Abilene counselors want playground time to be healing time for troubled children_90604

Posted: 9/03/04

Abilene counselors want playground time
to be healing time for troubled children

By George Henson

Staff Writer

ABILENE–Counselors in Abilene are praying play time will become healing time for troubled children.

The counseling center of First Baptist Church in Abilene recently dedicated a playground specifically devoted to play therapy.

Play therapy has long been a staple in counseling children, said Jennifer Smothermon, staff therapist and director of development at the Ministry of Counseling and Enrichment in Abilene. But the playground enables counselors to take that therapy outdoors.

“It may be that this has been used somewhere else, but we went through many journals trying to research this, and we haven't been able to find another instance where this is being done in a Christian counseling setting,” Smothermon said.

While the counseling center is a ministry of First Baptist Church in Abilene, it is located a few blocks away.

“About 95 percent of the people we see are not members of First Baptist Church, and for at least some of them, it helps that they're not coming to a church building. Also, for those who are members of the church, being away from the church property gives them a greater measure of confidentiality and privacy,” Smothermon pointed out.

A fence will surround the playground with a wall facing the road that will look like the buildings at the church. The fence and wall also will provide confidentiality to the therapy.

Elements of the playground will be much like any other.

“It's more how it is used than how it is built,” Smothermon explained. “It's not a recreational tool where you just send kids out to play. Any time a child is on the playground, a counselor will be working with them.”

For example, a child with an anxiety disorder might be led to cross a bridge to help him or her learn how to deal with fear or how to move on to a new stage, she said.

“We've been working with the children indoors through conventional play therapy. This will be a new arena to use to help them work through their issues,” she said.

Research, fund raising and going through the church committee processes have led to a two-year journey from concept to completion. Donations to build the $54,000 therapeutic playground have come from the First Baptist Church of Abilene Foundation, the Community Foundation of Abilene, the Greathouse Foundation, the Junior League of Abilene and several individual donors.

One woman who tragically lost a child donated $10,000.

“She wanted to help with anything that might draw children to counseling who were not able to work out their problems on their own,” Smothermon said.

While the use of an outdoor therapeutic playground may be a new concept, Smothermon said, therapeutic gardens have been used successfully for years, and that was the original springboard to bringing play therapy outside the walls.

Currently, the counseling center sees people from 34 counties, and about one-third of them are children. She expects the playground may bring more children to the center.

Children come to the center with a wide range of psychological and emotional issues. Many of them have problems dealing with the divorce of their parents.

“It's really very interesting, because the church initially wanted to begin this type of ministry because of the problems they saw coming out of the disintegration of families, and that is still the main reason children come here. Generally, however, if it is classified as a psychological disorder, we see it,” Smothermon said.

Among those are anxiety disorder, attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and others.

The fee is $75 per hour, but that rate can be adjusted to meet the needs of an individual family, Smothermon said. For more information, call (325) 672-9999.