Play Therapy Courses Offered in the Professional Counseling Program

The Professional Counseling Program at Texas State University offers three classes in play therapy. Enrolled students as well as non-degree-seeking students (professionals) are eligible to take the courses.

Classes are held once per week for 3 hours. Spring and Fall semesters are 15 weeks while Summer is 10 weeks. Texas State's course schedule search can help you see when and where a class is typically offered (select previous years/semesters). However, there is no guarantee that a class will be offered at the same day/time/semester/campus as previous years.

If you are interested in taking these engaging play therapy classes, please reach out to your advisor (students) or read more about applying as a non-degree-seeking student (professionals*). If you're just starting to consider a career in counseling and play therapy, we invite you to consider applying to the Professional Counseling Program.

Below is a brief description of each play therapy course we offer.

COUN 5369: Child and Adolescent Counseling Methods

One of the first courses that TXST students take related to working with children is COUN 5369. This course offers an introduction to play therapy, including seminal and emerging play therapy theories. This course also provides instruction and experiential practice on expressive techniques, such as art, sandtray, and music. COUN 5369 also provides an introduction to facilitating family play therapy sessions.

Additional Information:

• Pre-requisite for COUN 5373: Intermediate Methods in Play Therapy and COUN 5346: Filial Therapy
• Offered in person at both the San Marcos and Round Rock campuses
• Typically offered in Spring, Summer, and Fall
• Students earn 50 hours of play therapy instruction toward the RPT ™ credential

COUN 5373: Intermediate Methods in Play Therapy

This class builds on the content of COUN 5369: Child and Adolescent Counseling Methods and provides a systematic training approach to help students develop their play therapy skills. In addition, students learn about important topics like caregiver consultations, basic facilitative skills, seminal and emerging play therapy theories, managing special situations in the playroom, and record-keeping. This course also provides a micropracticum that offer students the opportunity to practice play therapy skills with volunteer clients in the clinic playroom. Students receive supervision through this experiential process.

Additional information:

• COUN 5369: Child and Adolescent Counseling Methods must be completed prior to taking this class
• Offered in person at both the San Marcos and Round Rock campuses
• Typically offered in Spring and Summer 
• Students earn 67.5 hours of play therapy instruction toward the RPT ™ credential

COUN 5346: Filial Therapy

This course builds on COUN 5369 and COUN 5373 as students learn to teach small groups of parents and caregivers facilitative play therapy skills so they can strengthen their relationships with their children and become agents of change in their children's lives. In this clinically-focused class students co-lead filial therapy groups while receiving supervision from the instructor.

Additional Information

• COUN 5369: Child and Adolescent Counseling Methods must be completed prior to taking this class
• COUN 5373: Intermediate Methods in Play Therapy may be taken concurrently with this class, but it is recommended that it be complete beforehand
• Offered online
• Typically offered in Spring of odd years (e.g., 2023, 2025, 2027)
• Students earn 67.5 hours of play therapy instruction toward the RPT ™ credential

*Degree-seeking master's students in the Professional Counseling Program will have the opportunity to register for classes before non-degree-seeking students. We cannot guarantee space will always be available for non-degree-seeking students.