Students lead play therapy workshops in Ghana
Spring break mission trip brings new therapy training to more than 80 psychologists, counselors and teachers in Africa.
By JanelShoun-Smith | 615-966-7078 |
More than 40 local counselors and teachers attended a play therapy workshop held by Lipscomb clinical mental health counseling faculty and students at the University of Ghana in Accra over spring break 2025.
This past spring break, four students and two professors from the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program packed their luggage and headed to Ghana for a week to play.
But not the kind of play you may think.
These students and professors traveled to Africa to conduct two training workshops in Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT), a therapeutic approach for children aged 3 to 10 that uses play as a means for children to express their feelings and experiences.
The four students—Ashley Wellander, Christi Johnson, Alicia Harrington and Andrew Thompson (MS ’25)—are all earning Lipscomb’s master’s in clinical mental health counseling with a specialization in play therapy, a theoretical approach to counseling children developed by the Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas.
Lipscomb’s Assistant Professor Damian McClintock, who holds a Ph.D. in counseling from UNT and is among the few certified as a CCPT trainer and supervisor, and Professor Jake Morris led the team which held two, two-day CCPT workshops.
One was held for therapists in the community who gathered at the University of Ghana in Accra. One was held at The Pearl House in Winneba, Ghana, a nonprofit which includes a counseling center called The Haven, a residential and vocational school for vulnerable and abused 9- to 17-year-old girls and a Christian school for preschool through ninth grade.
Lipscomb's mission team members with psychology interns, volunteers and Stacy Payne, one of the psychological staff at The Pearl House.
Student Andrew Thompson observing workshop participants.
Since its inception in 2013, The Pearl House has been run by alumna Courtney Garland (BS ’00, MA ’18). In 2020, Garland reached out to Morris to explore Lipscomb’s possible involvement in establishing The Haven counseling center.
In addition to providing advice, the counseling faculty recruited counseling students and alumni to provide toys and materials to supply the play therapy space at The Haven. Morris then accompanied a Harpeth Hills Church of Christ youth group mission team headed to The Pearl House to specifically help design and paint the play and expressive arts therapy space.
“Dr. Morris and his partners brought us every tool and resource we needed to get started with practicing play therapy,” Garland said in 2023. “His encouragement and excitement came at the right time to set us off on a meaningful path.”
The recent spring break trip was a continuation of the ongoing partnership. More than 80 psychologists, counselors and teachers participated in the two sessions to learn CCPT, which utilizes play and the therapeutic relationship to provide a safe, consistent environment in which a child can experience full acceptance, empathy and understanding from the counselor to process their inner experiences and feelings through play and symbols.
It can be challenging for children with limited vocabulary and emotional maturity to express complicated thoughts and feelings. With children coming to The Haven from all over Ghana, it is also possible that the psychologists might not understand the dialect from that area. Play and expressive arts therapy becomes the language through which the children convey and process emotions.
In the CCPT trainings, participants broke into groups and practiced the play therapy methods, and the professors and students demonstrated play therapy sessions with role-playing. The team took several “play therapy kits” to train participants, including useful toys such as toy kitchen equipment, animals, superhero figurines, and toys that reveal aggression, such as toy knives and army men.
“Our goals were to strengthen the ministry of The Pearl House, strengthen the reputation of The Haven counseling center and to allow the people of Ghana to better serve their neighbors,” said Morris.
“We hope to have a greater impact in Ghana and the international community in regards to the importance of providing mental health care resources in residential homes. We also hope that through our presence, the perceptions of mental health care will evolve and that the community will become more involved in the resources we have available,” said Garland in 2023.
Assistant Professor Damian McClintock, who holds the credentials needed to train others in child-centered play therapy, trains counselors and teachers in Ghana, Africa.
Workshop participants at play.
The trip provided Lipscomb’s students with a chance to learn mentoring and training, an opportunity they could not receive in the U.S. where CCPT training can only be offered by UNT alumni, said Morris.
“Dr. Morris and Dr. McClintock were intentional in every interaction, creating space for us to grow not only professionally, but personally and spiritually as well,” said team participant Johnson.
“The most profound moments were by far the moments shared with the girls at The Pearl House,” she said. “Each evening, they joyfully welcomed us into their time of worship, where we sang songs of praise that transcended language and culture.”
“As a student, it was such a priceless opportunity to get to share what I’ve been learning about child-centered play therapy with counseling professionals and students over there. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wrestle with feeling unqualified at times, but we had such incredible support from our faculty on the trip,” said team participant Thompson. “They encouraged us to step outside of our comfort zones, take on different parts of the workshops, and trust what we knew — so I did. And it was amazing.”
“We answered their questions, watched them get excited about the concepts, and saw them make connections about how it could help their work with children,” Thompson said of the workshop participants. “It was so humbling and inspiring — their hospitality, kindness and the way they radiated God’s love moved me to tears more than once.”
Lipscomb’s Center for Play Therapy and Expressive Arts is directed by Associate Professor Kasie Lee, who also holds a doctoral degree from the University of North Texas where she specialized in play therapy. The center is approved by the national Association for Play Therapy. Faculty are registered play therapists with extensive experience in practicing play therapy, supervising play therapists-in-training, and researching the clinical effectiveness of play therapy.