Care for a child living with a serious illness and incurable disease needs to be holistic. Health care professionals need to have the knowledge and skills to address not only the physical symptoms but supporting and treating psychosocial, emotional and spiritual distress.
The many treatment methods of play therapy all apply the therapeutic benefits of play. Play therapy differs from regular play in that the therapist helps children to address and resolve their own problems. This form of therapy allows children to change the way they think about, feel toward, and resolve their concerns. Even the most troubling problems can be confronted in play therapy and lasting resolutions can be discovered, rehearsed, mastered and adapted into lifelong strategies.
"In play therapy, toys are like the child’s words and play is the child’s language. The use of toys enables children to transfer anxieties, fears, fantasies, and guilt to objects rather than people. In the process, children are safe from their own feelings and reactions because play enables children to distance themselves from traumatic events and experiences. A major function of play in play therapy is the changing of what may be unmanageable in reality to manageable situations through symbolic representation, which provides children opportunities for learning to cope." - Association for Play Therapy in US
Sand tray therapy, for example, offers children a gentle, creative way to express thoughts and emotions that may be difficult to put into words. By arranging figures and objects in sand, children can explore their feelings, fears, and hopes in a safe, imaginative space—helping them gain a sense of control and calm as they cope with illness and treatment. This can spark rich conversations that help facilitate understanding and resolution of issues of a child and their family.