Rural School Administrators' Understanding of Play Therapy and Its Value

In 2019, 19% of students attended a rural school in the United States (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024). However, the CDC (2024) reports only 20% of children who need specialized mental health services receive them. The need for mental health services exists at similar rates across rural and urban communities; yet rural families face more barriers to mental health access (Lee, 2023; Morales et al., 2020). Schools are very influential in children’s lives given the amount of time they spend there. In addition, schools are a natural community gathering point, making them an optimal location for providing mental health services (Lee, 2023). However, even though school counselors see play therapy as valuable, they report encountering barriers such as training, time, resources, administration and support (Ebrahim & Steen, 2012). Due to the lack of specialized mental health services in rural communities, it is unlikely that children will have access to play therapy services in rural communities if they are not provided in the school setting. Implementing play therapy is a necessity if schools intend to provide effective, developmentally appropriate services, yet many schools fail to do so. Hindman et al. (2022) discovered that knowledge about play therapy significantly increased participants’ willingness to seek out play therapy services. Because school administrators help determine the direction of schools, their knowledge about and support of play therapy is imperative. In this study, researchers examined rural school administrators’ knowledge of play therapy to determine if information about play therapy increased willingness to support play therapy services.