Play is a child’s job when they are young. The natural medium of communication for children is play and activity. Play is the way children learn what no one can teach them.
Children’s play represents the attempt of children to organize their experiences and may be one of the few times in children’s lives when they feel more in control and therefore, more secure.
The philosophy behind child-centered play therapy considers play as essential to children’s healthy development and that play gives concrete form and expression to children’s inner worlds. Emotionally significant experiences are given meaningful expression through play. One of the major functions of play is changing of what may be unmanageable in reality to manageable situations through symbolic representation, which provides children with opportunities for learning to cope by engaging in self-directed exploration.
When a child is given complete freedom in her play, she can act out aspects of her life that are emotionally significant to her. A child can show through the use of toys how the child feels about herself and the significant persons in her life. When a therapist gets on the child’s comfort level through play, the play provides a means through which conflicts can be resolved and feelings can be communicated. Due to these reasons, play therapy is one of the most beneficial interventions with children with emotional and behavioral issues. (Landreth, 2002).
Landreth, G. L. (2002). Play therapy: The art of the relationship, 2nd ed. New-York, NY: Brunner-Routledge.
Psy.D/Ph.D doctoral candidates in psychology, psychiatry, and other behavioral health care disciplines across the country will be face important decisions after graduation. The number one decision involves whether one will seek employment as a private practitioner or employment through a large employee based medical group.
The federal mandate and recent implementation of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” ( ACA; otherwise known as Obamacare) now provides all enrollees access to mental and behavioral health services as well as substance use and rehabilitation services as part of their insurance coverage (Varney, 2013). Additionally, the Mental Health Parity Law (MHPL), essentially requires insurance companies to provide same health care benefit coverage as other medical coverage and treatments, which will further guarantee coverage to clients. In her article, Obamacare Changes How Therapist Do Business, Varney (2013) explores the impact that the ACA and MHPL will have on new and seasoned psychologists, psychiatrists, marital therapists, and social workers as they contemplate how they will operate their business.
Interestingly, Varney mentions how mental health experts have seen a gradual shift away from “mom and pop” private practices, to mental health consortiums or large interdisciplinary medical groups. Due to the changes in ACA and MHPL, private practice therapists who have typically operated with a “cash & carry” practice, are now faced with countless insurance plans to sift through; as well as the bureaucracy of billing codes and hard to process insurance claims. Additionally, therapists who already process insurance claims may be asked by insurance companies to accept a cut or discount for patients enrolled in ACA and/or participate in the health care exchange program (i.e., pick or choose the type of insurance package).
This paradigm shift in business operations is prompting those in private practice to consolidate resources with other practitioners by joining a consortium where mental and behavioral health services are part of a continuum of care. I cannot imagine the challenges of dealing with the “bureaucratic” red tape of insurance companies and the health care delivery system, but according to Varney, therapists in large mental health consortiums often have bargaining power with the insurance companies and can negotiate directly with them for higher reimbursement rates. As a therapist, perhaps a limitation of working in a large medical group means losing flexibility and autonomous functioning, such as handling the day to day administration, such billing operations, scheduling clients, etc., that is common in private practice. Whether you choose private practice or a large medical group, one will surely have to navigate the complexities of working with insurance companies.
Reference:
Varney, S. (2013), Obamacare Changes How Therapist Do Business. Retrieved from http://medcitynews.com/2013/10/obamacare-changes-therapists-business/.
You made it through your graduate coursework. You’re facing down that dissertation like a wild animal trainer, grim-faced, ready for combat. These are just application essays. No need to panic.
I know, I know. Every one of your fellow students has an opinion. All of your professors and supervisors give you different advice. You’ve revised your essays howmany times now? I get it. So, I’m going to give you my opinion, as someone who reads a lot of these every single year, and uses them to help decide which candidates we’re interviewing at WKPIC, and which we’re giving a pass this year.
I can only speak for our tiny corner of the APPIC Match world, but as WKPIC’s Training Director, here’s what I want to see in your essays:
You.
This is my only chance to meet you on paper, other than a bunch of numbers and labels and statistics. Show me who you are as a professional and a person, so I’ll know if we can work with you. Are you smart? Let yourself shine. Are you funny? Use a bit of humor. Do you love to learn? Let me feel the energy. Basically, your essays can leave you in neutral, or push you into I’ve-got-to-meet-this-student.
And now for the details.
Do you really read the essays? Yes. Every . . . freakin’ . . . one. Even when I’ve got a stack of fifty applications, and get another stack that big the very next week. The other internship faculty members do, too. Making a match with our setting is very, very important to us, and this is a huge tool in initial screening, in our opinion. Plus, I may have gone on internship in the Paleolithic Period, but Match existed, and I remember pouring my heart, soul, and future into every word I wrote. I’m assuming you did, too, and I plan to respect that. Last year, I even built a desk shelf onto my treadmill so I could read while I walked. I read in meetings between speakers. I read on breaks. I read on vacation days. If you write it and apply to us, we will know what you said. We’ll be reading those essays.
Does grammar and spelling matter to you at WKPIC? To put it simply, YES. Our internship involves a lot of writing–initial assessments, evaluations, therapy notes, emails, and more. If I see I’m going to have to work multiple hours proofreading or revising whatever you do just to bring the basic grammar and spelling to standard, consider me scared, and likely scared enough not to interview you. That being said, if you end up with a couple of typos in your entire gigantic application, don’t panic. You’ll probably find a few typos in my posts on this blog. You may find a few typos in books I’ve published. I even found one in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (no, not lying! Somewhere around page 280-300, Snape is called Snap. Oh, Snap!). Typos happen. Just do your best, and show me that you have a reasonable command of the language.
Should I be super-specific and adamant about my theoretical orientation? Um, no. Not for us. Even if you are, we won’t totally believe you. I mean, we know you’re not kidding or anything, it’s just that except in rare circumstances, theoretical orientation prior to internship and your first few years of practice can be a bit shaky. Tell us what you’ve done the most, what you feel the most comfortable doing, and where you think you’re headed/want to head with theoretical orientation. That’s enough for us. We’ll be happy to work with you in that direction, and see how it pans out for you as you contend with it across multiple functional levels and disorders.
Is creative good, or should I play it completely safe? Remember, I am answering only for myself, and in general what we at WKPIC look for–but I like to see at least one creative or a bit less “in the box” essay. Again, what I like to see is YOU. Without at least a dash of intellectual pizzazz, I won’t know you’ve got that spark. You have to show me. I like seeing a couple of straightforward, professionally done pieces, and if they are all that way, that’s okay. If one steps a little away from “safe,” you definitely don’t lose my interest.
The bottom line is–you can do this. You can write those essays, and we’ll read them. They will matter.
