Play therapy is a form of therapy primarily used for children. Adults can often misinterpret or completely miss a child’s verbal and non-verbal cues. A Play Therapist is skillfully trained at observing children and deciphering their behaviors to find information about them. As children don’t know how to process and express their own emotions, a Play Therapist uses ordinary playtime to observe a child and gain insights into their behaviors and problems. Play therapy offers children to be in a comfortable environment and expresses themselves without any fears or restrictions. A Play Therapist uses this medium of play to observe a child’s thoughts and feelings and teach them new coping mechanisms and redirect inappropriate behaviors in a way that’s easy for children to follow. A Play Therapist can help children take more responsibility for their behaviors, develop problem-solving skills, improve self-esteem, alleviate anxiety, learn how to experience and express their feelings and form stronger social and family bonds, and much more. A Play Therapist allows children to take back control over their lives and resolve whatever is causing them distress. All of this is done at a child’s own pace through a medium that is natural, familiar, and comfortable.

Education
Play Therapists can spend six to twelve years in school. Being a Play Therapist requires a bachelor’s degree in psychology or early childhood studies. After that, Play Therapists must have two years or 2000 hours of supervised clinical mental health experience to obtain their license.

Marriage or family therapy is a psychotherapy branch that works with families or couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. In marriage and family therapy, the focus of treatment is not just on the individual, preferably the set of relationships in which a person is embedded. A Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) is trained to deal specifically with the problems that arise in individuals, families, couples, and group settings. Premarital counseling, parent-child relationships, divorce or separation, romantic partners, or personal relationships are the strong suits of Marriage and Family Therapists. What makes these therapists different is that in addition to solving mental health issues, they focus more on how family dynamics and your relationships affect your mental health. People whose main stressors in life stem from their relationships with families or partners can learn how to improve their interpersonal communications and improve the dynamic of their relationships to lead a healthy life.

Education
To become a Marriage and Family Therapist, you first attain a bachelor’s degree in psychology and spend two to three years obtaining the master’s MFT or a similar degree in the area you specialize in.

LPC stands for Licensed Professional Counselor, and LMHC stands for Licensed Mental Health Counselor. These are two different terms used for the same occupation in the mental health field. These counselors may or may not deal with mental health conditions and can help their clients with their knowledge and expertise relating to a specific area. While anyone can become an expert on a subject, LPC/LMHC are licensed professionals that possess a high degree of professionalism, confidentiality, knowledge, and ethical standards. These professionals use their novel approaches and can even develop therapies they find to be effective to help you with your specific goals, but it has to fall under the ethnic guidelines and legal standards for counseling for the state they are practicing in. They help refine and change your decision-making process to help you achieve your goals.

Education
LCP/LMHC can take three to five years to complete graduate school, participate in internships and supervised hours, and attain their license. These years can vary depending on the area you are practicing in. These professionals can be spiritual advisors, financial advisors, business advisors, counselors helping you go through trauma, etc., with an individualized approach.