March 2025 In-Person Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® Program (Level 1) – Chicago, Illinois

Description

Program Details: 

This program includes 3 days, 18 hours, of in-person training with Lisa Dion, followed by 6 monthly group consultations with a Synergetic Play Therapy Consultant, 2 pre-recorded one-hour video lessons on the topic of cultural humility + a BONUS video lesson on Synergetic Play Therapy and Teletherapy to further your learning, and a Book Review of the required book, Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurological Approach to Integrating Intensity.

*Please note that consultation is a mandatory part of the program to help you integrate what you are learning. These consultation sessions will be 60 minutes in length and will be led by a Synergetic Play Therapy Consultant. Consultation is provided to accommodate ALL time zones. Upon purchase of this program, students will receive a confirmation email with a link to a Group Consultation Assignment Form asking students to choose from a selection of consultation group times. Group consultation assignments will be granted on a first come first serve basis.

When: March 28th-30th, 2025, 9:00am – 4:30pm Central Time (Chicago). We will have a one-hour lunch break each day. Lunch will not be provided so please plan accordingly.

*You will have access to all program content until September 30, 2025.

Where: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago, Illinois, USA

*Students will receive free admission to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago exhibits!

Recommended Hotels near the event:

Park Hyatt Chicago
The Whitehall Hotel
Aloft Chicago Mag Mile
The Robey
Sonesta ES Suites Chicago Downtown Magnificent Mile

Please contact the hotels above directly for rates and availability. Be sure to mention that you are participants for an event at the MCA. These hotels were referred by the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.

What You’ll Learn: Throughout this comprehensive program, you’ll delve into topics including: the neuroscience behind what’s happening in the playroom; how to repattern the activation within your client’s nervous system; what it means to become an external regulator; how to work with aggression and create a neuroception of safety; how to more effectively work with caregivers/parents; a deeper understanding of attachment theory and ways to help children develop a secure attachment to themselves (a foundation for resilience); ways to honor a client’s culture in the play therapy process; offering sand and art from the perspectives of nervous system regulation, attunement, attachment, mindfulness, and authenticity; the importance of developing a child’s interoceptive awareness (a crucial skill for regulation); and so much more! 

Mandatory Book: Please purchase this required book before your training: Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity by Lisa Dion. The book is also currently available in Audio format, and Spanish and Japanese translations. If you have not already purchased the required reading, you can get it at a 25% discount. This only applies for purchase made in the U.S..

Go here to redeem: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393713190. Use coupon code LDION21 or https://WWNorton.com/rd/LDION21.

Program Learning Objectives:

Understanding States of Activation

• Explain the link between nervous system states and the symptoms that show up in the playroom
• Describe the importance of regulation in the playroom
• Explain what regulation is and isn’t according to Synergetic Play Therapy

Understanding the Set Up/Offering 

• Describe how Synergetic Play Therapy was inspired, the tenets, the history, and its main play therapy influences
• Explain how children use The Set Up/Offering in play therapy to set the toys and the therapist up to feel how they feel
• Describe how children are looking for templates to help pattern and re-pattern their states of activation

Becoming an External Regulator

• Explain the “funnel analogy” as a way to understand what children are attempting to integrate in their play therapy sessions
• Describe how Synergetic Play Therapy approaches boundary setting
• Describe what it means to become the external regulator in a session to help a child integrate their challenges

Partnering with Caregivers/Tracking the Play

• Discuss the implications for caregivers being in their own grief process when they bring their children to play therapy
• Describe what it means to become a caregiver’s external regulator
• Discuss the importance of setting goals and speaking in terms of what is important to the caregiver when partnering with them in therapy
• Describe the Therapeutic Stages in Synergetic Play Therapy

Understanding Attachment & Emotional Age

• Discuss Synergetic Play Therapy’s perspective on attachment
• Explain why interoception is the pre-req for the ability to regulate and co-regulate and why this is a key focus in a Synergetic Play Therapy session
• Describe the difference between a child’s emotional age and their chronological age

Sand, Art, & Aggression in Synergetic Play Therapy

• Explain how to use regulation as a way to help integrate aggressive energy in the playroom
• Describe how to facilitate the use of sand from a Synergetic Play Therapy perspective in the playroom
• Explain how to facilitate the use of art from a Synergetic Play Therapy perspective in the playroom

Video Lesson – Synergetic Play Therapy and Cultural Humility 

• Identify the importance of differences in how a child approaches play therapy depending on an individual’s culture
• Explain what it means for play therapists to have “done the work” to become curious with their clients in play therapy using a cultural approach
• Understand the term “microaggressions’ and how to apply Synergetic Play Therapy concepts in the play therapy process

Video Lesson – 4 Threats and the Set Up Through a Cultural Lens 

• Explain why culture is important when considering the 4 Threats in play therapy
• Understand how culture impacts the Set Up and Offering in play therapy
• Demonstrate ways that as a therapist culture can be considered in the play therapy process

Bonus Video Lesson – Synergetic Play Therapy and Teletherapy 

• Explore how to become the client’s external regulator while facilitating a telehealth play therapy session
• Identity at least 3 ways the play therapist can regulate during a teletherapy session to prevent compassion fatigue and burnout
• Explore how the Synergetic Play Therapy concept of “The Set Up/The Offering” applies in a telehealth play therapy session

Book Review – Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurological Approach to Integrating Intensity 

• Develop an understanding of aggression and death play that is based on brain function and neuroscience in the play therapy process
• Explain the four threats to the brain that activate a fight/flight/collapse response and why this is so important to know when working with children in play therapy
• Assess the concept of “one foot in and one foot out” and its impact on the play therapy process
• Understand the practical ways to authentically work with the intensity of aggression and death play, without causing compassion fatigue or burnout in play therapy
• Develop an understanding of how to set boundaries without shaming or shutting the child down in the play therapy process
• Identify ways to regulate yourself in the midst of an intense play therapy session so as to model to the child client how to do the same, thereby enhancing the child’s capacity for self-regulation