Non-directive and integrative play therapy (BAPT)

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · UK

What it is

"Non-directive and integrative play therapy (BAPT model)" is not a single manualised therapy. It is the way BAPT, the main UK professional body, frames the discipline. Play Therapy is a postgraduate-trained mental health therapy that BAPT calls "child-centred, in which play is the primary medium…

Format

• A tension between versions. BAPT's guidance for parents says the work is non-directive with no therapist-set agenda. Its 2024 statement says sessions are "planned and guided" towards specific goals. In practice, read these at two levels. The goals and the plan sit at case level (assessment,…
• How change happens. The child leads the play, chooses the materials, and does not have to explain anything in words. The therapist follows the play and reflects the child's feelings back. Within a consistent, confidential relationship, the child works through muddled feelings and upsetting events…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• What it is. "Non-directive and integrative play therapy (BAPT model)" is not a single manualised therapy. It is the way BAPT, the main UK professional body, frames the discipline. Play Therapy is a postgraduate-trained mental health therapy that BAPT calls "child-centred, in which play is the primary medium and speech is the secondary medium". On that child-centred base, BAPT-trained therapists are expected to…
• Professional frame. In the UK, "Play Therapist" is not an HCPC-regulated title. Registration is voluntary, through registers accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). BAPT keeps a PSA Register of Play Therapists. According to BAPT, a registered therapist should:
• have safeguarding training.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• your own discomfort or wish to rescue. Take it to supervision.
• limits that become punitive. The relationship should hold through the limit.
• unsafe use of materials (eating clay, flicking sand into eyes). Apply a limit (4.8).
• requests to state from play whether abuse happened. Decline, and explain why (see 5.8).
• a child who complies to please adults. Watch their face and body as well as their "yes".

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.