Leading Play Groups for School Children in a Caribbean School System: Reflections of Sunshine Circles Leaders

Abstract

Schools use group-based interventions to efficiently provide services that promote academic and emotional well-being. Sunshine Circles is a Theraplay®-based intervention in which leaders are trained to provide playful relational, regulating activities to a classroom. This study explores the selective application of Sunshine Circles to small groups of students by interventionists in a Caribbean school system. Themes from a focus group with interventionists included the challenge of managing boundaries according to principles of Sunshine Circles, the importance of navigating resource constraints and logistics related to group membership and implementation, and the positive impact of Sunshine Circles on students’ experience of belonging.