Tele-play therapy is new to many of us. This can make it difficult to structure these meetings and can lead the space to feel a bit more ambiguous and less grounded. In face to face sessions, it’s often easier and comes more naturally to provide transition warnings and goodbye or check in rituals.
An emotion check in visual can be very helpful in Tele sessions and I will use either my magnet board or a feelings check in sheet unique to the child. This sheet could be colored by the child (you can email the template to the parent before the session) or you can color it for the child with the child’s instruction during the video session. If you are coloring this for the child, be sure to provide ample color options to choose from.
Talk about and explore which feelings make the child think of which colors. Create a routine with child for checking in and out of sessions using the visual. You can use a dry erase marker if you put it in a sheet protector and then use it again and again!
If the child has created their own, talk about where they can keep it in their house. Create a daily routine of checking in about emotions that the child can do independently (keeping the feeling sheet on the bedroom door and being mindful of emotions in the morning and at night).
Here’s the link for the printable! Feel free to add additional emotions! https://kristinamarcelli.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/feeling-faces-printable-coloring-sheet/
Art of Social Work 