therapy field, to become a Play Therapist, and to be a director at APT?
     After obtaining my Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, in 1975, I was working at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, Child Development Center, as a researcher and clinician. I received my play therapy training under Eva Landauer, who was trained by Anna Freud. I fell in love with play therapy, working with children, and learning how to communicate with them through the metaphor of their play.  Over the years I saw how this non-verbal use of play AS therapy with children, using toys as their words and play as their language, had a healing effect.

     I came upon the work of Clark Moustakas (“Child Psychotherapy”), which further underscored my desire to work with children and use play therapy. By chance, in 1992, I happened to see a small ad in the American Psychological Association’s ‘Monitor’ about Clark Moustakas receiving a lifetime achievement award at a conference in Nashua, NH. It was being held by the Association for Play Therapy (which was founded in 1982 by Dr. Charles Schaefer). I attended my first APT conference and felt like I had found a ‘home’ with kindred spirits, who loved and felt as passionately about play therapy as much as I did.

     At that time APT was forming branches and chapters. I was determined to have a branch in New York, and was the founder in 1996 of the New York Association for Play Therapy. I served as its first President for four years, while also attending the national APT conferences. I served on APT committees and decided to run for the APT Board of Directors to help promote and spread the knowledge and the benefits of play therapy and APT. I was elected to the Board, and served a total of six years ( two three-year terms) from 2001-2007.
           
2.  Why do you believe in Play Therapy?
     I believe in play therapy because it works! I have worked in the field of psychology (obtaining my doctorate in school-child-clinical psychology in 1992) over 25 years across all settings (school, outpatient, inpatient, residential) and with all ages from preschool to adolescent. I have worked with sexually abused and traumatized children, children with attachment disorders, foster care children, children in special education preschool and special education school age children. No matter what the problem, I have seen the therapeutic powers of play and play therapy help to turn their lives around and make a difference.

     Children (and even adolescents) find it hard to use words to express their feelings, and do not know how to convey the horrific thoughts and images locked within them from their life events. The use of non-verbal methods, through play, which is a natural expression for children, allows the child to convey their experiences and feelings to an empathic and trained play therapist.

     Play therapy has now gone beyond being a treatment approach only for children. Play IN therapy allows play-based interventions to be included in treatment for all ages and across all problem areas.

3.  How can play be therapeutic?
     Dr. Charles Schaefer has outlined 25 therapeutic and curative powers of play. In essence play, being developmentally appropriate for children, allows the child to express and release feelings, play out experiences and worries, gain mastery over traumatic events, increase socialization and problem-solving skills, allows for emotional attachment with a caring therapeutic person, and helps the child improve learning, their sense of self, and even their physical health.

     As the child’s emotional issues resolve and they can move past their traumatic events and fears, there is more emotional energy available to invest in learning and academics, in peer relationships, and in feeling happy
.
4.  What is unique or different about the Nana’s Children Mental Health Foundation’s Play Therapy Program?
     Nana’s offers a unique program whereby play therapy is utilized within the school setting. It  works holistically with the child, in their daily environment (school), to remediate emotional issues. Their training program with doctoral students helps to train future psychologists in play therapy and to think ‘out of the box’ in how play, play-based interventions (play IN therapy) and play AS therapy
can help children. Nana’s is committed to helping children in their school setting, where more children can be helped, which is not the norm across the US.

5.  Knowing how busy you are, why did you accept to serve on the Advisory Board for Nana’s Children?
     Having met Ana Sutton, back in 2000 at the Wroxton International Play Therapy Study Group in England, I was impressed with her passion, commitment and vision to help homeless children receive emotional support within their school setting. This was (and continues to be) an underserved population unlikely to receive mental health services on an outpatient basis. I share Nana’s mission and hope of reaching children in the school setting and offering them mental health services which will allow for educational gains so that they can look toward a brighter, more hopeful future.

Dr. Athena Drewes is currently a member of the Nana’s Children Advisory Board