Chapter 6: Using Play Therapy Techniques in Counseling Children with Deployed Parents

Military families face many unique challenges including frequently moving and parent separation (Barker & Berry, 2009; Chartrand, Frank, White, & Shope, 2008; Laser & Stephens, 2011). One particular difficulty is the stress experienced by family members when someone is deployed; this especially rings true when the deployment is for combat. For children, having a parent deployed for military service is a significant life event as they cope with the normal concerns of childhood in addition to the stress of time lost with their parent, fear of injury and death, changes in the family dynamics and much more (Chawla & Solinas-Saunders, 2011; Cozza, Chun, & Polo, 2005; Lincoln, Swift, & Shorteno-Fraser, 2008). Further complicating the difficulties of parental deployment, there is growing disapproval and a noted decrease in popular support for current U.S. military occupation and war; this sentiment can lead to declines in the “hero status” of deployed personnel. Specifically, antiwar sentiment may be internalized for children and military families as rejection or lack of community support, further injuring children with deployed parents (Tunac de Pedro et al., 2011). This chapter is dedicated to the children of military families and highlights a play therapy technique, filial therapy, which can be used in schools to address issues that arise during parent military deployment. Following are two vignettes demonstrating the stress faced by military children, a literature review of the effects of parental deployment on children, and a three session outline for parent workshops that can be conducted by school counselors.