Working with Indigenous Australian Children: A Child-Centred Play Therapy Approach

by Josephine Martin, RPT-S (APPTA)

The Rationale for Child-Centred Play Therapy with Indigenous Australian Children

The work I undertake is diverse and, in many respects, differs from conventional models of service delivery. Preparing my presentation for the Play Is the Future 2026 International Conference and writing this article have given me an opportunity to reflect on the ways in which Child-Centred Play Therapy can be adapted to meet the needs of Indigenous Australian children and communities, particularly across geographically remote areas.

Australia’s geographical scale presents a significant consideration for the delivery of therapeutic services. For perspective, Italy could fit within Australia approximately 26 times, while the Northern Territory alone is approximately 1.3 times the size of Italy. Air and road transport make travel to remote communities feasible, the distances involved remain substantial and often eat into clinicians’ personal time.

Despite the geographical and contextual diversity of this work, the central foundation remains Child-Centred Play Therapy. I have practised play therapy for 22 years, with more than 12 of those years involving work with children and families in remote communities. This experience has reinforced the importance of maintaining a consistent therapeutic philosophy while remaining responsive to the cultural, geographical and community contexts in which therapy occurs.

Working therapeutically with Indigenous Australian children requires cultural awareness, respect, patience, humility and flexibility. The approaches described here represent only a small component of the broader considerations involved when providing play therapy within Indigenous communities and urban settings. Regardless of context, however, the principles of child-centred practice remain central to the therapeutic relationship.

Intensive Play Therapy in Australia

Intensive Play Therapy models have been utilised internationally for more than two decades. My first experience of an intensive model occurred at the University of North Texas in 2004, where participation in the Summer Institute contributed to my thinking about the potential application of intensive play therapy within the Australian context.

Australia's first Play Therapy intensive was subsequently developed in an urban setting, followed by the first remote intensive in Papunya in 2014. The development of a sustainable remote model required further time and collaboration. From 2016, Play Therapy NT was able to establish a more systematic approach that supported an ongoing, funded program through the Department of Education.

Over approximately three years, the program provided services across more than 13 schools and has subsequently continued in different forms across Central Australia, Northern Australia and urban Darwin. The service model retained Child-Centred Play Therapy as its foundation while placing a strong emphasis on therapeutic consistency and continuity.

Where possible, the same therapists returned to communities on each visit. Sessions were generally delivered intensively over approximately one week, depending on location, with visits occurring once per term. This predictable pattern enabled children to develop familiarity with the therapists, understand the therapeutic process and build confidence in the continuity of the relationship.

In Northern Australia, where geographical proximity allowed greater flexibility, sessions could be provided over two days every second week. This model enabled a different pattern of therapeutic contact and provided opportunities for a broader range of supports.

Urban Intensive Play Therapy with Australian Children

Urban intensives in Darwin have periodically been delivered using a somewhat different model. In addition to addressing individual therapeutic needs, these programs have incorporated opportunities to support children's social development and interpersonal capabilities.

The structure and outcomes of these urban programs warrant further consideration and will be explored in future publications. They demonstrate, however, that intensive play therapy can be adapted to different contexts while retaining a child-centred therapeutic foundation.

Consistency as a Therapeutic Principle

A defining feature of the remote model has been the emphasis on consistency. For children living in communities where access to ongoing therapeutic services may be limited, knowing when the therapist will return, who the therapist will be and what the therapeutic process will involve can be particularly significant.

The repeated nature of the intervention provides indigenous children with opportunities to develop trust and familiarity without requiring the therapist to be permanently located within the community. The model therefore demonstrates one potential approach to addressing the practical challenges associated with providing specialist therapeutic services across geographically dispersed communities.

Importantly, consistency does not mean applying a rigid or standardised intervention. Rather, it involves maintaining a reliable therapeutic relationship and predictable framework while allowing the child to determine the direction and content of the therapeutic experience.

A Qualitative Phases Approach

Working in remote communities also requires consideration of how information is collected and communicated. Parents, carers and community members may have varying levels of literacy, and conventional assessment and feedback processes may not always be appropriate or feasible. Consequently, reliance solely on formal assessment forms completed by principals, teachers, parents, carers or clinical staff can provide an incomplete picture of a child's therapeutic progress.

In response to these contextual considerations, a qualitative phases approach was developed to assist therapists in articulating their clinical observations of where a child may be situated within the therapeutic process.

The purpose of this approach is not to conceptualise the child as requiring rapid correction, nor to establish a predetermined trajectory towards therapeutic closure. Instead, it provides a framework through which the therapist can describe observed changes and consider the child's emerging needs, thereby informing ongoing case direction and clinical decision-making.

The approach remains grounded in the principles of Child-Centred Play Therapy and the work of Virginia Axline. It can be understood, in part, as a structured process of therapist self-reflection: the therapist considers what they are observing in the child's play, behaviour and therapeutic relationship and then explores these observations through clinical supervision.

This qualitative process is not intended to replace formal assessment where such assessment is appropriate. Rather, it provides an additional clinical lens that is particularly relevant in contexts where conventional assessment methods may be difficult to implement consistently.

Understanding Therapeutic Change in Indigenous Communities

Therapeutic progress cannot be adequately understood through session attendance or session counts alone. In particular, children's recovery from trauma and their developmental and emotional changes are complex processes that require consideration of multiple sources of qualitative information.

Observable changes may occur within the playroom, across school environments and within the child's broader social and behavioural presentation. These may include changes in emotional regulation, engagement, interpersonal behaviour, confidence and participation.

Service data have also indicated that children's school attendance can increase when therapists are present within the community. While such observations require careful interpretation and should not be assumed to demonstrate causation, they provide an important area for further investigation.

One of the most meaningful indicators of therapeutic connection is sometimes found outside the formal therapy session. Children may continue to approach therapists in the community simply to say hello, share how they are progressing or reconnect with a familiar therapeutic relationship. Some children describe their experience of therapy as one of the most positive aspects of their week, term or primary school experience.

These interactions provide important qualitative evidence of the relationships children have formed with therapists and the significance they may attach to the therapeutic process.

Implications for Remote Child-Centred Play Therapy Practice

This model demonstrates that intensive play therapy can be provided in communities where children may not otherwise have access to an ongoing play therapist. The findings and clinical experience described here suggest that consistency, repetition and relational continuity are central considerations when designing intensive therapeutic services for remote communities.

The model does not suggest that intensive therapy is equivalent to continuous local service provision. Rather, it provides one potential framework for extending access to specialist therapeutic intervention where geographical and workforce limitations make ongoing services difficult to sustain.

For Indigenous Australian children, effective practice requires more than transporting an established therapeutic model into a remote setting. It requires clinicians to understand the cultural and community context, work respectfully with families and communities, remain responsive to local needs and maintain a high degree of professional flexibility.

At the same time, the core principles of Child-Centred Play Therapy remain stable. The therapist's role is to provide a safe, consistent and accepting therapeutic relationship in which the child can communicate and explore through play at their own developmental and emotional pace.

Conclusion

More than 12 years of delivering play therapy in remote Australian communities has reinforced the potential value of intensive, consistent and relationship-based therapeutic services for children who may otherwise have had limited access to specialist intervention.

The experience described here highlights several key considerations: cultural responsiveness, therapeutic consistency, relational continuity, flexibility in service delivery and qualitative clinical observation. Together, these principles provide a foundation for adapting Child-Centred Play Therapy to geographically and culturally diverse contexts.

Further research is required to systematically examine the outcomes, mechanisms and sustainability of intensive play therapy models in remote Indigenous communities. The phases approach described in this article will be explored in greater detail in forthcoming publication, including consideration of its clinical application and potential contribution to the broader evaluation of therapeutic change.

Ultimately, the central proposition remains straightforward: when services are designed around the child, delivered with cultural humility and provided through a consistent therapeutic relationship, geographical distance does not necessarily have to prevent children in remote communities from accessing meaningful play therapy.

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Josephine Martin, RPT-S (APPTA), Founding president of APPTA, she has been very supportive of the growth of Play Therapy locally, nationally and internationally. With a background in Child Protection and experience as an Associate Lecturer in Play Therapy at Charles Darwin University, she brings extensive knowledge and passion to her work.

©2026 INA Play Therapy Press. Article n. 7 in the Series: Play Is the Future

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