his world and my world
play therapy:
a child told me that he felt like he was in another world. he just felt blank inside (he's probably 7). he said he couldn't sleep at all last night and it just got worse throughout the night. he just feels blank... and he kind of feels like a robot.
(i should mention that moments before i saw him, i was in the office sobbing.)
we were talking and he was kind of playing with these crafty shapes that are hearts and a horse and stars... he paused. we sat in silence. then he looked up at me and asked what we were talking about. (i should mention that i'd never met this child before). i told him that he was mostly just playing with those things, but the last thing we had talked about was his friends in his class. he said, "oh." i asked him where he went when he "went away." he said he went into "his world and it's blank there". i asked if he wanted to make his world with clay. he said yes.
it was such a blessing to witness. he had three colors red, blue, and black. in the end, he created his home, friends, toys, sponge bob, his broken heart, and himself. he completely covered himself with the black. he set the black him seperate from everything else with the broken heart in the middle. then he moved the broken heart and everything else except for him very far away from him.
in his world, he's totally alone and all he can see is black. it's blank.
then he decided to rip the black off of him (the original him was red). he peeled all of the black away. i said "it's like you're rescuing yourself." he nodded. eventually he tore the black into many, many tiny pieces. he was going to break it's heart just like it had broken his heart. but then, he wondered if the blackness even had a heart. he took all the tini pieces, wadded them together and then moved them to another part of the play room. the rest of the time we were laughing and playing in a variety of ways.
while he was working on his world, i noted that i needed to do the same process he was doing. i don't have any clay, but i decided to make a collage depicting where i'm at right now.
a child told me that he felt like he was in another world. he just felt blank inside (he's probably 7). he said he couldn't sleep at all last night and it just got worse throughout the night. he just feels blank... and he kind of feels like a robot.
(i should mention that moments before i saw him, i was in the office sobbing.)
we were talking and he was kind of playing with these crafty shapes that are hearts and a horse and stars... he paused. we sat in silence. then he looked up at me and asked what we were talking about. (i should mention that i'd never met this child before). i told him that he was mostly just playing with those things, but the last thing we had talked about was his friends in his class. he said, "oh." i asked him where he went when he "went away." he said he went into "his world and it's blank there". i asked if he wanted to make his world with clay. he said yes.
it was such a blessing to witness. he had three colors red, blue, and black. in the end, he created his home, friends, toys, sponge bob, his broken heart, and himself. he completely covered himself with the black. he set the black him seperate from everything else with the broken heart in the middle. then he moved the broken heart and everything else except for him very far away from him.
in his world, he's totally alone and all he can see is black. it's blank.
then he decided to rip the black off of him (the original him was red). he peeled all of the black away. i said "it's like you're rescuing yourself." he nodded. eventually he tore the black into many, many tiny pieces. he was going to break it's heart just like it had broken his heart. but then, he wondered if the blackness even had a heart. he took all the tini pieces, wadded them together and then moved them to another part of the play room. the rest of the time we were laughing and playing in a variety of ways.
while he was working on his world, i noted that i needed to do the same process he was doing. i don't have any clay, but i decided to make a collage depicting where i'm at right now.
