If you took an Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy program in October 2022 or later, you do not need to re-complete the Book Review. If you took an Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy course June 2022 or prior, please complete this book study review and quiz. This is a required assignment for the Certification program.   Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity By Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Integrating Intensity offers a way to work with aggressive play that allows children to learn how integrate the intensity they are experiencing from their thoughts, emotions, and sensations while simultaneously supporting regulation in the therapist’s nervous system. These will help therapists understand the neurobiological processes that lead kids to dys-regulation, and help them facilitate emotional healing in their clients.  Topics Covered Include:
  • What Regulation Really Means
  • Making Aggressive Play Therapeutic
  • Authentic Expression
  • Setting Boundaries
  • Hyper-Aroused Play
  • Observing Play
  • Hypo-Aroused Play
  • Working with Parents
  • Developing Yourself as the External Regulator
Participants will:
  1. Identify strategies for maintaining regulation in the midst of intense play, aggression and death in the playroom
  2. Identify at least 2 strategies for working with aggression in the playroom without experiencing your own nervous system shut down leading to vicarious trauma
  3. Define “emotional flooding”, and identify at least 2 strategies to employ when this happens in a play therapy session
  4. Examine the Synergetic Play Therapy concept of “The Set Up” in the playroom as a way to understand what the child is trying to communicate
  5. Demonstrate at least 2 strategies for setting boundaries without shaming or shutting down a child’s play
  6. Recognize the significance of congruence and authentic expression in the play therapy process
Click on the lesson below to begin.

Course Content