Counseling Students’ Experiences with Virtual Playroom Training for Delivering Child-Centered Play Therapy

Telemental health (TMH) continues to be a rising delivery method in the counseling field, especially for children. However, there is limited research on counselors’ experiences utilizing CCPT through TMH with children. Therefore, in this study, we provided a two-day training to counseling students on how to use CCPT through TMH with a virtual playroom. Following a virtual CCPT session with elementary-aged children, we conducted interviews to understand the counselors-in-training’s (CITs) experiences creating and utilizing the virtual playroom to deliver CCPT through TMH. We used thematic analysis to identify four emergent themes. The themes are: (a) elements of training, (b) technology, (c) participants’ experiences providing CCPT using the virtual playroom, and (d) participants’ recommendations. Results showed that participants found the training and virtual playroom to be positive and beneficial to providing CCPT through TMH.