| An eight year old child
presented with his mom in my office due to parental divorce. The
child (we’ll call him Stevie) was an extremely anxious and
depressed child who clearly exhibited developmental delays. His
mother reported that he is in special education classes and has
learning disabilities. He has speech
problems and has always been made fun of in school. He is a well
behaved child who always tries to “see the bright side of
things.” However, when I first began to see Stevie, it was clear
he was depressed and hurt by his father’s absence in his life.
He began his first session with Jenga,
my youngest and only female therapy dog. I explained play therapy
and the dog to him in the way I always do. However, before I made
introductions beyond the “Cozy Corner” the child sat down on
the pillow, called Jenga over and began to tell her how sad he was
that he does not get to see his dad
very often. He talked about |
how
he used to play football and go fishing with his dad parents were married but
now his dad never comes around. The entire session was of Stevie
telling Jenga of the loss of his father’s attention. Every
session after that one was much of the same. Stevie would come in
and tell Jenga something new going on in his life and then they
would end the session with a play when his activity of
Stevie’s choice. Sometimes it was fetch, a game of Feelings
Jenga (in honor of his favorite pup), tug, or tag. He told Jenga
how his father drank all the time and was often mean to his mom,
how his dad never has time for him, and about his dad’s
occasional phone calls.
After several of these sessions I received
a phone call from Stevie’s mom requesting an emergency session.
Stevie’s father called him on the phone and told him directly he
was terminating rights
as his
|
father and that he would
never see him again. To say the least Stevie was devastated. He
told his mom he needed to see Jenga and Ms. Mary right then as he
needed to tell us the news. Once I received the call, I had Jenga
brought from home as my other therapy dog, Razz was working that
day. As soon as Stevie came in he went straight to the Cozy
Corner, curled up on the pillow with Jenga and told her about his
phone call with his dad. It started like this, “Jenga I have
something really, really bad to tell you. I mean it is his the
worse thing that could ever happen to me. My dad (as he is sobbing
and crying) said he never wants to see me again Jenga. I don’t
know why or what I did. My mom said it is not my fault and my dad
is sick but I just wish he would tell me why he does not want to
see me anymore.” As Stevie tells his story to Jenga she is
licking his hand and the tears as they drop. I was fighting back
tears as I witnessed such a powerful event. I spoke to Stevie’s
mom after the session and she said she could not believe what a
difference that one session had made for him. |
