March 2025 In-Person Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT Credential Renewal/Recertification)

Description

Program Details: 

This program includes 3 days, 18 hours, of in-person training with Lisa Dion, followed by 2 pre-recorded one-hour video lessons on the topic of cultural humility and a BONUS video lesson on the topic of Synergetic Play Therapy and Teletherapy to further your learning!

*This program does not require nor does it include consultation with a Synergetic Play Therapy Consultant. If you would like to schedule a few consultation sessions along the way as an additional support to your continued integration of the material, you may purchase individual consultation or form a group for a discount here!

When: March 28-30, 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 Review: Key topics such as tracking the play, attachment, facilitating sand, art, trauma, and aggressive play are covered from the perspective of nervous system regulation, attunement, mindfulness, and authenticity. You will also revisit how to track your child client’s changes for caregivers, teachers, agencies, and for yourself. And, we’ve added two additional video lessons that may be completely new to you – Synergetic Play Therapy® and Cultural Humility & 4 Threats and the Set Up Through a Cultural Lens!

Mandatory Book: Dig out your copy of Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity by Lisa Dion. The book is also now available in Audio format and in both Spanish and Japanese translations!

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