Trauma-focused integrated play therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Eliana Gil · Fairfax, Virginia

What it is

TF-IPT is a structured, goal-oriented play therapy for abused and traumatised children (CEBC: ages 5–17; Gil's 2017 book addresses ages 3–12) and their caregivers. It combines nondirective, child-centred play with directive methods: expressive arts and sandtray, cognitive-behavioural skills and…

Format

• Social reconnection and orientation to the future. Goals: restore pre-abuse functioning, ensure access to internal and external resources, and build self-esteem and competence. Termination sessions allow meaningful goodbyes and a balanced view of life, positive and negative.
• Session format. Individual sessions of about one hour, weekly, in a play therapy room stocked with basic tools. CEBC's resource list also includes a one-way mirror, video equipment and breakout rooms. Every session follows the same frame:

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Establishing safety. Goals: build the relationship, give the child an environment of calm, develop self-soothing and regulation, and begin assessment. In her interview, Gil draws on Bruce Perry's neurosequential ideas: a frightened child must first be helped to self-soothe, and talk-based or CBT work waits until the thinking brain is "online."
• build coping and self-regulation skills;
• Version followed: Trauma-Focused Integrated Play Therapy (TF-IPT/TFIPT) as its developer, Eliana Gil (Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery and Education, Fairfax, Virginia; Starbright Training Institute), describes it in the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse (CEBC) programme profile (content last reviewed by programme staff March 2026). Clinic format details come from the Gil Institute service flyer. Clinical…

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?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• 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

• repetitive scenes (4.4), burying, or empty trays. Do not read trays diagnostically.
• overwhelm (5.3) and compliance driven by wanting to please. The child must be able to stop.
• distress at body focus or at touch on the skin. The child applies the dot themselves if they prefer.
• regression near the ending (common and usually temporary), and abandonment themes in children who have experienced loss.
• new disclosures, which trigger safeguarding procedures (5.1). A caregiver who is not ready to hear the narrative should not be present.

Problems the guide addresses

• Safeguarding, disclosures and the forensic boundary
• Consent, assent and caregiver involvement
• Overwhelm, retraumatisation and dissociation
• Stuck or toxic posttraumatic play
• Posttraumatic play does not emerge; the child is withdrawn or 'resistant'
• Behavioural reenactment involving the therapist, aggression and sexualised play
• Touch boundaries
• Play materials and room safety
• Non-attendance, caregiver disengagement and placement changes
• Ruptures

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.