Gestalt Play Therapy, ” In relating to the client as separate beings, children have an opportunity to experience the self, or boundaries—to perhaps experience themselves in a new way. The therapist is not hopelessly enmeshed with children, as a parent might be, but maintains his or her own integrity as a separate person, Further, therapists have a responsibility to be aware of any “buttons” pressed that may not be genuine emotional responses to the contextual situation, and to explore these countertransference responses to eliminate their detriment to the client, Therapists are true to themselves as well, unafraid of their own feelings and responses, and knowing their own limits, Therapists honor what is important to themselves, such as beginning and ending the sessions on time, The sessions are paced so that there is time for children to help clean up (except sand tray scenes). In this way closure is clearly evicent. Most children readily respond to the therapist's stance, and a thread of a relationship is generally manifested fairly quickly. However, some children cannot form a relationship, at least for some time: children who have been severely injured emotionally at a very early age, or perhaps at birth. Trust often eludes them, For these children, the focus of the therapy becomes the relationship. Finding creative, nonthreatening ways to reach children is the task of the therapist Organismic self-regulation. Gestalt therapy emphasizes the process of organismic self-regulation. ‘The organism constantly seeks homeostasis, secking health at all times and attempting to satisfy its needs. This process is everlasting since varying needs are constantly present, upsetting one’s equilibrium (Perls, 1973). Since children are changing and growing throughout their years of development to adulthood, the quest for balance and equilibrium is critical and problematic. Children react to family dysfunction, trauma, crisis, and loss in fairly common developmental ways. They tend to blame themselves and take responsibility for whatever happens. They fear rejection, abandonment, and not having their basic needs met. So, in their everlasting quest for health and thrust for growth and life, they will do anything to get their needs met. Often, because of the lack of emotional and intellectual maturity, they will develop inappropriate way’ of being in the world-ways that they assume will serve to make life better but only cause more difficulties for them, For example, when children learn