Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How To Use Neuroscience & Attachment Theory in Play Therapy to Heal Trauma | 12 Sep 2024 | 00:41:00 | |
I discovered neuroscience and attachment theory as a play therapist about 15 years ago and was immediately a fan because I recognized how attachment theory and neuroscience relate to play therapy. Understanding behaviors, and especially trauma, from this lens was a game-changer for me. It made so much sense, especially for someone with foundational training in family systems theory. (You don’t even want to know how much I nerded out when I learned about family systems theory in graduate school! 😂) More importantly, understanding neuroscience & attachment theory provided a way to use evidence-based practice for trauma with play therapy for trauma. Over the last couple of decades, using a neuroscience and attachment lens to address trauma has become a time-tested strategy to ensure clients overcome the devastating impact of trauma. How can you use a neuroscience and attachment lens in play therapy while also grounding your play therapy approach in a theoretical model? How does play therapy help with trauma? How do you determine which approach to play therapy is best for your clients who have experienced trauma? In this podcast episode, I’ll share some things to consider when deciding what play therapy model to use with traumatized clients. I’ll show you how Prescriptive Play Therapy can ensure your neuroscience and attachment-informed approach to trauma can ground your play therapy treatment in a theoretical model. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How To Take a Strategic Approach to Play Therapy with Traumatized Children | 05 Sep 2024 | 00:33:48 | |
Have you ever wondered which approach works best with children who are traumatized? Or maybe you’ve wondered what techniques are used in trauma therapy? Working with children and adolescents who have experienced trauma requires child and adolescent mental health professionals to understand a variety of factors impacting treatment decision making, especially if you’re wondering 👇 How can play therapy help children with trauma? To answer this question, you need to consider a variety of factors that influence your ability to identify the extent of the problems your clients are experiencing. Here are just a few things you can consider for your case conceptualization process: 💥 impact of the traumatic experience on your young client 💥age of the child and age when the traumatic experience occurred 💥ability for the child’s environment to support their healing All of these factors will be influenced by how you conceptualize the problem based on your theoretical model and how your theoretical model facilitates access to the therapeutic powers of play. Play therapy is grounded in a theoretical model and your theoretical model dictates how to apply that model within the context of a therapeutic relationship to facilitate healing for your traumatized clients. But - it’s not just about learning a play therapy theory model and applying it. It’s also important to ensure you walk through the case conceptualization process so you’re clear how your play therapy treatment approach can help your young clients heal and how to integrate parents in the healing process. In this week’s episode, I’ll discuss three questions you need to answer when you’re figuring out how to strategically help your traumatized clients using play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What is Imposter Syndrome in Play Therapy? | 04 Jul 2024 | 00:35:53 | |
If you’re a play therapist, especially new to play therapy, I’m going to share a secret with you. You may not believe me when I tell you this. If you feel like a fraud using play therapy … If you feel overwhelmed and struggling with thoughts that you suck using play therapy and that your clients are probably suffering because of your incompetence … This is likely a lie your brain is telling you. 🤯 It’s called Imposter Syndrome. Every play therapist I’ve ever worked with to learn play therapy feels this way. Yep! You’re not the only one who feels like an imposter. I promise! And, the likelihood that you actually suck using play therapy is pretty slim. I know - I can hear you thinking that I’m wrong because you’re pretty sure you’re a terrible play therapist. If this is you, then 👇 Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share tips for gaining confidence using play therapy so you can make a difference in the lives of your clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Get Unstuck in Play Therapy | 27 Jun 2024 | 00:40:54 | |
Have you ever felt like you’re lost and not sure what to do when you’re providing play therapy? Maybe you’ve secretly thought that you aren’t cut out to be a play therapist because you’re terrible at it. At some point in your learning journey to help your clients heal using play therapy, you’ve probably felt lost, overwhelmed, and frustrated. Typically, you’re imposter syndrome kicks it and can leave you feeling like you aren’t helping your clients and you worry that you may actually be making things worse. Or - you feel lost and overwhelmed thinking that you need to convince parents that play therapy is actually working 👇 And this only adds more stress because your imposter syndrome is in high gear which makes you feel even more lost and confused about what to do and how to show parents that you know what you’re doing. You are not alone. Anyone who has ever gone before you to learn how to help children heal using play therapy has experienced all of these emotions. Heck! Even experienced play therapists feel overwhelmed sometimes. If this is you, then join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss how to recognize when you are lost using play therapy and some tips for what to do to get back on track. We’ve all been there and you are not alone so join me for this week’s episode and I’ll see you there! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Do You Know if Play Therapy Works? | 20 Jun 2024 | 00:35:59 | |
What’s the point of learning to recognize themes in play therapy sessions? Does it really matter? Play therapists often talk about what play themes occurred in their clients’ play therapy sessions. Are play themes even real or are we just making them up to justify that play therapy is actually working? We know that play therapy has become the “go-to” treatment approach for children and several play therapy models are considered evidence-based. But what about play themes? We talk about them, but has anyone researched them and their role in play therapy sessions? YES!! A group of researchers examined behavior and play themes using a case study approach with qualitative and quantitative measures. While there are definitely limitations with this research approach, the benefit of gaining a closer look at what happens in play therapy sessions provides important information for play therapists and the field of play therapy. Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss play themes and understanding play behavior in play therapy. Then I’ll discuss the study and its implications for your play therapy work with children. Citation for the study discussed: Snow, M. S., Hudspeth, E. F., Gore, B., and Seale, H. A. (2007). A comparison of behaviors and play themes over a six-week period: Two case studies in play therapy. International Journal of Play Therapy, 16(2), 147-159. doi.10.1037/1555-6824.16.2.147 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Can Play Therapy Heal Preverbal Trauma? | 13 Jun 2024 | 00:41:17 | |
Do children who’ve experienced trauma prior to developing language have the capacity to remember what happened to them? Does the traumatic experience go away on its own? I’ve often heard people, including child serving professionals, dismiss the possibility of the negative impact of neglect and early trauma on infants and young children. Especially the trauma caused by invasive medical procedures on infants and children even though the procedures are necessary. I find it perplexing that professionals in the mental health community and social services community would dismiss the impact of early traumatic experiences on children. That’s usually when I go back to what research tells us about trauma. Research tells us, especially the groundbreaking work of Bessel Van der Kolk, that traumatic experiences are stored somatically in the body. How can mental health professionals help these young children to overcome the negative impact of preverbal trauma? Yep, you guessed it - Play Therapy! Spiel, Lombardi, and DeRubeis-Byrne (2019) provide a case study using psychoanalytic play therapy to facilitate healing for a three-year old client. It’s a fascinating case study with excerpts from sessions and a discussion of the clinical insights gained using psychoanalytic play therapy. Interested in learning how play therapy can facilitate healing for young children who experienced pre-verbal trauma? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll provide an overview of the case study and discuss how play therapists can help traumatized young children to heal. If you’re interested in reading the study, here’s the citation: Spiel, S., Lombardi, K., and DeRebeis-Byrne, L. (2019). Treating traumatized children: Somatic memories and play therapy. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 18(1), 1-12. doi.10.1080/15289168.2019.1566974 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Are the Best Play Therapy Techniques for Connection | 06 Jun 2024 | 00:43:11 | |
Using play therapy effectively requires child and adolescent therapists to know how to use a theoretical play therapy model to access the therapeutic powers of play. When choosing play therapy to facilitate healing, it’s important to consider what your clients need and how you will use play therapy to accomplish that goal. Want some ideas? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share tips for activities to use focused on facilitating attachment and connection. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What are the Therapeutic Powers of Play in Play Therapy? | 30 May 2024 | 00:35:37 | |
Play therapists often talk about the therapeutic powers of play. But what exactly does that mean and why are they so important in play therapy? How do you explain play therapy to others? Actually, knowing the answer to these questions are core competencies for play therapists because 👇 The therapeutic powers of play are what set play therapy apart from all the other expressive arts therapies. Understanding how to help your young clients access the therapeutic powers of play is the difference between using games and activities in therapy sessions versus using play therapy. Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss the therapeutic powers of play and why they are the foundation of play therapy. You’ll get tips for explaining play therapy to parents and other professionals so you sound legit. 🤩 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Write Effective Play Therapy Documentation | 23 May 2024 | 00:33:40 | |
Writing play therapy documentation is hands down the least favorite task for play therapists, myself included. It’s overwhelming, confusing, and exhausting. It can feel never ending and burn you out. It’s often avoided altogether, which is never good. Avoiding it just creates more stress because you feel like you’re always behind or worse you get in trouble because it’s not done.
I know, I can hear you thinking - No Way! What’s the catch? Join me for this free weekly Podcast, I’ll discuss three 🔑things to keep in mind that will help you streamline your documentation process in a way that makes the “documentation gods” happy, which in turn makes your life easier. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Write Play Therapy Progress Notes | 16 May 2024 | 00:28:32 | |
If you’re a play therapist and you have struggled to write progress notes that make sense without draining your brain, then you are definitely not alone. Maybe you feel confused and overwhelmed about writing play therapy notes because you have no idea what to write that makes sense and doesn’t sound like you just played for an hour with your client. 😂
Writing play therapy progress notes can be exhausting, confusing, and frustrating. If that’s you, then I have good news for you! Join me for this free weekly podcast I’ll discuss tips for writing play therapy progress notes so they look professional and accurately document your play therapy sessions. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Are Open Notes Useful for Play Therapy? | 09 May 2024 | 00:36:50 | |
If you’re a mental health professional in the United States, you might have heard about the CURES Act. It’s created quite a buzz in the mental health community. Maybe you’ve heard of Open Notes.
Open Notes are a form of co-creating progress notes with clients. When dealing with challenging topics and issues, I find it helpful to check out what the research says. So, that’s what I did.
I’ll review a recent study that explored the benefits and weaknesses for using Open Notes. I’ll also discuss issues near and dear to play therapists 👇 how to maintain the privacy of your young clients, including progress notes about their sessions. If you’re interested in reading the study for yourself, here’s the citation: Blease, C., Kharko, A., Hagglund, M., O”Neill, S., Wachenheim, D., Salmi, L., Harcourt, K., Locher, C., DesRoches, C. M., and Torous, J. (2021). The benefit and harms of open notes in mental health: A Delphi survey of international experts. PLoS ONE, 16(10), 1-14. Doi.1037/journal.pone.0258056 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Does Case Conceptualization Have to Do with Play Therapy Themes? | 02 May 2024 | 00:31:57 | |
Play therapists place a lot of emphasis on recognizing themes in play therapy sessions. Why?
Here’s where case conceptualization is often overlooked when making sense of what’s going on in play therapy for your clients. Understanding play therapy themes is heavily influenced by your play therapy model. What does that have to do with play therapy case conceptualization? I’m glad you asked! Join me for this weekly podcast, I’ll discuss why case conceptualization is important to ensure you use the information gathered from play therapy themes so you can help your clients achieve the healing they are seeking and make a difference in their lives. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What is Sand Tray Therapy? | 29 Aug 2024 | 00:29:16 | |
If you’re a play therapist you’ve probably heard of sand tray therapy. Maybe you’re using sand tray therapy now with your child and adolescent clients or maybe you’ve been really curious about it. There’s a lot of confusion about using sand tray in play therapy and that impacts the quality of the experience for your clients. What is sand tray therapy and how do you use it in play therapy? To really understand what sand tray therapy is, you need to know some foundational elements of sand tray. That’s what I want to talk about in this week’s episode.
Join me for this free weekly pocast, I’m going to discuss some of the foundational principles of using sand tray in play therapy to provide a firm understanding of sand tray therapy. If you’re interested in learning more about sand tray therapy, then you don’t want to miss this episode! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Best Way to Identify Themes in Play Therapy Sessions? | 25 Apr 2024 | 00:35:00 | |
Have you ever struggled to figure out what exactly your clients are communicating during their play therapy sessions? Whether you’re a new play therapist or a seasoned play therapist, identifying themes can be challenging. Learning to recognize themes in your clients’ play therapy sessions is a great way to understand what they are communicating through their play. That’s why I’m soooooooooooo excited to have my guest, Dr. Jodi Mullen, share her tips identifying themes in play therapy sessions. 🎉 I love her idea of conceptualizing themes in play therapy sessions as the main points in a story. So cool, right?!! Join us for this free weekly podcast. We’ll be sharing some valuable information to help you recognize themes in play therapy sessions. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Play Therapy Progress Notes | 18 Apr 2024 | 00:41:52 | |
There is a lot of terrible information being shared in the mental health community about writing progress notes. Some information is based on fear, some information is based on misunderstanding about progress notes, and some information is based on minimizing the importance of progress notes. (Ouch!) 😲 Over the last 30+ years in the mental health field, I’ve heard and seen most of the terrible information being shared about writing progress notes. Not all the information is terrible, and some of the information has some valid aspects to it. Are you struggling to write play therapy progress notes? Join me for this free podcast, I’ll share four mistakes play therapists make when writing progress notes and suggestions for writing sound, ethical progress notes. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Avoid Feeling Overwhelmed Providing Play Therapy | 11 Apr 2024 | 00:37:01 | |
What’s the secret to success using play therapy like a pro? Any new play therapist will tell you that the thing that drives them to learn new things 👇 is their desire to make a difference in the lives of children. Over the last 15 years supervising new play therapists, I’ve witnessed four things that are 🔑for your success using play therapy so you can accomplish your dream. Learning to use play therapy takes dedication to take risks and overcome challenges. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Engage Challenging Children in Play Therapy | 04 Apr 2024 | 00:33:25 | |
If you’re a child/adolescent mental health professional, then you probably have children and adolescents on your caseload who are reluctant to engage in therapy. These children can be overwhelming and frustrating, even for seasoned therapists. What can you do to engage them in sessions so you can help them? Knowing how to use play therapy strategies effectively can make a huge difference to engage your young clients in the change process. Join me for this week’s podcast episode with my guest, Liana Lowenstein, MSW. Liana Lowenstein has worked in the child/adolescent mental health community for over 35 years and has helped thousands of professionals use strategies that work. She’s an internationally recognized expert and her 14 books are used by mental health professionals all over the world. You won’t want to miss this dynamic podcast episode. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How To Recognize Clinically Relevant Themes in Play Therapy Sessions | 28 Mar 2024 | 00:40:02 | |
How do I know what’s happening in my clients’ play therapy sessions? How do I know what’s important to notice and what’s not important in play therapy sessions? How do I know what my clients’ behaviors in play therapy sessions mean? These are often the questions asked by new play therapists. Anyone new to play therapy will have asked these questions at some point when learning to use play therapy with their young clients. There’s a deeper level of learning needed underlying these questions to develop competency understanding play behavior and themes in play therapy sessions. Join me for this weekly podcast, I’ll discuss what you need to know so you can make sense of what’s happening in play therapy sessions and how to use that information to facilitate healing for your clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Do Play Therapists Understand Themes in Play Therapy? | 21 Mar 2024 | 00:35:13 | |
One of the biggest struggles for play therapists is understanding and recognizing themes in play therapy. Play therapists use themes in play therapy sessions to help them understand what’s going on with their clients and how they are progressing in play therapy. But, I’ve always wondered who decided what themes represent or how we recognize them in play therapy sessions. So, I went on a journey of looking into what research has to say about themes in play therapy. (My journey is more like getting lost down the “rabbit hole” and finally re-emerging after a few hours. 🤣 My husband just knows to find me when I re-emerge or check to see if I’m still here. 😂) I found an interesting study published in 2021 exploring if play themes could be identified using a standardized instrument. Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share highlights from the study and how play therapists can use the information to help them understand themes in play therapy. Here’s the citation for the article: Bridget, S., Parson, J., and Renshaw, K. (2021). Can children’s themes be assessed to inform play therapy practice? Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 26(1), 257-267. doi.10.1177/1359104520964510 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Why Does Congruence Matter in Play Therapy? | 14 Mar 2024 | 00:40:35 | |
What can neuroscience tell us about creating a strong therapeutic relationship that allows our clients to feel safe during the change process? 🤔 Congruence in play therapy is the ability to align our internal experiences with our external expressions of unconditional positive regard and empathy. Our resonance circuits, as termed by Daniel Siegel in his book Mindsight, discusses the role of resonance circuitry when connecting in sessions with clients to facilitate change. Learning to use these key elements to facilitate healing in play therapy is a core competency in play therapy. This includes working with parents so they can be the therapeutic agents of change for their children.
Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Are Barriers for Congruence in Play Therapy? | 07 Mar 2024 | 00:40:43 | |
Congruence is such a nice sounding therapy word when thinking about how to be the best version of yourself in play therapy sessions. (I have visions of unicorns and happily ever after music playing in my head 🦄 🎶) Sounds so easy, right? But it’s easier said than done. No one can be 100% congruent with their clients (or their kids, or their partners, or their friends - you get the point) all of the time. It’s impossible. What are things that interfere with being congruent with your clients in play therapy sessions and keep you from getting the best outcomes for your young clients? Join me for this free weekly podcast. For this week’s podcast episode, I’ll talk about barriers to being congruent in sessions and how you can learn to be more congruent so you can get amazing outcomes in play therapy with your clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What are the Benefits of Formal Assessment in Play Therapy? | 29 Feb 2024 | 00:44:03 | |
Have you ever had a client that just didn’t seem to make any progress in play therapy even with all your best efforts? What can you do to figure out what’s going on with your clients? Assessment is one of the core competencies in play therapy. There are some forms of assessment we can do as child/adolescent therapists, and some types of assessment require more formal training. Sometimes, formal assessment can provide a wealth of information to better understand your young clients so you can help them get better. The key to using assessment information effectively is knowing 👇 ✅ what types of assessments are available ✅ what assessments can tell you about your clients ✅ how to help your clients get the right kind of assessments
Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use Congruence Effectively in Play Therapy | 22 Feb 2024 | 00:42:16 | |
Fundamental to the therapeutic process is a strong therapeutic relationship. This requires the ability to understand congruence and how to use congruence as part of your therapeutic use of self in sessions. This is also true in play therapy. In fact, therapeutic use of self and congruence in play therapy are core competency skills in play therapy. How do you use congruence in play therapy? What does congruence in play therapy look like? Several play therapists examined congruence in play therapy to answer these questions. They developed a model to use congruence effectively in play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Engage Reluctant Parents in Play Therapy | 22 Aug 2024 | 00:40:12 | |
Have you ever felt super frustrated trying to get engagement from parents for their child’s play therapy treatment? Feeling like you are “chasing” parents to get them to schedule an appointment with you to discuss how to help their child make progress in play therapy. Feeling tired and a little burned out responding to phone calls, emails, or texts between play therapy sessions. Sometimes it can be challenging to get parents to actively participate in their child’s treatment. If this sounds familiar to you, then you are not alone. Over the last 15 years providing play therapy supervision and consultation, there are a few things that I’ve observed play therapists doing that actually play a role in difficulty getting parents to engage in the change process. Want some tips and strategies to get more engagement from parents in their children’s play therapy treatment? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share four things that you can do to increase engagement of parents in the change process for their children. These four simple things can really improve your ability to connect with parents to help them work with you more effectively to facilitate healing for their children. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| 3 Misconceptions About Using Expressive Arts with Teens in Play Therapy | 15 Feb 2024 | 00:31:12 | |
Adolescents have their own unique needs in the treatment process. Play therapists often struggle with knowing how to help their adolescent clients access the therapeutic powers of play for healing. Using expressive arts with adolescents provides an excellent way to help them process and explore painful emotions and experiences. But, many therapists don’t use expressive arts due to their misconceptions about this powerful modality. I’m going to discuss three misconceptions about using expressive arts so that you tap into this powerful modality to help your adolescent clients heal. I’ll also share how I use expressive arts to get great results in treatment, even with reluctant, defensive, and guarded teens. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use Play Therapy to Address Alexithymia with Traumatized Children and Teens | 08 Feb 2024 | 00:34:31 | |
Have you heard of a condition called alexithymia? Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use Play Therapy with Traumatized Children and Teens | 08 Feb 2024 | 00:39:22 | |
What mistakes in play therapy with traumatized children and teens are critical to avoid? Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use Play Therapy with Adolescents | 31 Jan 2024 | 00:24:29 | |
Have you ever had an adolescent client sitting across from you during therapy sessions who was not opening up despite all your best rapport building efforts? Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Are the Current Trends and Growth in the Field of Play Therapy? | 15 Aug 2024 | 00:45:17 | |
If you’re in the child and adolescent mental health field then you’ve likely heard of play therapy, but why is it so effective? How is it possible that play therapy has become the go-to treatment approach for children to address their mental health challenges? What is it that sets play therapy apart from other treatment modalities? How has play therapy evolved to what it has become today? Well, to explore this further I thought I’d go to one of the big influencers for play therapy here in the United States to get their insights about the growth of play therapy and why it’s so powerful. The Association for Play Therapy APT) has been a significant part of the growth of play therapy here in the United States, and even internationally. Since APT was formed in 1982, its role in shaping and influencing the quality of play therapy has been enormous. I’m excited to have as my guest this week Kim Vander Dussen, Psy. D., RPT-S, and current APT Chair!!! 🎉 Join me for this free weekly podcast, we’ll explore trends in play therapy and how the play therapy field has grown to what it is today. We’ll also explore the role of APT for this phenomenal growth of play therapy to help children and their families heal. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Role of Parents in Play Therapy with Anxious Children? | 08 Aug 2024 | 00:41:44 | |
In the play therapy profession, the focus is typically on the children and providing play therapy sessions only with the child to facilitate healing. Makes sense when you think about it because parents bring their child to you for help overcoming their mental health challenges. But is it really the most effective way to conceptualize the problem and healing the problem? How much focus do you allow to identify family relationship patterns sustaining the problem? How are you gathering information to fully understand the problem? How are you using that information to strategize the best approach to play therapy with anxious children? Whenever I ponder clinical issues in my work with clients and prepare for trainings, I always like to go to the research to see what the research says when it comes to children’s mental health and treatment. So that’s what I did. I perused the research literature on children’s mental health and parental involvement in treatment. Yep! I went down another research literature rabbit hole and came out with gold! I found an interesting article examining the role of parents in the development of anxiety in their children and the effectiveness of parental involvement in treatment. There was some really interesting data about the role of parents in the development of their children’s anxiety as well as what type of treatment involving parents was effective (and not effective). Intrigued? Want to know more? I’ll also review the data outlining what types of treatment approaches involving parents were effective and what wasn’t effective so you can use a play therapy approach that gets results. Citation for article: Wei, C., and Kendall, P. C. (2014). Parental involvement: Contribution to childhood anxiety and its treatment. Clinical Child and Family Psychological Review, 17, 319-339. doi.10.1007/s10567-014-0170-6 And - if you find the information useful - spread the love and share the podcast with your colleagues! Leave a comment because I’d love to get your feedback. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Balance Case Conceptualization, Treatment Planning, and Therapeutic Relationship in Play Therapy | 01 Aug 2024 | 00:43:45 | |
As a play therapist or child/adolescent therapist, 👇 Have you ever thought there is no way to balance a strong therapeutic relationship with clients and parents with the more clinically technical aspects of case conceptualization and treatment planning? Therapeutic rapport is relational, right?. It’s personal and dynamic. Case conceptualization and treatment planning can feel sterile and dry if not done well. The problem I’ve witnessed over the years is that not using the first session to conduct a thorough psychosocial assessment impairs your ability to understand the roots of the problem 👇 And that leads to difficulty figuring out how to help your clients. Completing the case conceptualization process helps you figure out treatment planning process to answer these questions 👇 “What works best for my client?” and “How do I figure that out?” Here’s the real question you need to ask yourself - Can learning to access the benefits of these technical components and find a balance using therapeutic rapport create a stronger healing experience for your clients? That’s the key question. I can hear the skeptics and your skepticism coming through the internet. 😂
That’s what three mental health experts examined in a recent article published in the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. Interested? Intrigued? Still skeptical? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss the authors’ belief that it’s possible to take more of an individualized approach to treatment. I’ll share how these authors propose the ability to use case formulation and treatment planning to focus on meeting the treatment needs of each unique client. I’ll discuss how these principles can be applied to play therapy and your work with clients using play therapy. Citation for article discussed in this episode: Gazzillo, F., Dimaggio, G., and Curtis, J. T. (2021). Case formulation and treatment planning: How to take care of relationships and symptoms together. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 31(2), 115-128. doi.10.1037/int0000185 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Work with High Conflict Families in Play Therapy | 25 Jul 2024 | 00:49:30 | |
If you’re a play therapist then you’ve probably had children from high conflict divorced families on your caseload at some point, or maybe even now. These families can present very challenging issues to navigate in play therapy. If you’ve worked with children in high conflict family systems then you’ve probably felt helpless, frustrated, and overwhelmed trying to help your young clients. What are the best practices for working with children in these challenging family systems? How can you navigate all the systems involved in the child’s family - attorneys, court professionals, parents who aren’t able to co-parent effectively together, and possibly child protective services professionals? These are highly complex family systems and knowing what resources to access can be overwhelming. That’s why I LOVE using the resources and support available by the Association for Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC)! They have AMAZING resources, like Guidelines for Court-Involved Therapists! AFCC also provide a wealth of other resources. Want to know more? That’s why I invited Ann Ordway, JD, PhD, to be my guest this week. She’s the Program Director for AFCC and a great ally to support the work of play therapists working with children in high conflict divorced families. Join me for this free weekly podcast, we’ll discuss some of the different types of collateral professionals working alongside these high conflict divorced families and how play therapists can utilize these valuable professionals to help their clients. AFCC has some amazing resources for mental health professionals so you won’t want to miss this episode if you work with children from high conflict families in play therapy! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Can the AAI Be Used in Play Therapy to Create Secure Attachments? | 18 Jul 2024 | 00:40:20 | |
One of the things I regularly hear from play therapists is their frustration knowing what is the most effective way to work with parents in play therapy. This is especially true when working with children in families that are very challenging. Children exist within the context of their families and supporting parents to be the therapeutic agents of change for their children is an important task for play therapists. How do you engage parents in play therapy and support a secure attachment with their children? How do you assess parenting capacity to create a secure attachment with their children? Have you heard of the AAI? The Adult Attachment Interview. What does the AAI have to do with play therapy? Learning how to use the AAI provides a wealth of information for play therapists to better understand parents My guest, Karen Doyle Buckwalter, LCSW, RPT-S, will discuss the benefits of using the AAI when working with parents and how it can help you better support parents to create secure attachments with their children. If you want to learn how to help parents become therapeutic agents of change for their children, then you don’t want to miss this episode. and helping them to create secure attachments with their children. Interested in learning more? Join me for this free podcast! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Set Up Play Therapy for Success | 11 Jul 2024 | 00:39:33 | |
From an attachment theory standpoint, structure is an important part of parenting. It helps children understand relationship boundaries, protects them from possible harm, provides a sense of safety and order, and allows them to understand how actions impact them and others. How we provide structure is very important - Not too rigid and not too loose. Just right structure is the 🔑to success. This is also true when providing play therapy to children and their families. One of the biggest reasons I find that play therapists get lost and frustrated, especially when working with parents is 👇 they have not fully identified their expectations for how their play therapy services are provided and 👇 they didn’t clearly communicate that to parents from the very beginning of play therapy treatment. This has the potential to create frustration for clients and parents, reduce the effectiveness of your play therapy services, and cause parents to pull their child from play therapy.
How can you set up your play therapy services for success from the very beginning? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share with you strategies that I’ve learned over the past three decades working with children and families. I’ll answer questions that I get asked ALL the time by play therapists about getting better engagement from parents and their children. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How To Develop Culturally-Informed Play Therapy Case Conceptualization | 19 Sep 2024 | 00:43:40 | |
How good are you at identifying the role of culture in the problems your clients are experiencing? Have you considered the resiliency factors of your clients’ culture and how that can influence better play therapy outcomes? Play therapists work with children and their families from diverse cultural backgrounds. Using cultural competence with case conceptualization is essential to make a difference for children in play therapy. What is case conceptualization and why does it matter? Case conceptualization is a fancy term that means you’ve identified the likely factors contributing to your clients’ problems. Using cultural intelligence when formulating your case conceptualization significantly increases the likelihood of an accurate diagnosis and then creating an effective plan of action. When you’re figuring out what’s going on with your clients, some critical questions to explore are … 🎯 How does culture affect therapeutic communication between you, your clients, and their parents? 🎯 How can cultural barriers affect play therapy effectiveness? 🎯 How can you build strong therapeutic alliances with parents that respect their culture? Join me for this week's podcast episode, I’ll discuss some key considerations to ensure cultural intelligence when identifying what’s causing your clients’ problems and why it’s happening so you can facilitate healing in play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Identifying Play Dynamics in Play Therapy | 26 Sep 2024 | 00:44:49 | |
How do you make sense of what’s going on in play therapy sessions and figure out if your clients are making progress? This is a question that comes up A LOT in my play therapy trainings and play therapy consultation groups. It’s a great question. Underlying this question is the understanding that play therapy sessions are not traditional talk therapy sessions because children use play therapy sessions differently than talk therapy sessions. What does that mean? It means the fundamental difference between play therapy sessions is how children access the therapeutic powers of play for healing. This requires the play therapist to recognize the play dynamics occurring in sessions and accurate assess what those play dynamics reveal about your clients. Play therapists need to recognize three essential elements of play dynamics in play therapy sessions and make sense of their relevance to what your clients are working through. Join me on this week's episode, I’ll discuss three aspects of play dynamics in play therapy and their importance for facilitating healing for children. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Do Play Therapists Understand Themes in Play Therapy? | 03 Oct 2024 | 00:36:24 | |
One of the biggest struggles for play therapists is understanding and recognizing themes in play therapy. Play therapists use themes in play therapy sessions to help them understand what’s going on with their clients and how they are progressing in play therapy. Join me for this free podcast, I’ll share highlights from the study and how play therapists can use the information to help them understand themes in play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Create Your Sand Tray Miniature Collection | 31 Oct 2024 | 00:34:03 | |
I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE using sand tray therapy with my clients of all ages. I’m obsessed with it because I’ve witnessed the power of the sand tray therapy process to access deep healing for clients. I also know that getting started can be overwhelming because it can be expensive. So what’s a play therapist to do? Join me for this free weekly Podcast, I’m sharing practical tips to build your sand tray miniature collection that will save you time and money. Yep! I’m sharing my best strategies to build your miniature collection so you can provide an amazing healing experience for your clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Best Ever Sand for Sand Tray Therapy! | 24 Oct 2024 | 00:26:03 | |
Wondering how to find great sand to use for sand tray therapy with NO DUST? One of the most challenging things about using sand tray therapy with children is sand that’s dusty. Dusty? Can sand be dusty? YES! It’s the worst when the sand is dusty because there's a cloud of dust lingering over the sand tray when kids sift and play in the sand. It's hard to be fully present with your young client when you can't breathe and you're coughing and sneezing because of the dust from the sand. Well, I've got the solution for you! Jurassic Sand will be joining me on this week’s podcast episode, to discuss their amazing sand, caring for the sand, the different types of sand and the experience of the sand. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Kind of Sand Tray Miniatures Are Best | 17 Oct 2024 | 00:34:51 | |
What kind of sand tray miniatures do you need? Are there miniatures that are better than others so your clients get what they need in your play therapy sessions? These are frequent questions I’m asked by play therapists who want to learn how to use sand tray therapy in play therapy. They’re really good questions when you think about it because play therapists are very intentional when setting up their playroom. You want to make sure the toys in your playroom are therapeutic so your clients can access the therapeutic powers of play. Making sure you get the right sand tray miniatures can save you time and money by avoiding the wrong ones. Join me for this free weekly podcast, In this week’s episode, I’ll discuss the purpose of sand tray miniatures and what kind of miniatures you need for your sand tray miniature collection. I’ll also share some practical tips for building your sand tray miniature collection to avoid feeling overwhelmed and discouraged. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Provide Sand Tray Therapy in Play Therapy | 10 Oct 2024 | 00:43:42 | |
Have you heard of sand tray therapy? How do you provide sand tray therapy? What do you need to provide sand tray therapy with clients? If you’re a play therapist then you’ve probably heard of sand tray therapy. In play therapy, there are specific types of toys and supplies needed in the playroom to provide play therapy. The same is true when using sand tray therapy with clients.
These are vital when providing sand tray therapy, but are there specific types of sand trays, sand, and miniatures that you need? Join me for this free weekly Podcast, I’ll discuss what you need to provide sand tray therapy and why you need them. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Best Approach for Play Therapy? | 14 Nov 2024 | 00:37:35 | |
If you’re a child and adolescent therapist, it’s probably because you want to make a difference in the lives of children. That’s what drives most of you to pursue your master’s degree in counseling and spend endless hours trying to learn how to help your clients heal. Pretty much all of the child and adolescent therapists I’ve spoken with over the last 15 years when I’m providing play therapy consultation will tell you they do what they do because it’s a calling, a mission. It’s not just a job. So, is there a BEST way to provide play therapy that will guarantee your clients get the maximum benefit from working with you? Is there one approach to play therapy that works better than the others? Join me for this free weekly Podcast, I’m going to discuss how you can figure out what’s the best way to help your clients heal using play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What is Bibliotherapy in Play Therapy? | 07 Nov 2024 | 00:45:14 | |
What the heck does bibliotherapy mean? It’s a really fancy term for using stories to help clients heal. Most play therapists incorporate some version of bibliotherapy in the play therapy process. To be honest, I’ve used bibliotherapy with adolescents and adults to help them heal. I use it ALL the time in family play therapy sessions. Are there ways to use bibliotherapy to get the most benefit for your clients? That’s what my guest, Tammi Van Hollander, is going to share with us. She’s written a new book about strategies for using bibliotherapy in play therapy. My guest, Tammi Van Hollander, and I will discuss what bibliotherapy is and how you can use it in play therapy to help your clients heal. Check out Tammi’s new book on Amazon, PESI website, or Tammi’s website: The Bibliotherapy Toolbox: 100+ Creative and Playful Story-Based Interventions to Help Kids Create Safety, Overcome Challenges, and Build Resiliency Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Help Bereaved Children in Play Therapy | 26 Dec 2024 | 00:43:47 | |
Children feel grief deeply and their grieving process looks different depending on a variety of factors, including their age and developmental level. How can play therapists help children navigate their grief in a way that is unique to their developmental needs in treatment? Play therapy has become the “go-to” approach to help children heal. This includes using play therapy to help children cope with their grief. What are things play therapists can do to help bereaved children heal? That’s what my guest, Liana Lowenstein, and I will be discussing in this episode. Liana is an accomplished author of several play therapy books, including her two books focused on helping play therapists work with bereaved children: Creative Interventions for Bereaved Children, 2nd Ed, and Cory Helps Kids Cope with Grief. Join me for this free weekly Podcast, Liana and I will be discussing how to recognize grief and children and play therapy strategies to help them cope with grief. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Can Children Heal in Play Therapy without Parents? | 19 Dec 2024 | 00:42:52 | |
What’s the best way to make the biggest and most long-lasting impact using play therapy? After all, that’s the goal of play therapy - to make a lasting difference in the lives of children. The question we need to consider is - who is the therapeutic agent of change for the child? Play therapist or parents? You can make the case that both are therapeutic agents of change in their own way. Play therapists create a strong relationship with children to help them overcome the challenges they’re experiencing currently. If you want to make the biggest and most long-lasting impact using play therapy then you’ll want to consider how you can engage parents as the therapeutic agents of change for their children. After all, parents are in the lives of your clients much longer than you are in their lives. To help parents become the therapeutic agents of change for their children using play therapy, you need to figure out what is the role of parents in play therapy and why does it matter? I’ll discuss the role of parents and how to maximize their role using play therapy to get the best results for your young clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Secret to Use Family Play Therapy Confidently? | 12 Dec 2024 | 00:42:52 | |
Usually when I suggest play therapists use family play therapy sessions, their facial expression says it all. Anxious, surprised, overwhelmed, and sometimes amused or curious. It makes sense when you think about it because most play therapy training is focused on individual counseling sessions and very little training is focused on how to integrate parents and family members into the play therapy process for their clients. I think this is true for mental health treatment in general. The thing is that children don’t exist in a vacuum and they can’t be their own therapeutic agents of change for healing. Children and adolescents thrive best when they have secure attachment relationships and strong, healthy family support. So, why then, do we usually spend most of our learning time ignoring this area of children’s lives in the treatment process? Family play therapy can be a value “tool” in the “toolbox” of play therapists to facilitate lasting change within the whole family that will support the changes your clients are making. Join me for this free weekly Podcast, I’ll discuss strategies for using family play therapy with your clients and how your clients can benefit from family play therapy as part of their treatment experience. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Engage Challenging Parents in Play Therapy | 05 Dec 2024 | 00:34:20 | |
If you’re a play therapist or work with children and adolescents in the mental health field, then you know children do not exist in their own little vacuum. When you think about what’s going on with your clients from a systems and attachment lens, then you know parents and family have a big influence on children and their ability to thrive in life. We know from decades of attachment research that children with secure attachments are more resilient. But what do you do if you’re having trouble engaging parents (or primary caregivers) in the change process? Have you ever felt frustrated and not sure what to do because your young client seems to be “stuck” and not making any progress? Maybe you know you need to work with parents to help make some changes in your clients’ lives, but you just can’t seem to figure out how or what’s going on in the family? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share some tips about what I’ve learned over the past 30+ years in child/adolescent mental health that helps you engage even the most challenging parents and facilitate change. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Build Strong Rapport in Play Therapy | 28 Nov 2024 | 00:35:54 | |
While I believe that learning a play therapy model so you can effectively apply the model with a variety of children through all the stages of the play therapy change process is critical, 👇 Facilitating deep healing in play therapy is not possible without a strong therapeutic relationship with clients. We know from neuroscience research that children engage their play circuitry when, and only when, they feel safe. So, what does that look like in play therapy for practical application? The Association for Play Therapy has identified rapport building as a core competency for play therapists. This requires the ability to use empathy, safety, and unconditional positive regard through your therapeutic use of self in sessions not only with children, but also with their caregivers. Does this sound complicated and a little daunting, especially when you’re also trying to apply your play therapy model? Join me for this free weekly livestream podcast, I’ll share strategies to make sure you build a strong therapeutic relationship with your clients to create a “free and protected space for healing." Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Using Play Therapy to Help Children with Anger Problems | 21 Nov 2024 | 00:36:42 | |
Emotion regulation problems, such as anger outbursts, are a big reason parents seek counseling for their children. Parents aren’t sure what to do so they seek help from you. Anger outbursts/tantrums can be frightening for parents as well as the child. What’s a play therapist to do? How can play therapy help children rein in those big, overwhelming feelings? That’s what my guest and I will be talking about during this episode. Dr. Fiona Zandt is a clinical psychologist in Australia specializing in the use of play to help children manage their strong emotions of anger. In fact, she’s written an AWESOME new book - Creative Ways to Help Children Manage Anger. If you’re looking for strategies to help children regulate their anger, then you don’t want to miss this episode! Please note the Day and Time change this week. Join me for this free weekly podcast, My guest, Dr. Fiona Zandt, and I will be discussing strategies to help children struggling with anger outbursts and their parents in play therapy. We’ll discuss ideas for play therapy activities to use in sessions. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Is Sandplay Therapy Effective? | 02 Jan 2025 | 00:33:40 | |
Does sand tray therapy in play therapy work? What’s the difference between sandplay therapy and sand tray therapy? Aren’t they the same thing? Words matter when thinking about what you do in play therapy and communicating to others what you’re doing. After all, can you clearly communicate to others if you don’t really understand the difference and feel confident that what you’re doing works? When I’m pondering these things and trying to get answers for myself so I can confidently communicate about play therapy, including use of the sand tray in play therapy, I like to go to the research to get answers. So, that’s what I did and I found this great study that discusses whether or not sand play therapy is effective to address mental health issues. Interested to learn more about the differences between sand tray therapy and sandplay therapy and whether sandplay therapy works? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss the differences between sand tray therapy and sandplay therapy for play therapists and why it’s important to know the difference. I’ll also discuss a recent study to examine whether or not sandplay therapy is effective and how this information can be useful to play therapists. Here’s the citation for the article if you want more information: Wiersma, J. K., Freedle, L. R., McRoberts, R., and Solberg, K. B. (2022). A meta-analysis of sandplay therapy treatment outcomes. International Journal of Play Therapy, 31(4), 197-215. doi.10.1037/pla0000180 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||