Play Therapy Class-Student #10-Jungle Mystery Counseling Session

I selected a jungle from the slips of paper in my play therapy class. My scenario for a jungle involves a family-two parents and a 11 year old son who took a vacation to Brazil, Rio, to visit relatives. The family had been excited about the vacation because they had envisioned relaxation, time on the beach, warm weather, time away from the states, and a time to build wonderful memories as a family. On the flight to Brazil, the plane crashed into the rainforest, jungle, killing five of the eighty passengers on board. The passenger had limited food-just the food for sale and beverages located on the plane and limited first aid supplies. Some of the men and women who survived formed a group to travel through the jungle and reach help while the other adults tended to the surviving members of the crash. Both parties encountered danger from the predatory wildlife and the weather elements and keeping the surviving members calm, safe, and healthy. The team searching for help traveled for three days and finally someone was able to contact a team in an outside town. Those that stayed behind rationed the food and cared for the survivors using clothes, plants, and makeshift medical supplies. The survivors remained at eighty with no other lives lost but as a whole the experience creating lasting scars. The family of three decided to seek counseling after a month because the son had frequent nightmares and had isolated himself away from his family and friends. The husband and wife spent so much time focusing on their sons needs that they did not deal with their own scars from the jungle experience. The mystery counseling session picture reflects their experience as a family. The picture represents their family unit and joy they had about taking a vacation. They wanted to have a nice wonderful vacation as a family but were unable to. The pictures of the tree reflect the jungle terrain and the animals that each encountered. The pictures of the “big cats”, snake and insects also reflected what they experienced. The man using binoculars reflected the father’s helplessness in the situation to protect his family from harm and his desires are reflected on the bottom of the photo-“put your pain to rest, “energize reduce stress”, “stay alert”. He does not understand that this experience is not one that people can move through quickly.