Sarah Jimenez, LCSW, PhD, uses Play/Art Therapy to tap into the narrative that 6-17-year-olds create in order to navigate their world(s). Play and art therapies elicit the inner voice that children possess in order to make sense of their surroundings. Sarah locates this voice and analyzes the narrative as a roadmap to locate the child(ren)'s hurt, anger, overwhelm, fear, and other experiences.

 

For example, in play therapy, Sarah may utilize puppets and gives them voices. These voices are expressed as another being in the puppets and the child melds their imagination and realities, by using their own voice, in order to make sense of their trauma. Sarah finds ways to heal through play and art, so that the child can be appropriately and developmentally engaged in psychotherapy.