Welcome to the latest episode from the Lessons from the Playroom podcast. I have with me another amazing guest today we’re going to be chatting about bibliotherapy. So if you are not familiar with or you use bibliotherapy and you want to enhance what you do, this is going to be a really awesome episode for you to listen to.
So let me go ahead and introduce our very special guest for today. I have with me the amazing Althea Simpson and a couple of things about this wonderful woman. I learned a lot about you from your bio.
You’re up to a lot of stuff in this world. So. She’s the founder of Brighter Day therapeutic solutions and unicorn life training.
You do tons of trainings all around the world. She’s a licensed clinical social worker, registered play therapy supervisor and certified Lego serious Play facilitator. Here are some of the cool things about Althea.
In addition to her counseling background, she has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management, a Master of Business Administration in Marketing. You also have a master of social work in organizational leadership. Are you just like the avid learner? You’re about to finish your PhD.
What’s your PhD in? So my PhD is in business psychology consulting. And I’m so excited. I just finished my last class, so I’m done with all of my coursework.
And I just received the official notification that I’m abd all but dissertation. So I passed my comp exam. So that was this summer and I start my dissertation in the fall.
Amazing. So, listeners, we’re just going to pause, give a little round of applause here. Congratulations for all of your learning.
And in addition to that, because as if that’s not enough, you just started a new podcast not too long ago called Chronicles of a Play Therapist. It’s real, it’s raw, it’s authentic, it’s speaking the truth about our experience. So, listeners, add it onto your podcast list.
And you also just published a children’s book, which is so perfect for our conversation today, hurt to Healing Child Witnesses of domestic Violence and their invisible Injuries. So I’d love to talk about that book and weave it into the conversation, but holy moly, you are doing amazing things. And I’m really grateful that you’re here to talk to us about Bibliotherapy.
So thank you so much for saying yes to talking with me. Well, thank you for inviting me. I love talking about Play therapy, creative ways to integrate new things into play therapy.
I think that’s one of the great things about being a private practice owner, that I’ll have to get permission to be creative. Well, I had to get permission when I first started out in a community mental health organization. But the great thing about that mental health organization was they never put me in a box.
So there were never any limits on my ability to be creative with clients to help them get to their change place or their healing place. Right. So all I had to do was justify how it was therapeutic and they let me go with it.
I love talking about play therapy, creative based therapy. So thank you for having me. Yeah, thank you so much.
So I know you do many creative things as you’re just saying, and Bibliotherapy is just one thing that you bring into the play therapy space. My guess is there are individuals that don’t know what it is. I’d love for you to explain that, but before you even get into explaining it, what got you in the direction of Bibliotherapy? Well, I think about a year into my play therapy training, I switched supervisors, and my supervisor that I switched to was she used Bibliotherapy.
She had a training on Bibliotherapy. And so I would go in and so my primary population is children in the foster care well, children and families involved with child welfare system. And so I used to go in with my clients and she would say, this is a good book for that, this is a good book for that.
And I found myself going straight to Amazon every time I left her office to order these books. And then they have the suggestions, and then I would read it, and I’m like, oh, I can use this book, and I can use that book. And the books, they don’t have to be strictly therapeutic books.
I think all books are therapeutic, but you have some books that’s specific to anxiety, depression, anger, and then you have other books that take some creativity, and those are the books that I really enjoy using that I have to become creative to make it fit with my clients issues that they’re coming to therapy for. So if you had to just define Bibliotherapy in a sentence or two, how would you define it? Well, I would define it as the use of any type of literature because I’ve used magazine articles that I’ve found, so any type of literature that can be used to help clients through psychological, social, and behavioral and emotional issues. Okay, so take us into the world of Bibliotherapy.
Why is it helpful? Why is it a great medium for healing for kids? Bring us into it? Well, Bibliotherapy, it actually started out as a collaboration between and so this is one of the things that I do when I go in the direction of something that I’m going to use in my practice. I do tons of research, and I guess that comes from my research background, working at the American Psychiatric Association, where my department developed practice guidelines to treat mental health disorders. So I started researching bibliotherapy and what I found was it started as a collaboration for the use of mental health, started as a collaboration with a library and mental health professionals.
So I was very interested about that. But bibliotherapy you want to make sure that whatever books that you choose to use or whatever literature you choose, it is aligned with what the client is struggling with. Bibliotherapy it allows the client to create distance from their problems, which gives an added safety.
But also creating that distance, it gives them an opportunity to what’s the word I’m looking for? It gives them an opportunity to identify with the characters in the book and their problems. And it’s like, I’m not the only child that’s going through this. Someone else went through this.
Even if the characters are animals, they can still say, you know what? Someone else went through this. And I explain that to clients. Yeah, somebody probably went through this just like you, and they just did the animals.
Because I’m very transparent with my clients. It creates that distance and that safety. So you don’t feel like the finger is being pointed at you and your issues.
And I have that conversation with my clients. What a cool thing. You just put a little AHA in there for me around the simple act if I’m a kid and the simple act of me reading this story that feels familiar.
The fact that there is a story about it must mean that somebody went through it to be able to write a story about it. So there’s almost like a double normalization, not only the characters, but the fact that there is even a story about it in the first place. How healing and then even that’s healing.
So beautiful. Yeah, absolutely. I have a question that just came to mind because we know that kids and depending on where they are in their relationship with their own trauma story, that some kids need a lot of distance.
Some kids don’t need a lot of distance. Is that a factor in picking out books? Like, would you pick out a book, for example, of a child where maybe the character looked like the child was the same age as the child, versus a time when you might pick out a book where it was an animal or something else that was a little bit more removed? Is that ever a factor in picking out books, out of curiosity? It is, because you want to choose books that represent like I said, that represents the client’s personal situation. But for trauma, I tend to go to a lot of books that has animals in the book because it’s not humanizing the character, and it creates, again, that safety.
And two of my favorite books is Brave Bart and a Terrible Thing Happened. One is a cat, one is a raccoon. And the reason I love those books is because it doesn’t say what the trauma is.
The child gets to determine what the trauma is or say it’s not, oh, this was sexual abuse or physical abuse or witness in domestic violence or anything like that. It’s like whatever that child has gone through, whether it was traumatic grief or witness in a car accident, because we do know that trauma is any event that overrides a client or a person’s ability to cope, right? So that’s what trauma is. It overrides their ability to cope.
And it’s individualized. So one thing could be traumatizing to one person and not to another person, right? You can have a car accident. Two people witness a car accident, 1 may become traumatized.
The other one like, oh, prayers up. I hope everybody’s okay, right? So with Brave Bart and a Terrible Thing that Happens, the child or the adult or the teenager, because I use bibliotherapy across the lifespan, I use it across the lifespan, not just with children. And so the animals, again, it gives that distance and Terrible Thing That Happened and Brave Bart, those are my definite go to for trauma.
So, good listeners, hope you wrote the names of those books down as resources for you. Okay, so let’s say that we have our client, and our client is struggling with anxiety. We’ll just go there anxiety or managing their anxiety or whatever it is, and we decide, this would be great.
This would be a great opportunity to bring in a book or bibliotherapy, then what is it? Sit down and read the book to the child. Do you talk about it? Do you not talk about it? Does it depend? How would you approach the use of it? It depends on the child. It depends on the situation.
And even for teenagers and adults, my all time favorite book well, I can’t say it’s my all time favorite book. And I just want to say that there are no conflicts of interest. I don’t get paid for mentioning these books or anything.
I’m not an affiliate. I just find these to be very useful in my work. But if I had to choose one book, because books are expensive, but if I had to choose one book, it would be You’ve Got Dragons.
Because You’ve Got Dragons is a book that’s written about anxiety, but with some creativity, you can adapt that book to any problem that a child brings into the playroom. So that would be the number one book. As much as I love Brave Bart and I love A Terrible Thing That Happened, if it’s financial and you’re just starting out and you’re trying to build it.
You’ve got dragons. I’ve used that book in so many ways. So I would read the book, or I would let the child read the book, or we would co read the book.
Like they’ll read a page. I’ll read a page, depending on the situation. Some of the kids that I work with that’s been traumatized, I will read the book, or I would have two copies of the book.
So we can alternate because of the space issue, protecting their space and not wanting to be near that anxiety. Still got to develop that trust. So for some books, I have two copies and we will alternate.
If I want to alternate reading, even for adults and teenagers, I’ll say to them, you know what? This book? I know it’s a kids book, hear me out. But I think that it will make a connection to what you are experiencing or help you gain some insight in your situation. So do you mind if I read the book? So I wouldn’t ask them to read it.
I would ask them, do they mind if I read the book, right? And some will say yes, and then some will be like, you know what? No. But I know the book. So I’m still taking things from the book without the book even being there.
I take things from the book, so I’m still doing bibliotherapy because it’s coming from that book. They just don’t physically see the book, right? So it just depends on the person. And so we read the book.
I’m very tactile, so I love activities, and so I create a lot of activities to go with what we read so they can take those activities home, because the real therapeutic change happens outside of the therapy room, right? So I want parents to reinforce what their children are learning in the therapy room. So I send those activities home and encourage parents to take five to ten minutes at least once or twice a week and pull out those activities because we create a whole box that they can decorate and everything and put all of those activities in when they go home. So I encourage parents to go through the box once a week and kind of pick out one of those activities to reinforce what we are doing in the therapy room.
So continue on that line of thinking. How do you involve the parents or caregivers and family in bibliotherapy? How can that be brought together? So one of the things for me, when I first start working with a family, at at the first phone call, I let them know that I am a play therapist. I use a lot of expressive activities.
A lot of those activities the kids take home with them. A lot of the work, depending on what type of work it is that comes out of the activities that we do. But I let parents know that I do not work with children under the age of 18 without parental involvement.
So you will be a part of their therapy sessions and I explain it to it. I give them a heads up about what we’re going to do, why we’re going to do it, and I let them know that you can come in at any time. You can say, hey, I want to be a part of this at any time.
But when I say, hey, need you as a part of this session, I’m going to need you as a part of the session. So I establish that upfront. And it’s about the relationship.
No, they don’t want to come in and do the stuff that I do, but they also see the therapeutic gains of their children, so they’re less reluctant to come into the sessions. When I say it, and I say we’re going to do bibliotherapy, I send some of the books home, which I don’t get some back. So I had to start rethinking that because books are expensive.
But just letting them know, I think when you establish that positive relationship with their parents and followed with them seeing therapeutic change in their child, I find that it’s not hard for me to get parents to do things that I suggest or if I ask them to come into a session and engage in an activity. Do you ever have the parent read the book to the child or have the book be an experience between the parent and the child in some way? Yes, and I primarily do that when I am sitting behind so when I’m doing parent child interaction sessions, I am behind my two way mirror. So I’m not even in the room.
And we kind of set it up like the CPRT child parent relational therapy. So I’m trained in that. I didn’t go through the whole certification process because after doing all of the training, I was like, yeah, I don’t think I want to continue this.
But the training was very valuable and I was able to incorporate it in my work. So with my parent child interaction sessions, we set it up like that, have books and toys on the floor and have them there, and the parent and child interact and the parent take the lead of the child. Still following that child centered model.
Right. But yes, having the parent read, I think that’s very important because of the nurturing, the attachment, the bonding. I know I’ll say I’m asking you so many different questions, but it’s fine.
Your answers are highlighting something really, I think, beautiful and important for our listeners to get, which is that there isn’t a one way to do this and that how you use the book is really dependent upon the client and what’s needed and their relationships and the dynamic with their caregivers. And it’s a tool. But we still have as the clinicians, we still have to use our best judgment as how to use the tool.
Am I capturing that? Absolutely. And we have to be intentional about it. And it goes beyond like, play therapy goes so beyond the activities that we bring into the sessions.
I think that the activity is just an icing on a cake. We have to have a foundation, right? You have to have a theoretical foundation. And I tell people all the time, you don’t need a ton of theories and frameworks.
Get good at one or two, and then go from there, build from there, and then draw on other frameworks that you can integrate. And Bibliotherapy comes from a psychoanalytic psychodynamic framework, right, where it’s helping clients to gain insight to their behaviors, to their thoughts. Bibliotherapy can be used across developmental spectrums because reading their storytelling is universal.
But knowing why I’m choosing this book don’t choose a book because someone else said, hey, this is a great book, but how are you going to use that book? Adapt that book to that child, right? It’s very adaptable, especially if you’re reading. There have been times when I thought a book had a good storyline, but it really didn’t fit the child. So I had to insert what I know about the child in the book to make it fit.
But the story, I knew it would captivate the child or get them interested because sometimes they’re like, I don’t want to do this. Like, okay, you don’t have to, but I think it’ll help you understand some things from a different perspective about what’s going on with you. And then like, okay, whatever.
I even imagine that there’s some listeners that have the question of do we talk about what we read? Do we not talk about it? And my guess, you’re going to say, it depends. It depends on how you want to use it. Do you want to speak to that? Would you actually talk about the book or not? I talk about the book because I want to help them gain the insight into the issue that they’re having.
And so we talk about the book with some kids. I go into more detail, but yes, we definitely talk about the book. And I almost always follow up the book with an activity and sometimes we’ll read half the book and do an activity and then we’ll read the next half in the next session and do an activity adding on to the activity.
Because you learn in repetition and I don’t think that jumping from one thing to another is going to be that helpful. So my Mouth is a volcano, great book that I absolutely love using. And then I create then we do a volcano activity.
We create a volcano. Whether I use model magic or it’s an art based activity, we follow that up, and then we stop and do the activity. If I’m doing the actual volcano activity, then I’m breaking the book up because we have to shape and mold the volcano using the Model Magic.
I prefer Model Magic because you can manipulate it better than Playdoh or modeling clay. So we have to shape that, and then you want to do the painting of it, and so we paint it and do all of that, and then we explode the volcano using the alka salsa and vinegar and bacon soda. Dawn, with you in your Playroom.
But I always told to get back to your question, I always talk about the book, depending on the situation or the kid, how deep we go into the book, it depends on them. But I always talk about the book, and like I said, I like following up with activities, and they get to take those volcanoes home, and so their parents like, again, getting the parents involved, especially at home, to reinforce what they’re learning. And I tell you, it takes five minutes, five to ten minutes, once a week.
And then it’s been my experience, once they started seeing the therapeutic gains of their child, they start doing it more. Yeah, I love the example you just gave. It just brought, at least in my mind, just the creativity and idea.
Where can you go and how can you build upon the book and then extend it into the home? So fun, so creative. Like I said, I want to come and play with you. I’m going to build a volcano and have it explode.
It’s so much fun. And then the build up, right? So it’s like anticipation, and it’s the build up. And I do it on purpose.
One, to look at their frustration tolerance, too, because they want to get to that, and it’s a build up. So to have them do that so that volcano activity, I could use any anger management, any book dealing with anger or my mouth is a volcano for a month because it’s going to take that long. And I’m looking at their frustration tolerance, their curiosity are they like, Forget it, I don’t want to do it anymore.
I just have so much fun with it. And I do bibliotherapy online, too, for the individuals that are doing teletherapy. Yeah.
So I haven’t reopened my office since COVID and so I still do bibliotherapy, and I do it online. I will either read the book one of the great things about working with children in foster care is I let the case workers know what I need to effectively do their therapy over the Internet. And so they’re like, okay, get this stuff and send us the invoice.
So I have it sent to the house. But for people not in that situation, I Google books all the time. You have a lot of people reading books online.
So we play that. I don’t have to read it because someone else is already reading it. And then we talk about it and do the same thing.
And I use what’s in their home. They don’t have to have a whole bunch of stuff in their home. I use what they have.
Like, go and find three things around your house that represents your anxiety, or two things that you look at, and it caused you to get angry. And then we explore like, that. I use what’s in their home.
They have paper. We do a lot of art based stuff based on the book. So fun, so creative.
Will you talk a little bit to us about your book that you created and how someone might use your specific book? Well, my book I created a domestic violence children’s book. It took a while to get that book published. I finished it and had it edited almost two years ago.
So that book is a little personal. And I think for me, it came up. Some of my own personal stuff came up.
And I realized when I had the physical book in my hand that on some level, I am Mike, the character in the book. So it’s not based off a true story. It’s just based off my research, my experience, my personal experience, and professional experience working with children who have witnessed domestic violence.
And so the book is told from a child’s perspective of being invisible, how most people only care about adults who are being harmed in domestic violence situations, but children hurt, too. And it talks about his invisible injuries, his anger, his anxiety, his embarrassment. So it just goes through.
And how he had a friend and a friend told him how to get help, and he went on that journey to do that. When he first started, it didn’t work out. Then it worked out.
But with my book, I have activities at the back of the book to go along with. So there are two primary activities. And the one thing about being a play therapist and being creative, you can take one activity and use it for like, four to six weeks, depending on how you break it down.
So I wanted that for the book. So there are two primary activities in the back of the book, and then alternatives to use with visualization body scans, identifying support systems. So I wanted my book to have that.
And it was written for anyone that’s supporting children who witness domestic violence. Not just therapists, but I think play therapists, and therapists will be able to catch on, be able to break it up. The activities up a little more than the layperson, but the activities are for adults to do with kids, or they can do it on their own, because that’s how it was written for anyone that supports children.
Thank you for creating that resource for all of us. Amazing. Truly.
As we’re just going through this conversation, is there anything left that feels like, no, I really need play therapists to understand this piece about Bibliotherapy, and maybe it could be something about their own experience that can come up when they’re reading the book or maybe it’s something in the facilitation or I don’t know. Is there something else that feels like, I want to touch on this? Lisa this feels important. So I think the biggest thing is to choose books that are representative of the child’s problem.
There’s a multicultural component when you can find books that represent the cultures that you are working with and the adaptation of it, or even the application of bibliotherapy, being careful about the child, identifying with the character too much, because some children can take that and justify their negative behaviors. And then you want to work through that. So, like, well, if they can act like this, so can I.
It’s in a book. I mean, I’ve heard this stuff, right? But knowing the biggest thing is reading the book, because you need to know the resources in order to use them. And I have a funny story.
I was at a conference, and the self esteem shop was like, hey, I saw this great book. I was like, I knew the kid I wanted to use the book with. I was like, oh, my goodness, this is so perfect.
Here’s the thing. I forgot to read the book. I didn’t have time, and I forgot.
And so when the kid came to my office and I have permission to talk about this, that’s very important. Confidentiality. I don’t want people thinking that therapists just willy nilly talk about their clients.
No, I have consent and assent to talk about this. Consent from the adult, assent from the child because the child can’t give consent. But at any rate, so I had the book, and I was like, oh, my gosh, I have a book for you to read.
And this kid was really into bibliotherapy. So we read the book, and the kid just looked at me and was like, yeah, so if they can’t solve the problem, how can I? So you want to try to pick books that two books that solve problems, where the character is solving the problem. And so I was like, oh, snap.
Yeah. Did you have your snack yet? And I was like, let’s just do a snack. We’ll read part two next week.
I was just thinking about the story, right? Thinking about this story and how I could come up with solving this problem. But the great thing about it is that we were able to solve the problem together, but it also taught them another lesson, that things are not going to always be exact, and we’re going to have to put in some extra work so you don’t get caught off guard like that. Read the books.
See if they can try to choose books where the character solves the problem. Where the character solves the problem. Yeah.
This whole conversation is making me think of I kept my favorite book as a child, and it was a book that I never really knew. Why was that my favorite book? But I just. Loved the book, and I kept it, and I pulled it out probably six months ago and reread it as an adult with a new lens to ask what was happening for me at that time and why was that book so important and so meaningful for me at that time and at the time? Golly, it sure would have been helpful if an adult had sat down and talked me through and helped me identify with the characters, because I just knew the book helped.
And it’s not until now, as an adult, where I went, now I understand why that book was so helpful. But just the power, right? There’s something about the story that can get in there and can touch us in really meaningful ways. Love it.
Yeah, love it. And it can help them use their imagination. You can put them in the story again if they’re ready.
A lot of this depends on the child. Another thing is knowing which books to choose is really important, being able to place the child in the story. But again, it has to be safe to go in that direction and using their imagination.
And how would you solve this? So and so did it this way, but how would you solve it? Does any of this relate to your life? And that’s when you want to make sure that they’re resourced, especially dealing with trauma, they have to be properly resourced in order to start putting them in the stories. And you could test it out, but storytelling and metaphors and using your imagination is always great because we connect to something that’s familiar in storytelling anyway. So having them to tell their version of the story, how would you change this if this was you? How would you retitle this book? Is this a good title? Would you keep it? I mean, there are just so many ways to explore it using Bibliotherapy.
I just say be creative with it. And I don’t always get it right. I don’t always get it right.
And I think that that’s important. Even with choosing the right book, something can go wrong. And then again, with my creativity, sometimes I’m just off the cuff and I stretch the limits, and when it doesn’t work out and they looking at me like, why did you have me do this? Like, my bad.
It sounded way cooler in my head. But then I’d use it as a teachable moment. We have a landscape to use everything that we do and everything that comes out of therapeutic sessions as a landscape, as a teachable moment.
So what went well? What didn’t go well? What would you toss away? What would you keep? How would you change it? Right? So I just think the biggest thing is having trust in your gut, being creative. We’re play therapists. That’s what we do.
But having that theoretical foundation, I can always go back to my frameworks and knowing what you’re doing, using the therapeutic powers of play. Those play powers are so important to what we do. So being able to go back to that and that’s your landscape, to be as creative as you’re allowed to.
Awesome. Awesome. Thea will you share, where people can learn more about you and where can they find you, where can they study from you, where can they get your book, all of that stuff? My book is at the selfesteemshop.com
Amazon.com Barnesandnoble.com. It’s on Google books, I guess.
I don’t know. I’m still learning where it is because the book was just published not two weeks ago. So they’re still populating at the major retailers.
So I’m not sure. But I do know those three places to find out more about my training, you could go to Unicorn Life Training, but you can also just follow Unicorn Life Play Therapy on Facebook and I post a lot on my business page, Unicorn Life Play Therapy. Or follow me on Instagram or TikTok at Althea T.
Simpson. And I put a lot of activities and stuff on my TikTok and my Instagram. Awesome.
Thank you for what you’re doing for the field and for your creativity that has allowed you to keep creating for us. You’re an inspiration. Atea and thank you.
I know I feel grateful that you are in the field doing what you are doing and supporting all of us. Yeah, thank you. And it’s an honor because I’ve been following your work for years, since I’ve come into the Play Therapy realm about, I think twelve years ago.
Over the past three or four years, I’ve been following your work and I appreciate you and all of your heartfelt work and you just have this sense of calm for what we do and I appreciate you, too. And so I’m honored that you asked me to be a part of your podcast. I’ve been my pleasure.
My pleasure. So, listeners, I hope you found that conversation really interesting. I know I sure did.
You got me all excited. Please follow up. Check out thea out if you want her to come do trainings, if you want to be a part of trainings.
She is a resource for you, for sure. And listeners, you know what I’m going to say, because I say at the end of every single podcast, wherever you are in the world, take a deep breath, connect with yourself, honor yourself. You are worthy.
You are worthy. You are worthy. You are the most important toy in that playroom.
Be well and I look forward to the next time that we get to be together. Thanks Althea.
