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In response to COVID-19, the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute began offering free webinars to address the challenges, stress and impact that therapists, teachers, parents, and those on the frontlines were facing. Since then, we've continued to offer free webinars to support you on your professional and personal life's journey. Please enjoy free access to these very special webinars. You may view and share it with as many people as you feel it would help. -
This program is for you if you work IN SCHOOLS (as a school counselor, social worker or psychologist, or a school-based mental health professional) or if you COLLABORATE WITH educators or schools!
**For all program details and dates of when this program is offered, please visit the Synergetic Education Institute's website**
A Synergetic Approach to Education (formerly One Foot in Education: Exploring Education Through an SPT Lens) offered by our sister institute, the Synergetic Education Institute, is a distinct and transformative approach to learning and teaching, working at the intersection of education and mental health! Synergetic educators recognize that the collaborative efforts of educators, students, classrooms, and educational systems produce a more substantial impact than individual contributions. This approach spans the landscape of working with students and perceived challenges and barriers, considering all aspects of learners and the learning environment. It incorporates neuroscience and nervous system regulation research with empowerment practices to create positive change within the immediate environment while maintaining a broader perspective using integrated and differentiated approaches. You will delve into strategies designed for educational settings that promote trauma-informed, social-emotional support within schools. You'll learn to implement these strategies as well as understand the neuroscience behind them, empowering you to support others in deepening their knowledge and awareness. You will also learn how to...- Implement approaches based on neuroscience that support the development of self-regulation skills, including critical skills that are often missing from SEL programming.
- Support educators in understanding how to prepare brains and bodies to learn, including articulating the links between neurophysiological states and classroom behaviors
- Identify the dynamics behind complex student-adult relationships and how to shift these challenging interactions.
- Increase feelings of safety and belonging for students and adults
- Implement small shifts in daily routines that include explicitly teaching critical skills using both "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches.
- Reframe “resistance” to meeting educators at their level of readiness.
- Embody Synergetic Play Therapy® principles and collaborate with teachers to empower them and shift their perceptions of students
Program Prerequisites: This program requires that you have taken a Level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program. This includes the completion of one of the following:- Online or In-Person Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® program
- Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy® Intensive Training (no longer offered)
- Synergetic Play Therapy® Supplemental Course (no longer offered)
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Eating challenges in children can show up in many ways. From the refusal to eat to eating too much, underneath often lies the need for perfectionism and control. Helping kids take these challenges off their plates involves offering choices and uncovering co-existing issues, as well as providing parental support. This course takes a look at this important struggle. -
Lisa Dion and Dr. Robert Jason Grant, creator of AutPlay Therapy, discuss what Sensory Processing Disorder is, how to begin to understand it in the context of play therapy, and offer helpful suggestions for therapists to get started. -
We live in a technological age: there is no pacifying Pac-Man, no axing Apple. But screen time doesn’t always mean zoning out. In moderation, Mickey Mouse and Mario can be our allies, helping children better connect to the world around them. This webinar explores the therapeutic value of screen time and how to use it as part of a play therapy process. Learn how to recognize when a child is using it to avoid and when a child’s use of technology is the perfect entry into the therapeutic alliance. -
Every therapist has been there – in a session with a child who doesn’t want to come in the room, a child who doesn’t want to do the task, a child who only wants to avoid the issue. This course explores what to do when a child client’s language and behavior say “no.” Join us as we explore resistance- what it is and what it is not. This course will further explore emotional avoidance and flooding as components of resistant behaviors. -
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 a child heal involves helping them be themselves. One of the best ways to foster this type of environment is to cultivate safety. The therapist knowing the playroom is safe is not enough; the child must know it, too. This course explores what a neuroception of safety is and how to create it within the child and yourself. -
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! -
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. -
The Synergetic Play Therapy Institute® in collaboration with PIP Solutions presents “Working with Adopted Children in Play Therapy”. Many adopted children have unique challenges which present in different ways in the playroom. Play Therapists can often feel unsure but are aware of the importance of responding through a different lens. In this course, there will be an emphasis on the importance of working with the child’s neuro-biological processes such as regulation and dys-regulation, as well as the importance of educating and working with the child’s adoptive parents. -
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.
