Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy: the method that works for children
Understand how CBPT works and why it helps children. We explain, inform and train professionals worldwide.
What is Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy?
Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT) is an evidence-based, structured approach that brings the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy into play — the natural language of children. Pioneered by Susan M. Knell, it uses play, puppets, storytelling and art to help children recognize thoughts and feelings, learn coping skills and change unhelpful behaviors.
Directive yet child-friendly, goal-oriented and grounded in research — a method clinicians can apply with structure and confidence. As the worldwide reference for CBPT, we teach it directly from its pioneers.
- Cognitive-behavioral principles, through play
- Directive, structured and goal-oriented
- Evidence-based, grounded in APA research
- For children: anxiety, OCD, mutism, phobias and more
From play to structured therapy: the CBPT method in practice.
Helping children is our mission
You became a therapist to make a real difference. CBPT gives you a method that works — so the children you support get the best of evidence-based care.
It works
An evidence-based approach, grounded in APA-published research and refined by the pioneers of CBPT.
A method you can apply
Structured and practical, step by step — ready to bring into your sessions from day one.
Real change for children
Help children with anxiety, OCD, selective mutism, phobias and more — with confidence.
Discover the effectiveness of CBPT: a protocol for every disorder
With young children, evidence-based therapy is delivered in their own language — play. For each condition, Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy defines a structured, replicable clinical protocol that brings cognitive-behavioral techniques into the play paradigm.
Selective Mutism
Contingency management, stimulus fading and shaping make speaking progressively more reinforcing.
See the protocol →OCD
Exposure and response prevention adapted to play, helping the child face obsessive fears one step at a time.
See the protocol →Anxiety & Fears
Cognitive restructuring and graded exposure through play; the child builds coping self-statements.
See the protocol →Separation Anxiety
Structured play and child-created coping books build calm during separation.
See the protocol →Toileting
Playful, structured routines combined with behavioral techniques foster autonomy step by step.
See the protocol →Every protocol is grounded in APA-published research and documented in our manuals — under the scientific direction of Maria A. Geraci and Susan M. Knell.
Go deeper into the method
Explore each part of CBPT — from the core model to its clinical applications and tools. Learn the method, then train at your own pace.
The core model
Understand the cognitive-behavioral model behind CBPT.
Explore the model →How it is applied
See how CBPT works directively with children.
How it works →The tools
Puppets, therapeutic storytelling and expressive arts.
Discover the tools →Scientific direction
The research and the people behind the method.
Our direction →Learn the method from the people who created it
Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy combines the rigor of cognitive-behavioral therapy with the language children understand best: play. Our program is delivered under the scientific direction of Maria A. Geraci, a CBPT researcher, and Susan M. Knell, a CBPT pioneer.
- Evidence-based, grounded in APA-published research
- The same method we teach to professionals worldwide
- Self-paced, with subtitles in your language
Featured training
Self-paced courses taught under Susan M. Knell's scientific direction. Explore all →
Training in Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy
Online courses — from the foundations to certification — under Maria A. Geraci and Susan M. Knell's scientific direction. Learn the method, then bring it into your practice.
Explore the coursesNot ready to enroll? Start with the free ebook
"Play becomes Therapy" — a practical introduction to Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy. Download it free and join professionals worldwide.
Download the free ebook
Questions, answered
Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy lets us bring CBT techniques into the child's own language: play.