428 | What's Wrong with Our Field? Novelty and "Innovation"

Episode summary

In this episode, I continue the What's Wrong with Our Field? series by looking at our profession's fascination with novelty and innovation. I challenge the assumption that something new is automatically progress and argue that, for child-centered play therapists, real progress should be measured by two things: greater fidelity to the model and stronger evidence that the model works. When therapists feel uncertain, undertrained, or disconnected from a clear theoretical orientation, it becomes easy to keep reaching for the next technique, training, or intervention in hopes that it will finally make everything click.

I also talk about why CCPT therapists are often labeled "rigid" and why I think we should stop apologizing for that. Faithful adherence is not stubbornness; it is clarity, competence, and confidence in the model. And I'm encouraged by a shift I'm starting to see in the field, with more clinicians openly talking about theoretical fidelity and the problems that come from mixing incompatible approaches. Maybe, finally, we are beginning to recognize that progress does not always mean adding more. Sometimes it means returning to what already works.