THE USE OF FAIRY TALES IN HYBRID PSYCHOLOGICAL CARE WITH CHILDREN (Atena Editora)

Abstract

With the Covid-19 pandemic, the limitations imposed by social isolation required immediate adaptation from psychologists when continuing their care, especially with young children accustomed to playing and exploring. This work aims to describe the use of fantasy and adapted play resources as alternatives for rescuing the therapeutic process of 22 children, aged between 5 and 10 years, monitored through care based on individual play therapy. Throughout the hybrid services, it was possible to observe, at each session, an increase in responsiveness to the alternative elements created, as well as a strengthening of the patient-therapist bond. From the beginning of the work, interacting with patients, the therapist creates a narrative from which mystical characters begin to serve as auxiliary egos, supporting children in their uncertainties, anxieties and motivating the sharing of emotions. Over time, the tale is named “The Fairy of Behavior” and strengthened with the structuring of figurative creatures theorized based on Jungian archetypes and typology. To ensure the acceptance and sharing of such emotions also in the family context, a methodology based on these mystical elements was created to be applied in the form of parental mentoring. Significant results were obtained by the families, which reverberated in the school environment and generated the demand presented by the participants, for the publication of the story and expansion of the work to the educational context. After a few months, the work expanded as a method and was extended to more patients and several psychologists under clinical supervision, who began using the material. With the necessary adaptations and inclusion of creative games, the method was applied experimentally in two different school groups composed of 32 children between 5 and 11 years of age.