-
Ready to learn a solid play therapy theory that combines the power of play with interpersonal neurobiology? Click the link below to take the first step...Click here FIRST to learn how this program will create a deeper impact for your clients!
...Now that you have begun to learn what this program has to offer both you and your clients, we hope you will choose to join us for the 6-month Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy program! This program is designed for both beginning and advanced practitioners and will take you on a journey to explore the neuroscience behind what is happening in the play therapy process, how to effectively work with caregivers and what it means to create a neuroception of safety allowing both the child and the caregiver to have a deeper integration, and (....if this wasn't enough), you'll come to understand the magic of aggressive play, sand and art from the perspectives of nervous system regulation, attunement, attachment, mindfulness, and authenticity.Join the growing number of mental health professionals, those in related roles (Child Life Specialists, School Counselors, Occupational Therapists, Coaches, etc.) and parents/caregivers who are learning Synergetic Play Therapy!
“I’m learning Synergetic Play Therapy with Lisa Dion after over 20 years of providing play therapy and 10+ years of providing play therapy training and supervision. I'm here today to tell you that what she is teaching is a game changer. Every one of us needs to understand in an embodied way what it means to combine neurobiology and relationship as the foundation of all the work we are doing with clients, but also with colleagues, friends, family members and SELF. Much of what I’m learning, I've known and done intuitively for years but it is SO liberating to connect the dots and have an understanding through the neurobiological lens of WHY we need to utilize and trust what we feel in our own bodies when in connection with another person.”“It’s been over 2 years since I took the Synergetic Play Therapy [program]. One of the best choices I’ve ever made. The magnitude of deeply attuning with our clients...and ourselves...is immeasurable!”“I personally took a lot out of this [program], not all of it was new, but what was new was extremely useful and impactful. What wasn’t new was an excellent reminder to go back to my roots of attachment and emotional work when working with children just like I have worked with youth and adults over the years but in a slightly different context. My entire team has felt the positive impact of this training on our work and we are very happy that we all did it at the same time. We will be able to continue to practice it together and that is very exciting.”“This experience has been validating to my entire human experience, and offered a clear framework to better connect with myself, client, and world! I know this was only the tip of the iceberg into integrating these powerful concepts, and I'm so hooked, I've already signed up for certification to continue my journey!”“This [program] was a perfect combination of understanding the current science/research, gaining clinical understanding and learning new practical skills in order to find the perfect balance of how to work with clients and their families.”“This [program] really was more of an experience. I connected with myself on a deeper level and feel it is going to help me immensely in my work. Lisa explained the content in a simple way that I was able to understand, including multiple learning tools to solidify concepts. It was phenomenal!”Upcoming Registration Deadlines:
- June 2025 Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy Program
- *Early Bird Deadline: May 13, 2025 (Use Coupon Code "June2025Intro" at checkout for discount!)
- Final Registration Deadline: June 23, 2025, 12pm Mountain Time (Denver)
SOLD OUT!
This advanced program, designed for those who have completed the Synergetic Play Therapy® Certification, is an immersive 4-day in-person experience offering an in-depth exploration of advanced Synergetic Play Therapy® concepts. You’ll learn to apply these concepts across a broad spectrum of client groups and age ranges from children, caregivers, groups/families and teens/adults. Throughout the program, you will engage in interactive learning experiences, including dynamic role-plays and live demonstrations. These activities will allow you to observe and influence real-time therapeutic scenarios, enhancing your Synergetic Play Therapy® skills and theoretical understanding. Additionally, you’ll collaborate with fellow SPTers, sharing insights and discussing complex cases to enrich your learning experience. Day 1: Children- Deepen your understanding of working with children in Synergetic Play Therapy®.
- Engage in role play scenarios to handle complex child behaviors and emotions.
- Learn to deepen the therapeutic relationship and foster greater attachment to self and healing for your young clients.
- Learn more ways to support and engage parents and caregivers.
- Gain a greater understanding of how to become the caregiver's external regulator and involve them in their child’s healing process.
- Go deeper applying your Synergetic Play Therapy® skills with groups and families.
- Watch Lisa facilitate complex family and group dynamic scenarios.
- Learn to navigate and resolve challenges within group and family therapy settings.
- Deepen your understanding of Synergetic Psychotherapy for teen and adult clients.
- Apply your Synergetic Play Therapy® skills (authenticity, mindfulness, emotional congruence, reflective dialogue, regulation, etc.) and tailor them to your teen and adult clients.
- Explore how to “SPT” your sessions with teens and adult clients, supporting them in moving from deflective awareness to reflective awareness.
Pay in Full Early Bird - You will save up to $550 (USD), $650 (CAD) or $650 (AUD) by selecting this payment option! USD = $3,850.00 CAD = $4,850.00 AUD = $5,350.00 [aelia_currency_selector_widget title="Select your currency based on the retreat location you would like to attend and wait for the page to refresh before adding to cart." widget_type="dropdown"] For example: If you reside in the US but want to attend the retreats in Canada you will choose the Canadian Currency, wait for the page to refresh, and then select your plan to add to your cart.
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)
When play therapy intersects with the legal system, play therapists often find themselves in unfamiliar territory. Navigating legal processes can be daunting without proper guidance, leaving therapists feeling uncertain and ill-prepared to advocate for their clients effectively. Learn what you need to know to steer through the legal system with ease and confidence. You’ll leave this presentation empowered to effectively advocate for your clients, ensuring their voices are heard and their needs are met. Scroll down for all of the course details!
Course Deposit: USD = $600.00 CAD = $788.00 AUD = $865.00 [aelia_currency_selector_widget title="Select your currency based on the retreat location you would like to attend and wait for the page to refresh before adding to cart." widget_type="dropdown"] For example: If you reside in the US but want to attend the retreats in Canada you will choose the Canadian Currency, wait for the page to refresh, and then select your plan to add to your cart.
Are you looking to elevate your play therapy supervision practice, gain confidence, and ensure you're fully equipped to support your supervisees? Join us for this transformative experience where you’ll gain practical tools and in-depth knowledge to feel more prepared and confident in your role as a supervisor. It’s about giving you the structure you need to navigate the often complex world of supervision. This course will delve into critical topics that will transform your supervision practice, including:- Principles & Theoretical Frameworks: Ground your supervision in solid theoretical foundations to ensure ethical, effective guidance.
- Clarifying Roles & Relationships: Understand the distinctions between supervision and consultation—what have you agreed upon, and how can you maintain clarity in these roles?
- Gatekeeping & Power Dynamics: Explore the importance of gatekeeping in supervision and how to handle power dynamics with awareness and grace.
- Navigating Ethical Dilemmas: Learn to recognize and manage ethical dilemmas, set clear boundaries, and know your limitations—where do you turn when you need guidance?
- Tailoring Supervision to Specific Standards: Each practice setting, whether private practice or agency work, has different standards and guidelines. We’ll discuss the important questions to ask and considerations to keep in mind regardless of location or regulatory environment.
- Addressing Language Barriers: Discuss ethical considerations when your supervisee speaks a different language or when English isn't their first language.
- Empowering vs. Instructing: Learn how to support growth and empowerment in your supervisees by encouraging curiosity and reflective practice, rather than simply telling them what to do.
Every adoption experience is unique, with a wide variety of perceptions. Yet at the heart of many stories is the deep sense of grief and loss, not only for the children but for the parents too. This can show up in and out of the playroom as complex trauma and a struggle with relationships. Healing involves helping children and parents connect to themselves, simultaneously asking therapists to become aware of the impact of the complexity and emotions that also arise within themselves. This course explores this complex issue.
Registration is Open for the June 2025 Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy Program!
Are you ready to learn a transformative play therapy approach that combines the power of play with the latest in interpersonal neurobiology?Discover the Program:
The level 1 Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy program is designed for both beginning and experienced practitioners, offering the tools to deepen your understanding of play therapy and apply cutting-edge neuroscience in your practice. Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll explore:Regulation:
- Become an external regulator to support repatterning a child's nervous system for integration and healing.
- Learn how to teach a child interoceptive (body) awareness (the key ingredient for self-regulation and co-regulation).
- Understand how nervous system activation connects to mental health symptoms.
The Brain & Neuroscience:
- Learn how to create a neuroception of safety during emotional flooding.
- Set boundaries that support brain integration while keeping children engaged in therapy.
- Use reflections and responses that target multiple areas of the brain for deeper healing.
Collaborative Relationships:
- Build effective partnerships with caregivers to support the therapeutic process.
- Help caregivers recognize that all behaviors make sense, even challenging ones.
- Set goals, track a child's therapeutic progress, and translate the child's play to their caregivers and others.
Authenticity & Congruence:
- Use therapist authenticity to promote profound client change and prevent burnout.
- Explore aggressive play, sand, and art through the lenses of regulation, mindfulness, and attachment.
- Cultivate cultural sensitivity to honor the unique experiences and needs of each client.
Join the growing number of mental health professionals and those in related roles (child life specialists, school counselors, occupational therapists, etc.) who are learning Synergetic Play Therapy!
“I’m learning Synergetic Play Therapy with Lisa Dion after over 20 years of providing play therapy and 10+ years of providing play therapy training and supervision. I'm here today to tell you that what she is teaching is a game changer. Every one of us needs to understand in an embodied way what it means to combine neurobiology and relationship as the foundation of all the work we are doing with clients, but also with colleagues, friends, family members and SELF. Much of what I’m learning, I've known and done intuitively for years but it is SO liberating to connect the dots and have an understanding through the neurobiological lens of WHY we need to utilize and trust what we feel in our own bodies when in connection with another person.”“It’s been over 2 years since I took the Synergetic Play Therapy [program]. One of the best choices I’ve ever made. The magnitude of deeply attuning with our clients...and ourselves...is immeasurable!”“I personally took a lot out of this [program], not all of it was new, but what was new was extremely useful and impactful. What wasn’t new was an excellent reminder to go back to my roots of attachment and emotional work when working with children just like I have worked with youth and adults over the years but in a slightly different context. My entire team has felt the positive impact of this training on our work and we are very happy that we all did it at the same time. We will be able to continue to practice it together and that is very exciting.”“This experience has been validating to my entire human experience, and offered a clear framework to better connect with myself, client, and world! I know this was only the tip of the iceberg into integrating these powerful concepts, and I'm so hooked, I've already signed up for certification to continue my journey!”“This [program] was a perfect combination of understanding the current science/research, gaining clinical understanding and learning new practical skills in order to find the perfect balance of how to work with clients and their families.”“This [program] really was more of an experience. I connected with myself on a deeper level and feel it is going to help me immensely in my work. Lisa explained the content in a simple way that I was able to understand, including multiple learning tools to solidify concepts. It was phenomenal!”Upcoming Registration Deadlines:
- June 2025 Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy Program
- *Early Bird Deadline: May 13, 2025 (Use Coupon Code "June2025Intro" at checkout for discount!)
- Final Registration Deadline: June 23, 2025, at 12pm Mountain Time (Denver)
*Register by the Early Bird deadline for $50 USD off the total cost of the program.
For full program details including cost, dates, learning objectives, and more, keep scrolling!
Thank you for your interest in the Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive Training Program!
Intensives can only be registered for after participants have cleared availability with the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute. Please email info@synergeticplaytherapy.com for availability.
In order to secure your Intensive spot, please choose a payment option below or pay in full. Please note, the full fee must be paid by the first day of the intensive you are signed up for.
Cost: $1,750.00
We know that supporting a child struggling with obsessive compulsions can be incredibly challenging. Often, the desire to move the child out of their rigidity and rituals can overshadow the deeper issues and stressors driving the behaviors. We also know that Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a complex disorder as the reasons behind the behaviors vary widely from managing anxiety to past traumas to focused energy inside of a child driving them towards their genius and that which is most meaningful. Due to the complexity, we can often mis-label, mis-understand, and mis-guide these children in how to work with and understand their rituals and need for perfectionism. We also can inadvertently intensify the inner struggle that is often experienced by these children as they attempt to stop, control, and even deny the urges in their bodies. And that is why we created this course, so you know what to do when OCD shows up in your play therapy sessions! Drawing from Synergetic Play Therapy and Interpersonal Neurobiology, this course explores non-directive and directive play based interventions to help support play therapists on a path to understand the perfection in these children's perfection, while teaching the child how to do the same. Play therapists will take a deeper look at the regulatory function of the child’s behaviors that manage the internal conflicts and anxieties these children often carry. Through discussion topics and experiential exercises, play therapists will learn how to separate the underlying drivers from the wisdom of the rituals themselves. With this knowledge, play therapists will learn how to use themselves and many forms of play to help these children access an understanding of the greatest perfection that exists, the child just as they are. “I loved Lisa's knowledge and approach - very open minded but also structured. Her personal stories of working with clients were very impactful and made it easy to attach the theories to real scenarios.” - Student testimonial See the full course description below.
