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This inspiring one-hour course dives into the transformative role of play therapy in supporting neurodivergent children. Gain insights into how play can help address processing differences, executive functioning challenges, and sensory sensitivities equipping you to meet these unique profiles with confidence and compassion. Guided by over 20 years of professional and personal experience, Cary Hamilton will reveal practical, neurodiversity-affirming, play-based interventions designed to foster connection, emotional regulation, and resilience. You’ll walk away with actionable strategies to enhance your clinical practice, deepening your ability to create meaningful and effective therapeutic relationships with neurodivergent children. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your skills, enrich your practice, and make a lasting impact on the lives of neurodivergent children and their families!
Parents are a powerful force in a child’s life. Inviting them into the play therapy process is essential for creating lasting change. But let’s face it—this isn’t always easy! Many clinicians, both new and seasoned, struggle with how to effectively involve parents in therapy sessions. This dynamic course with Clair Mellenthin, LCSW, RPT-S, will equip you with the skills and confidence to build strong alliances with parents while integrating them into play therapy. Using the Attachment-Centered Play Therapy model, you’ll explore the hows, whys, whens, and what-to-dos of parent-child play therapy. You’ll also uncover practical interventions to foster attachment and connection while reflecting on the roadblocks that might arise in your own practice. It’s all designed to help you deepen your understanding of parent-child dynamics, empowering you to create meaningful change for families. Get ready to play, reflect, and transform your approach to parent involvement in therapy!
With their changing brains and hormones, finding ways to integrate play with pre-teens and teens can at times just feel “Awkward”. Learn how to navigate therapy with our clients who are no longer children, but also not quite yet adults. From twelve-year-olds to seniors in high school, adolescence is a time filled with change. This can make the notion of bringing play therapy to this population a challenge. Do we play? Do we talk? Do I ask questions? What do I do?" As such, many therapists find themselves at a loss with this age group, feeling just as confused as they do! In this workshop, play therapists will delve into the mysteries of the teenage mind as we bust myths and glean insight into how to best offer therapeutic support. Using neuroscience, Developmental, Synergetic, and Systemic theories, participants will explore how to navigate this "awkward" and sometimes "overwhelming" developmental stage using an eclectic framework of non-directive and directive play therapy approaches. Understanding how to assess the teen's emotional age, an area often missed when working with this population, will also be covered as a way to understand how to incorporate play into the therapy process. The information presented is designed to open minds and hearts as participants uncover the wisdom of the changing brain and the wisdom of the teenage years. Through lecture, demonstration, and discussion, this workshop will deconstruct this mysterious stage and support play therapists in discovering how they can help mature and remodel the teenage brain, while supporting movement towards the discovery of the authentic self- the cornerstone of the development of a teenager's identity. To get a sense for the course, check out this short video below:See course details below.
The Synergetic Play Therapy Institute in collaboration with PIP Solutions presents “Conceptualizing Cases from a Synergetic Play Therapy Lens”. Translating a right brain play experience into a left brain conceptualization is not an easy task. Play therapists often grapple with a sense of uncertainty when trying to comprehend a child’s unique therapeutic progression and assessing whether goals are being achieved. This course, led by Lisa Dion, aims to address this issue by introducing a structured framework derived from Synergetic Play Therapy. Students will gain insights into how to conceptualize cases effectively and apply this framework to enhance the efficacy of their therapeutic interventions.
Discover how playful, nature-themed breathwork can transform your play therapy practice in this engaging one-hour course with Jackie Flynn. Learn to gently guide clients of all ages out of “stuck” survival states, enhancing nervous system flexibility and fostering resilience through co-regulation. This course introduces practical, nature-inspired techniques that blend breathwork and movement to create a felt sense of safety, deepen therapeutic connections, and support clients in accessing emotional regulation. Through shared, playful experiences rooted in nature, you’ll discover how to bring fresh, adaptive interventions into your sessions with your clients.
Embark on an enlightening journey with Lisa Dion as she delves into strategies for optimizing the intake process! In this course, you will gain insights into how the foundation of a therapeutic relationship is laid during the intake session and how this extends throughout the entire intake and into the clinical engagement. Lisa will impart valuable lessons on structuring the intake, commencing from the initial point of contact all the way to the conclusion of the session. Witness how Lisa skillfully incorporates key themes from Synergetic Play Therapy®, such as the regulation of the nervous system and a nuanced understanding of how the brain functions, into the intake process. We will also explore the pivotal and validating role of the therapist in the playroom, emphasizing how their presence can significantly influence the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship with the client, family, and beyond.
Research in neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology sheds light on the need for the play therapist to act as the external regulator supporting the child to move towards the intensity they are experiencing allowing for integration. This 3 hour video course explores this need during trauma integration for two primary reasons: 1) The child need to borrow the play therapist’s regulatory capacity as they work through their traumatic thoughts, feelings and sensations in play therapy and 2) The play therapist’s ability to regulate themselves during the intensity increases the capacity for presence and attunement with the child, while simultaneously supporting the health and longevity of their own nervous system. Without the ability of the play therapist to become the external regulator for the intensity that arises during trauma integration, both the child and the play therapist are at risk for emotional flooding and high levels of dysregulation in their nervous systems. Over time, this can significantly impact a play therapist’s longevity in the field, as well as the ability to stay attuned and present to a child in sessions. This course is a recording of a 3 hour live webinar with Trusted Provider Network. See course details below.
From a stroll through the Lollipop woods of Candyland to a fight over the Thimble in Monopoly, games are part of childhood. In the playroom, certain games are more commonly used than others. How do we use chess as a pawn in our therapeutic healing? How can we call on checkers to check on the child’s state of regulation? What does a game tell us about a child’s emotional world? This webinar explores these questions and more!
In today’s digital era, children’s play has expanded into new realms, where they engage, connect, and communicate in transformative ways. To support young clients effectively, play therapists must understand and embrace the evolving world of digital play. This insightful course with Dr. Rachel Altvater explores how the digital landscape shapes children’s engagement, self-expression, and identity. Starting with a reflection on your own perspectives about digital native culture, you’ll dive into how digital environments influence children and adolescents, equipping you to meet them where they are. Through practical strategies, you’ll learn to connect with clients in their digital spaces, foster meaningful therapeutic relationships, and seamlessly integrate digital tools into your play therapy practice. The session also examines the vital role of digital identity, uncovering how this space serves as more than entertainment—it’s where young clients form relationships, build resilience and navigate their world. By the end of this course, you’ll walk away with fresh insights and actionable techniques to strengthen the therapeutic alliance, deepen connections, and achieve meaningful outcomes with the digital natives you serve.
Divorce. The “D” word. The end of the marital road. A happily ever after run amok. It’s something that often gets a bad rap, especially when we think of the children stuck in the middle. But divorce, while it can be devastating to some kids, can also be a relief for others. Children’s perceptions are not all the same. This course explores how to support children in play therapy when they are experiencing divorce and separation.
Helping children learn how to regulate is essential, but without first strengthening the child's interoceptive sense, regulation may not be successful. This experiential workshop offers various opportunities to explore how play can develop this fundamental part of the sensory system. As play therapists, there is an understanding that regulation and co-regulation are essential skills that must be developed in order to have successful relationships and manage emotions, and are essential for trauma integration; however, what many play therapists may not fully understand is that there is a prerequisite that needs to be in place for regulation skills to be effective. What has been understood for years in the world of Occupational Therapy is now becoming a primary focus of education for play therapists. This important understanding is that the child’s interoceptive sense, the 8th sensory system that is responsible for letting the brain know how the body is doing, must be developed first before a child can successfully regulate and co-regulate. Without the development and strengthening of the interoceptive sense, a child may have all kinds of regulation knowledge and tools but will not be able to read their own body cues to know when to use any of them. Examples such as knowing when to use the bathroom, when to take a deep breath, when to ask for help, the ability to read non-verbal cues, knowing when emotions are feeling overwhelming, etc. all rely on interoception. This playful workshop is designed to help play therapists learn what the interoceptive sense is and how to use play to develop interoception in their child clients setting the stage for successful regulation and co-regulation. Play therapists will have fun experientially exploring this fundamental part of the sensory system! (This course is a recording of a 2 hour live webinar held in November 2023) See course details below.
