You Don't Need a Psychology Degree for Therapeutic Storytelling
Therapeutic Storytelling Series · Part 6 of 9
You Don't Need a Psychology Degree for Therapeutic Storytelling
Play therapy, done well, is a genuinely skilled craft — years of clinical study, supervised practicum hours, and a dedicated room with sand trays and toys to practise safely and ethically. None of that is a criticism; it's exactly why trained play therapists are worth what they cost.
Do you need a psychology degree to use therapeutic storytelling?
No — not at a basic level. A teacher facing a tense classroom on Monday morning, a parent at bedtime, an HR lead after a team conflict, none of them have years to invest before they need something that works. Therapeutic storytelling meets that more urgent need:
something learnable in a focused training and usable the same day. A trained practitioner still works at a more precise, clinical level for grief, trauma, or complex group incidents — that's exactly what proper training is for.
Play therapy | Therapeutic storytelling | |
Training pathway | Years of clinical study plus supervised practicum hours | A focused training (days), usable immediately |
Equipment | Dedicated sand tray, dollhouse, toys, a calm room | None — just your voice and a few minutes |
Setting | Requires a dedicated therapy room | Anywhere — classroom, car, dinner table, video call |
Who can deliver it | Trained play therapists only | Teachers and parents at a basic level; therapists at a clinical level |
Both belong to the same family — this isn't about one replacing the other. It's about which tool you can pick up today, and which one you grow into with training.
What a proper training actually teaches
Susan Perrow
M.Ed., developed one of the first therapeutic storytelling courses at an Australian university and has spent over twenty years teaching this method across Australia and Africa. She calls it "story medicine" — and like real medicine, the wrong dose or the wrong prescription doesn't just fail to help, it can make things worse. Her method comes down to three stages:
,
Metaphor
Pick the character and setting that quietly match the real pattern — never a literal retelling of it
Journey
The character meets the obstacle and struggles with it honestly — brief, symbolic, never dwelt on for effect
Resolution
Matched to what's realistic for this listener — sometimes tidy, sometimes deliberately left a little open
Not a bigger pile of stories — the actual skill. Matching the right story to the right problem, building it so it's safe, and knowing how to tell it so it lands.
Because there's no appointment to book and no formal "we need to talk" moment, story doesn't carry the weight — or the stigma — that a therapy referral often does. It can be offered by any trusted adult already in the room, folded into a bedtime routine or a morning circle, without ever needing to be named as an intervention.
See the full "one family, two branches" breakdown — including where therapeutic storytelling stops being safe to improvise without training.
NEXT IN THIS SERIES: Part 7 — Behavioural vs Situational: The Two Problems Every Story Should Target
AUTHOR BIO:
Written by Lee Ling, Art Based Coaching — works across art therapy practice and coaching, and is pursuing a counselling master's in Malaysia.
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