Holding the Child Who Won’t Be Held: Working with Avoidant and Dismissive Attachment in the Playroom

$35.00

Live Webinar will be held March 31, 2026, 2pm – 3pm Mountain Time (Denver)

Registration Closes March 30, 2025, at 12pm Mountain Time (Denver)

Some children don’t cling. They don’t protest. They appear independent, self-contained, even unaffected. Yet beneath that independence often lives profound shame and a deep fear of rejection.

Children with avoidant or dismissive attachment patterns learned early that needing others was unsafe. In the playroom, this can show up as distance, compliance, control, or emotional flatness within the therapeutic relationship.

This one-hour course, drawing from the principles of Synergetic Play Therapy, will examine the neurobiological and relational foundations of avoidant attachment and explore how to work effectively with these children — not by forcing connection, but by creating the conditions for internal secure attachment to develop.

Because when we hold steady, children begin to discover that they can hold themselves.

There are two registration options for this course:

  • To join us LIVE and online for this webinar, please select “Live Event” from the dropdown menu, below.
  • If you are unable to attend the live webinar, select “Home Study” to receive access to a 7-day playback.

 

For course details including cost, learning objectives, and CE Credit Hours, keep scrolling!

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Description

Course Details: 

What: A 1-hour course designed to support graduate level counselors and play therapists of all levels in navigating the complexities of working with children with avoidant or dismissive attachment patterns in the playroom.

Students have the option of attending the webinar LIVE and online via Zoom OR can sign up to receive a 7-day playback. See below for registration instructions:

  • *If you are attending live/online, select the “Live Event” option from the dropdown menu. (This option DOES NOT include access to a recording. Live attendance is required.)
  • *If you are unable to attend the webinar live, select the “Home Study” option from the dropdown menu. (Course must be completed within 7 days following the live event.)

When: March 31, 2026, 2:00pm – 3:00pm Mountain Time (Denver)

*Access to the course site and course material will expire on April 7, 2026.

Holding the Child Who Won’t Be Held: Working with Avoidant and Dismissive Attachment in the Playroom Learning Objectives:

  • Identify at least three neurobiological or emotional characteristics associated with avoidant/dismissive attachment in children
  • Recognize at least two ways avoidant attachment patterns may present within the therapeutic relationship
  • Explain how therapist congruence and regulated presence support the development of internal secure attachment in children with avoidant patterns

Cost: $35 USD 

Registration Deadline: March 30, 2026, at 12pm Mountain Time (Denver)

Presenter: Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S

CE Credit Hours: 1 CE Credit Hour, NBCC Content Areas: Counseling Theory/Practice and the Counseling Relationship, Human Growth and Development.

Synergetic Play Therapy Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7450. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Synergetic Play Therapy Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Synergetic Play Therapy Institute is also an Approved Provider for the following associations:
*Australian Play Therapists Association (APTA) Approved Provider
*British Columbia Play Therapy Association (BCPTA) Approved Provider 23-01

Continuing education credit hours may be awarded to graduate-level counselors or students enrolled in a graduate-level mental health program. If you do not qualify for continuing education credit hours and would like to receive a certificate of completion for this course please contact the Institute directly.

Refund Policy: Fees for this course are non-refundable, but are transferable to other courses. You will not receive CE Credit Hours for this course should you choose to transfer your enrollment to another course. Please contact the Institute should you have any questions or concerns. 

Additional information

Select your attendance option:

Live Event – $35 USD, Home Study – $35 USD

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