Welcome to the 2025-2026 Synergetic Play Therapy Certification Program!

Get ready for a deep dive into understanding Synergetic Play Therapy more fully, and a greater exploration of yourself in and out of the playroom!

We hope you are excited to be a part of this. We’re certainly excited to have you! Welcome aboard!  Please read through the information on this homepage as you will need it to get started.

In case it hasn’t dawned on you yet, you are no longer alone in your play therapy journey. You are joining a global community of over 500 like-minded clinicians. Your cohort is comprised of professionals from multiple countries and states from around the world with a similar vision, a yearning to grow, and a desire to develop themselves and understand what it really takes to transform a child.

Not only are you surrounded by other amazing therapists and clinicians but you also have a kick ass team of Synergetic Play Therapy Certification Consultants that will be with you every step of the way: Khris Rolfe, Polly Douglass, Lindsay Ishman, Mili Shoemaker, Kelly Miller, Katherine Eastlake, Katrina Bell, Kim Buller, and Corinne Elms. Our Synergetic Play Therapy Certification Consultant team, will guide you, support you, challenge you, and do everything they can to help you get the most out of this learning experience. (You will have a pre-certification consultation with your Certification Consultant in July to help you orient and prep for the course and our first online retreat together). 

Part of this program uses technology which we know isn’t always cooperative. To help you with any issues that may come up regarding payments, webinars, or access to the learning platform please contact Kylie O’Brien, our fabulous Program Director. She will be there to help you. You can reach her at info@synergeticplaytherapy.com

Lastly, this program holds a very special place in our hearts. Please know that we feel beyond privileged to finally get the opportunity to teach and engage with you directly and will do everything we can to make this a program you will never forget!

Much Love,  

Your co-instructors Lisa Dion & Judith Norman

Meet Your Instructors:

This program is co-taught by Lisa Dion and Judy Norman! Throughout this program, you will have the joy of learning from both of these teachers, each bringing their own “flare” to the material and giving you the opportunity to hear the content in a number of ways!

You may already be quite familiar with your first instructor, Lisa, especially if she was your teacher for your Level 1 program! But, just in case:

Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S, is the founder and President of the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute. She is an international teacher, the creator of Synergetic Play Therapy®, host of the Lessons from the Playroom podcast and webinar series and author of Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity. She is the 2015 recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s Professional Education and Training Award of Excellence.

If you have taken the Refresher course in the last few years, or if you have participated in any course offered through the Synergetic Education Institute, you already know how amazing this next instructor is:

Judith Norman, LPC, LSC, RPT-S, is a co-founder and lead trainer of the Synergetic Education institute™. She is a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor and is a Certified Synergetic Play Therapy Supervisor. She is a Parent Educator, Certified in EMDR Therapy and is trained in Mindfulness in Education. She has been utilizing the tenets of Synergetic Play Therapy in educational settings for the past 10 years. Her experience has led to the development of social-emotional, trauma-informed programming to support students and educators in schools.

Lisa and Judy make a team like no other! You could not be in better hands as you embark on this transformational journey!

Monthly Live Webinar Class Dates:

The following dates are important so please mark your calendars! Each live webinar class will be conducted via Zoom.

We highly encourage live attendance as much as possible for the online classes to inspire interaction, participation, connection, and integration. If a class is missed, you will need to watch the recording and check in with your SPT Consultant before the next scheduled class. You will also need to upload either notes, a bullet point summary, or a short written summary of information from the missed class to your homework folder to verify completion. No more than 3 classes can be missed in total, and no more than one class missed in a month. *If there is a timezone concern making live attendance incredibly challenging, please discuss with your consultant.

Time: 3:00-4:30pm Mountain Time (Denver, Colorado)

  • (2025 Dates) September 16th and 30th, October 14th and 21st, November 4th and 18th
  • (2026 Dates) February 3rd and 17th, March 3rd and 17th, April 7th and 21st, May 5th and 19th

*Please check your time zone and daylight savings to adjust accordingly. You may use this Time Conversion Tool to help!

Zoom meeting Link for ALL MONTHLY WEBINARS: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86999908065

Reminder Zoom Videos Must be ON: Please remember that you must have your video turned on to get full credit for your class attendance. Prepare accordingly.

Online Learning Retreats:

This program consists of two retreats, a 3.5 Day Learning Retreat to kick off the program and a 4.5 Day Learning Retreat that is held half-way through the program. The Institute will send you an email prior to each retreat with Zoom registration links and instructions as to how to best prepare. (Your consultant will also assist you in preparing for each retreat!)

3.5 Day Learning Retreat

  • Retreat A: August 14th – August 17th, 2025, 7am – 2:30pm Mountain Time (Denver) – (the last day ends at 10am MT)
  • Retreat B: August 23rd – August 26th, 2025, 7am – 2:30pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) – (the last day ends at 10am AEST)  *August 22nd – August 25th, 2025, 2pm – 9:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)

4.5 Day Learning Retreat

  • Retreat A: January 7th – January 11th, 2026, 7am – 2:30pm Mountain Time (Denver) – (the last day ends at 10am)
  • Retreat B: January 17th – January 21st, 2026, 8am – 3:30 pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) – (the last day ends at 11am) *January 16th – January 20th, 2026, 3pm – 10:30pm Mountain Time (Denver)

Class Roster:

To get the most out of your Synergetic Play Therapy experience, we encourage you to cultivate community with your peers. When the program starts, the program roster will be uploaded for you, below. The roster will include the name, city, state, and/or country of each student enrolled in this Synergetic Play Therapy Certification cohort.

Please feel free to use Facebook or a quick Google search to reach out to those near (or far!) and get to know each other.  If you have a conflict of interest or dual relationship with anyone attending, please email us privately.

Synergetic Play Therapy Certification Cohort 2025-2026 (Roster will become available after the first retreat begins!)

Note: If you want to continue to review the program material after graduation, you will have access to this course site and all video content until August 31st, 2026. More information about graduation and graduation requirements will be provided throughout the program!

Click on the lesson below to get started! Your first lesson, SPT Certification 2025-2026: Pre-Certification & Certification Consultation Prep, is available now!

All lessons must be completed in order. You must complete the first lesson before you will gain access to the following lesson.

You will be required to complete a quiz or will be prompted to mark a lesson as “complete” before you will be granted access to the next lesson. If you have any questions or fall behind in your course site, please contact your Synergetic Play Therapy Certification Consultant or email info@synergeticplaytherapy.com for assistance.