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.