Play Therapy Interventions to Build Resilience Helping Children Affected by Natural Disaster in Indonesia

Resilience research has informed the practice of play therapy, group play therapy, and
group preventive play. Resilience research provides a comprehensive and coordinated
approach to working with children and their families facing adversity. Resilience research can
help a play therapist identify the child’s strengths, family and community resources available,
and the processes of joining them in reinforcing the child’s immediate ability to cope and
longer-term ability to be prepared for the next life challenge. Resilience as a set of
interactional mechanisms combines a child’s individual qualities with an understanding of
how these qualities are enhanced or diminished within the social context of family, other
support systems, and culture. This interactional approach has been an important factor in
applying resilience research to clinical practice.