Explore every episode of the podcast Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 Sand Tray Activities for Family Play Therapy Sessions | 13 Nov 2025 | 00:46:49 | |
I love love love using sand tray therapy in family play therapy sessions! Watching how families approach and complete the activities provides a wealth of information about interaction patterns and how each family member sees the world and their family relationships. When I use sand tray activities in family play therapy sessions, I like to use activities that allow me to observe interaction patterns. As play therapists working with children in family systems, we recognize the importance of children experiencing secure attachments with parents as well as developing healthy relationships with siblings. I would even include helping children to develop healthy relationships with extended family members and family friends who are “family” in a different way. Healthy connection and support is vital for all humans, and as play therapists we have an opportunity to help our young clients develop a strong network of support with family and other important people in their lives. Using sand tray in family play therapy sessions is an awesome way to get a peek inside their family system and circle of support. Interested in getting some ideas to use sand tray in family play therapy sessions? Join me for this week's podcast! I’m sharing four of my favorite family play therapy activities using sand tray and tips for using these activities effectively. So — If you love using sand tray in play therapy like I do and you’ve been wondering how to use it effectively in family play therapy sessions, then you don’t want to miss this episode! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use Sand Tray in Family Play Therapy Sessions? | 06 Nov 2025 | 00:40:11 | |
🌪️ Family Play Therapy + Sand Tray = Chaos or Connection? Ever had a family play therapy session turn into a sand-flinging circus? 🙃 One minute it feels like magic, the next like total mayhem. The truth is—the sand tray can be one of the most powerful tools for family healing… but only if you know how to guide the process with purpose. 👉 In this week’s episode, I’ll show you how to move from chaos to clarity with 3 practical tips for using sand tray in family play therapy sessions. ✨ Discover how to set the stage so every family member feels included (without power struggles). Don’t miss this chance to level up your family play therapy game—join me live! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Conceptualize the Role of Parents in Play Therapy | 04 Sep 2025 | 00:45:41 | |
What’s one of the biggest struggles play therapists say causes them to feel anxious, incompetent, frustrated, and generally overwhelmed on a regular basis? If you guessed working with parents – winner, winner, chicken dinner! It’s one of the most common challenges I hear from play therapists. Do any of these sound familiar? “I can’t get parents to schedule a parent only session with me.” “I’m getting lots of phone calls, texts, and emails from a parent telling me all the things their child is doing and I feel pressure to fix it fast.” “I feel like parents just want to drop off their kid for me to ‘fix’ and they want things fixed yesterday.” “My client asked if their parent could join the session so I said yes and it was sooooooooo awkward. It was awful.” If you said yes to any of these then you are not alone. The underlying root of these stressful situations is a fundamental missing ingredient in your approach to play therapy. The problem is that most play therapy training doesn’t talk about how to work with parents in play therapy, especially challenging parents. If this is your struggle then join me for this weekly podcast! We’re going to tackle the question of how to conceptualize the role of parents in play therapy so you can get better engagement and stop feeling emotionally drained and frustrated. There are three key things you need to figure out that will set you up for success engaging parents as your partner in the play therapy process. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How To Talk to Parents About Difficult Issues in Play Therapy | 28 Aug 2025 | 00:41:03 | |
When I talk with play therapists about reasons they avoid having difficult conversations with parents/caregivers, here's the most common worry they tell me 👇 “What if I say something and they pull their kid from play therapy?” It can feel awful when parents terminate play therapy before real change can happen. We feel like giant failures and then start listing all the ways we failed the child (and ourselves). So, this fear is real. Sometimes parents do pull their child from play therapy prematurely and it does feel awful. Play therapists often avoid hard conversations—like naming the parent’s role in a child’s symptoms—because they don’t want to rupture the relationship or risk the parent pulling their child from play therapy. If we look a little deeper into this fear, what’s really beneath the surface? It’s often rooted in people-pleasing, imposter syndrome, or fear of being seen as “too much” or “not helpful enough.” (Ouch!) So let’s talk about it. Let’s dive right in and have a conversation so you can move beyond your fear and have those hard conversations so your clients can get real healing. Join me for this week's podcast! I’ll share four tips to help you overcome your fear and take charge with compassion and kindness to have difficult conversations and reduce the likelihood parents will pull their child from play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What is Best Practice in Play Therapy Clinical Decision-Making | 21 Aug 2025 | 00:36:15 | |
How does being trained to use a specific play therapy model influence clinical decision-making vs clinical decision-making of child/adolescent therapists using play in therapy?
Hmmmmm. What the heck does that question even mean?
Essentially clinical decision-making involves our expertise and training in a play therapy model and how play therapists engage in the decision-making process to get excellent treatment results for their clients.
Is the clinical decision-making skill level of play therapists who are trained to use specific play therapy models better than child/adolescent therapists not trained who are using play in sessions?
A study by Baker-Ericzen, Jenkins, Park, and Garland (2015) explored the quality of clinical decision-making for child/adolescent therapists who were trained in an evidence-based treatment model (EBT) versus therapists who were not.
This study, Clinical Decision-Making in Community Children’s Mental Health: Using Innovative Methods to Compare Clinicians With and Without Training in Evidence-Based Treatment, 👇🏼
Had some interesting results.
Join me for this week's podcast episode, I’ll discuss the findings of their study and how it relates to play therapy.
There are several play therapy models considered to be EBT models, so this study provides some interesting points for child and adolescent therapists to consider when working with children using play.
#playtherapy #expressiveartstherapy #sandtraytherapy #renewingheartstraining #renewingheartsconsulting #playtherapist #playtherapyaroundtheworld #internationalplaytherapy #playtherapyworks #playtherapymatters #expressivearts #childtherapy #adolescenttherapy #familytherapy #familyplaytherapy #playtherapytraining #expressiveartstherapytraining #childrensmentalhealth #adolescentmentalhealth Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Work with Resistance in Play Therapy: 4 Approaches for Reluctant Clients | 14 Aug 2025 | 00:42:56 | |
What do you do when you keep getting frantic phone calls from caregivers between play therapy sessions telling you all the things going wrong with their child? You feel the weight of these phone calls and the pressure to make everything better- quickly. You’ve tried many times to get these caregivers to schedule an appointment with you but there’s always a reason they can’t meet with you. So, you spend hours writing emails and responding to phone calls with little to no success. Or - what about the client that seems to do the same thing week after week after week in their play therapy sessions? You begin to wonder if play therapy is really working and start to second-guess your clinical decisions about what to do in sessions. You start to research new play therapy activities and frantically try anything you can in play therapy sessions - hoping that something will “work.” Sound familiar? Working with challenging cases in play therapy can leave you feeling defeated, frustrated, and wondering if you’re making the right decisions or making things worse for your clients. If that’s you, then join me for this weekly podcast! I’ll discuss how to engage children and caregivers who are resistant to play therapy. I’ll share insights from neuroscience and attachment theory that provide the keys for engaging even the most challenging clients and their caregivers in play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Avoid Burnout and Create Meaningful Change in Play Therapy | 07 Aug 2025 | 00:46:31 | |
Have you ever thought to yourself when it’s just you and you’ve had a hard day - “I wish I had someone to help me process what just happened in that play therapy session.” If you’re like most play therapists that I’ve met, you’re probably the only one in your agency or group that works with kids and uses play therapy (or is aspiring to learn play therapy). Being a play therapist can feel lonely and challenging because you don’t have others who “get it” about the benefits of play therapy or who feel confident using play therapy with their young clients. And - what you’re doing matters! Helping children access the therapeutic powers of play is a critical need in the mental health field. Your ability to intervene early in the life of a child to help them overcome the social and emotional difficulties they’re experiencing is important. And you believe strongly in the importance of helping children heal - right?! Being part of a play therapy community of like-minded mental health professionals is not a luxury - it’s a game changer, even for seasoned play therapists! So, if you’ve been feeling like you’re on a play therapy island by yourself and wondering why being part of a play therapy community can make a difference in the quality of your play therapy services, 👇 Then join me for this free weekly podcast! I’m going to outline three game changing reasons why being part of a play therapy community can actually help you provide more impactful and lasting healing for your play therapy clients. Who doesn’t want to provide the best possible play therapy services for children, right?! So join me this week and let’s make a difference in the lives of children and their families. Let’s do this! 😍 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Why Collecting More Play Therapy Activities Is Keeping You Stuck (And What Actually Creates Client Breakthroughs)" | 31 Jul 2025 | 00:41:39 | |
If you’re a play therapist - Do you find yourself doing any of these? 👇 🙄 Constantly searching for new activities online 🙄 Have folders full of saved play therapy interventions 🙄 Still feeling uncertain about client progress 🙄 Wondering why 'perfect' activities aren't creating lasting change If you're like most play therapists I know, you probably have folders of saved play therapy activities, Pinterest boards full of ideas, and a bookshelf overflowing with play therapy books. Sound familiar? And you might be thinking that finding the perfect activity is the key to helping your clients make progress. After all, that's what everyone seems to be searching for online, right? And Dr. Google’s new AI feature is amazing! You can get answers to your play therapy questions instantly! But if finding the right activity online or in a play therapy book was the solution then you probably wouldn’t be second-guessing your decisions or feeling like nothing is working. That’s why in this week’s episode, I'm sharing: ✨ The hidden reason why collecting more activities isn't the answer (this might surprise you) ✨ What actually creates breakthrough moments with clients (hint: it's not what most experts tell you) ✨ The key shift that helped our community members stop second-guessing their interventions ✨ A practical framework for building unshakeable clinical confidence Join me for this free weekly podcast! Save this post and set a reminder - this is for you if you're ready to move beyond collecting random activities and start creating real transformation for your clients. Drop a '🎯' below if you'll be joining us live!" Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How To Tell If Clients Are Just Playing in Play Therapy | 24 Jul 2025 | 00:47:10 | |
Is this just a flower… or a window into healing using play therapy? How do you know if your client is ‘just playing’ or doing deep therapeutic work in play therapy sessions? Ever stared at a child’s drawing of a flower and thought: You’re not alone. As play therapists, we’re trained to honor the child’s process—but let’s be real: There are times when it’s hard to tell the difference between meaningful play and… filler. In this week’s podcast episode, I’m cracking open the essential (and often misunderstood) question: 👉🏽 How do you know if your client is doing healing work—or just doing an activity in play therapy sessions? We’ll explore:
Whether you’re brand new to play therapy or you’ve logged hundreds of play therapy sessions, this convo will sharpen your clinical lens—and help you show up with more clarity and confidence. Because knowing how to see beneath the surface? That’s where the healing begins. 💛 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Are the Benefits of Play Therapy with Traumatized Kids? | 17 Jul 2025 | 00:46:06 | |
Have you ever thought to yourself - I have no idea how play therapy actually helps my traumatized client heal? Then I’ve got good news for you! ✨ This week’s livestream episode is focused on the hidden healing power of play therapy for traumatized children. What if a pile of toys, a safe room, and a listening heart could help rewire a child’s nervous system? In this week’s free livestream episode, I’m peeling back the curtain on something profound—how play becomes the language of healing for children who’ve lived through trauma. I’ll explore how play therapy doesn’t just help children "calm down"—it teaches their brains how to regulate. How a child picking up a puppet or placing a figure in the sand isn’t random—it’s restoration in motion. Join us as we talk about:
Whether you're a play therapist, mental health provider, or someone who believes in the power of play—this episode will leave you inspired, grounded, and full of fresh insight. Bring your coffee. Bring your curiosity. Let’s talk about what actually heals. Because play is never just play—it’s transformation, one brave session at a time. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Is There a Best Approach for Play Therapy with Traumatized Kids? | 10 Jul 2025 | 00:44:01 | |
There is no such thing as the best approach for play therapy with traumatized kids. What????!!!! 😱 Searching for the ONE approach that will heal ALL your traumatized clients and is BETTER THAN all the play therapy models existing today is an exercise in frustration, overwhelm, and exhaustion. I know what you’re thinking 👇 If that’s the case, then how do you help your traumatized clients heal using play therapy? There are a few things to consider when using play therapy to help children and teens heal. Not all play therapists are the same and not all children and teens are the same. For that matter - not all caregivers are the same. Let’s look at this a different way and ask a different question: How can you help your traumatized clients heal using play therapy? This question opens up all kinds of possibilities. Join me for this week’s free weekly Podcast to discuss how to use play therapy to heal trauma. I’ll discuss basic components of play therapy for healing trauma and suggestions for how to use play therapy to help your traumatized clients heal. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use Play Therapy Interventions to Get Great Results in Play Therapy | 03 Jul 2025 | 00:42:43 | |
Ever felt like your playroom is bursting with supplies… You’ve got the latest toy, fidget, slime, sand tray miniature, art supplies … But you still leave sessions wondering what to do next? Or maybe you've bought that activity you saw on Instagram… only to realize it doesn't really fit how you work? (Been there … done that) You’re not alone. Today we’re breaking down the secret to building a play therapy toolbox that’s not just full—but fully aligned with your theoretical play therapy model and the unique needs of your clients. Let’s ditch the overwhelm and go for intentionality. Here’s the truth: Having a thousand toys and art supplies doesn’t make you a better play therapist. When your tools are rooted in your play therapy model, your goals, and the child’s needs… the magic happens. So - join me for this free weekly podcast! I’m going to walk you through strategies to make sure you’re getting the best results for your play therapy clients by using intentionality to align your play therapy activities with your play therapy model. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| 3 Common Mistakes Using Family Play Therapy (And What to Do Instead) | 30 Oct 2025 | 00:45:30 | |
3 Hidden Mistakes Sabotaging Your Family Play Therapy Sessions “Let’s invite the parents in…” Sounds simple, right? But if you’ve ever had a family play therapy session dissolve into chaos—or worse, sit in painful silence—you know it’s anything but simple. Here’s the secret nobody tells you: those messy moments aren’t proof you failed. They’re actually your biggest opportunities for healing. In this week’s podcast, you’ll discover: Stop white-knuckling your way through family sessions. Start leading them with clarity, purpose, and impact. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Make Progress in Play Therapy When You’re Feeling Stuck | 26 Jun 2025 | 00:39:09 | |
Have you ever felt like your client doesn’t seem to be making progress and you’ve tried everything to get back on track? You looked through all your play therapy activity books and resources to find an activity that will work. You looked on Pinterest and scoured the internet for ideas. You tried implementing ideas from the recent training you attended with limited success. You tried talking to your supervisor and colleagues to get ideas but nothing seemed to work because they don’t use play therapy and weren’t much help other than to try to cheer you on for morale support. Let’s say you’re stuck in a loop of “I don’t know if this is helping.” It feels awful to think you’re failing your client. If that’s you, then don’t miss this week’s free weekly podcast! I’m going to share 4 tips for what to do when you’re not sure play therapy is working for your client and how to get unstuck when you feel like nothing is working. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Tell If Play Therapy Is Working by These 5 Signs | 19 Jun 2025 | 00:48:16 | |
We’re diving into a question that lives rent-free in the minds of even the most seasoned play therapists: “Is this actually working?” If you’ve ever left a session wondering if you’re making a difference… or if your client just built a Lego spaceship and peace’d out… you’re so not alone. This week we’re going to explore the real signs that play therapy is working—even when you can’t always see the change yet. We live in a world that loves quick fixes and measurable results. But healing through play isn’t always linear. Sometimes it looks like a breakthrough.
So let’s bust the myth that progress = constant smiling and textbook style play therapy sessions where everything goes perfectly as planned. Instead, let’s talk about the subtle, powerful signs that healing is happening under the surface. Join me for this free weekly podcast! I’m going to discuss five things that will let you know that play therapy is working for your clients so you can stop second-guessing yourself. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| 5 Mistakes Every Play Therapist Makes (And How to Grow from Them) | 12 Jun 2025 | 00:48:13 | |
Have you ever had the sinking feeling after a session and thought you blew it bad? If that’s ever been you… welcome to the club. And guess what? You’re in exactly the right place. This week we’re diving into something that might make you wince and exhale a huge sigh of relief at the same time. We’re talking about the honest, human, messy mistakes play therapists make—and what we can actually do about them. Because let’s be real: we’ve all had those moments where we left a session thinking:
Or the classic: “I forgot to write the dang progress note again.” If that’s you, then join me for this free weekly Podcast! I’ll discuss 5 mistakes all play therapists make at one time or another in their play therapy career and how to use these experiences to grow so you can make a real difference in the lives of children and their families. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Do You Create a Sacred Space in Play Therapy for Healing? | 05 Jun 2025 | 00:45:31 | |
When I first heard the term “wounded healer” I wasn’t sure it was a good thing. I pictured in my head some of the people I’ve come across in the mental health community who caused me to be concerned about their ability to be stable and support clients effectively. To be honest, even saying that outside my head (and written down here) sounds really judgy. 🙄 Afterall, I’ve overcome a lot of trauma and attachment wounds passed down through the generations in my family. I mean really - who am I to judge? So that concept of “wounded healer” intrigued me. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? I remember the first time I heard the term during a sand tray training I was taking with one of my favorite sand tray therapy trainers. I heard her refer to therapists as “wounded healers.” It went right to the core of my being. I was struck by the resilience aspect of overcoming past trauma and generations of family woundedness. What was once a source of great pain can become a source of great healing for myself as well as my clients and their families. But - what does that mean and how do we make sure to be a source of healing and not a barrier to healing for our clients? As play therapists - when we embark on the sacred journey of healing, how do we hold space for transformation for our clients? Well - that’s exactly what I’m talking about in this week’s podcast episode: How To Create a Sacred Space for Healing in Play Therapy Yep! I’m going there. I’m not going to lie - I feel a little bit exposed putting this topic out there in the internet universe. These are conversations I usually have in small private meetings with play therapists in my consultation groups. Nice and safe in a protected space. Here’s the thing - when we have these discussions in my consultation groups - they are pure gold! So powerful! To witness our ability as wounded healers to transform our own lives and then be able to hold a sacred space for healing in play therapy when done well is nothing short of beautiful. (to be honest - I’m tearing up right now writing this as I remember how beautiful it has been to be a witness to healing.) So, I decided it’s time to talk about this topic in my podcast play therapy community with you. Let’s do this. Let’s talk about it and make sure we’re holding a safe and sacred space in a healthy and healing way for our play therapy clients as wounded healers who have been transformed so we can show them and their families the way to healing with strength and compassion. So - check out this week’s podcast episode! How To Create a Sacred Space for Healing in Play Therapy Will you do me a big favor? Will you leave a review on Apple podcast if you find the podcast episodes helpful? It’s so helpful to get feedback to make sure the information is useful. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What Does It Mean to Create a Sacred Space for Children in Play Therapy? | 29 May 2025 | 00:39:54 | |
We often hear the notion of the play therapy process and the need to hold a sacred space for healing in play therapy. But, what the heck does that mean? Can play therapists provide a space for healing with a lens of spirituality? Are we allowed to talk about it? The notion of spirituality and religion are often considered the same thing, but I don’t think they are. I think spirituality is much broader than religion, and they’re often connected - for better and for worse. What does this mean for play therapists who work with a variety of clients who come from a variety of backgrounds including their beliefs about spirituality and how that shows up in the treatment process? And what about a play therapist’s own beliefs about spirituality? I’ve often heard play therapists refer to becoming a play therapist as a calling and not just a job. How do play therapists hold the notion of entering into a sacred space for healing in the playroom as part of their calling while also navigating the ethics of this process? (I know - I said the scary word: ethics 😆) Join me for this free weekly podcast! Because that’s exactly what I’m going to talk about this week. Yep! Let’s do this. Let’s talk about it. Let’s explore what it means to provide a sacred space for healing in play therapy. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Tips to Recognize Themes in Play Therapy with Traumatized Children | 22 May 2025 | 00:39:31 | |
Recognizing themes in play therapy sessions is an important part of being a play therapist because it influences how you make sense of what your client is communicating and what you do in sessions. I remember when I was learning how to use play therapy early in my career and hearing about the importance of recognizing themes in play therapy sessions. It felt like an impossible task - trying to figure out if I was actually observing a “theme” in my clients’ sessions or if I was just making 💩 up in my head. I remember stressing about it at times. To be honest, there are times I’m still not really sure and I remind myself to trust the process and see where the play therapy journey leads my client and I. Recognizing themes in play therapy is important but it’s not the only thing that matters. I mean - you can focus sooooooo much on getting it right that you miss the mark to create a safe environment and being fully present in the sessions to hold space for healing. So, what’s a play therapist to do? Well, think about play therapy as learning how to listen deeply in sessions so you can tune into what is being communicated. Like you do when talking with parents or maybe your adult clients. We learn to listen deeply to what is being communicated (not necessarily the actual words being spoken). Play therapists “listen” deeply to what is being communicated through children’s play during play therapy sessions, including when working with traumatized children. It’s like learning a whole new language - what are your clients communicating through their play and how do you respond and engage with them in “conversation without making things worse?” Learning to understand children’s play behaviors and what is being “communicated” during play therapy sessions about their traumatic experience is an important part of working with traumatized children. That’s what I’ll be discussing in this week’s podcast episode. I’ll discuss tips for identifying play therapy themes in sessions and common play therapy themes you may observe in your play therapy sessions with clients. So, hop on over to wherever you listen to podcasts and have a listen. And I’d love it if you would do me a big favor and leave a review. It’s always nice to get feedback to make sure these podcast episodes help you on your play therapy journey. And - send me a message on Instagram (@renewingheartstraining) about the episode! I love hearing from you - and yes- I do respond to your messages. 🤓 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| 3 Favorite Play Therapy Activities to Use with Traumatized Children & Teens | 15 May 2025 | 00:44:25 | |
Let’s get creative! Play therapy activity ideas to help traumatized children and teens heal If you’re a play therapist or child/adolescent therapist, then you’re probably always thinking about play therapy activities to use with your clients. I’ve never met a play therapist who didn’t love learning new play therapy activities. We’re like moths drawn to light when it comes to finding play therapy activities. 🤣 One of the things I love about being a play therapist is the creativity of play therapy (and the second thing is actually using them with clients and having fun) Want to learn some of my favorite play therapy activities I use with children who have experienced trauma? Join me for this free weekly podcast! This week I’ll share three of my FAVORITE play therapy activities for exploring the connection between emotions and body as well as exploring anger and dealing with negative self-talk that comes with the impact of trauma. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Tips for Maximizing Results Using Play Therapy to Heal Trauma | 08 May 2025 | 00:41:51 | |
Learning more play therapy activities isn’t enough to help children heal. If you talk to the experts in the field of any mental health discipline, you’ll likely get very different answers about what is the most effective way to help clients heal from trauma. This is true in play therapy as well. There are a few things that are true across most play therapy models when working with trauma. One big mistake often made by play therapists is over focusing on getting the “right” play therapy activities to use in sessions. This usually results in feeling more confused and overwhelmed when your client isn’t making progress and you’re getting frantic calls from caregivers about all the things that aren’t going well. So what really makes a difference to get the best results for your traumatized clients using play therapy? Join me for this free weekly podcast! I’ll break down the benefits for using a play therapy framework that’s grounded in a theoretical model within the context of a safe therapeutic relationship. We’ll examine why simply learning more play therapy activities won’t get you the results you want for your clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Use an Integrative Play Therapy Model with Traumatized Children & Teens | 01 May 2025 | 00:47:17 | |
What’s the best approach to using play therapy with traumatized children and teens? If you’re a play therapist or child/adolescent mental health professional, then you probably have clients on your caseload who have experienced trauma. The thing about experiencing trauma is that it’s unique to each child and adolescent. While there are definitely similar issues to address at the heart of the treatment process, individualizing your approach to fit each client is important to ensure deep healing. So, what’s a play therapist to do? Is there a play therapy approach that meets the unique needs of each client for healing? This week I’m discussing a play therapy model that gets to the heart of healing trauma with children and teens using the wisdom of neuroscience and attachment theory. So don’t miss it and join the conversation! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Connection Between Childhood Trauma and Adolescent Suicidality? | 24 Apr 2025 | 00:41:56 | |
Is there a connection between suicide ideation in adolescence for children who have experienced trauma? We know from the research that trauma has a significant negative impact on children that can contribute to mental health issues into adolescence and adulthood. So, it would make sense that trauma would have a profound impact on adolescents if left unhealed. To get a little technical (hang in there with me) - research has shown that childhood trauma can impact cortisol responses to stress and the development of a well-functioning HPA Axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis). The thing to remember here is that an optimal way of functioning is for our body to be in a state of homeostasis (balance) and our body is constantly making adjustments to achieve homeostasis. What the heck does all this have to do with the connection between childhood trauma and adolescent suicide? Well, I went down the research rabbit hole again in preparation for my upcoming play therapy training about healing trauma. (I like to stay up to date with the latest research for my trainings 🤓) I discovered a few interesting things about the body’s response to trauma and its connection to adolescent suicidality. Since I love using a neuroscience and attachment lens when conceptualizing the roots of the problems experienced by children and teens, 👇 I looked at the latest research about childhood trauma and found an interesting study about childhood trauma and adolescent suicidality. Want to know what I found? Join me for this free weekly podcast!I’ll discuss what research says about childhood trauma and its connection to mental health issues, specifically from a neuroscience standpoint about how trauma impacts the body’s stress response. I’ll also discuss how this is relevant for play therapists using play therapy to help young clients heal. Citation for Research Articles: Goltser-Dubner, T., Benarroch, F., Lavon, M., Amer, R., Canetti, Giesser, R., Kianski, E., Martin, J., Pevzner, D., Weinberg, B., Ben-Ari, A., Bar-Nitsan, M., Alon, S., Yshai, S., Lotan, J., GAlili-Weisstub, Segman, R., and Shalev, A. (2025). Childhood trauma cortisol and immune cell glucocorticoid transcript levels are associated with increased risk for suicidality in adolescence. Molecular Psychiatry, published online February 24, 2025. www.nature.com/mp Buena, I. M., Szentagotai-Tatar, A., and Mui, A. C. (2017). Early-life adversity and cortisol response to social stress: A meta-analysis. Translational Psychiatry, 20177:1274. doi.10.1038/s41398-017-0032-3 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Why Parent Updates Alone Can’t Fix Stalled Play Therapy Progress | 23 Oct 2025 | 00:44:43 | |
🚨 The Big Miss in Traditional Play Therapy (And Why It’s Holding Back Progress) We talk a lot about helping kids heal using play therapy… But here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud: Most traditional play therapy approaches treat the child like they exist in a vacuum. 👀 Reality check: What kid do you know is paying their own rent, making their own dinner, and handling life without family dynamics shaping them every single day? Exactly. None. Families are the ecosystem kids live in. Every belief, every meltdown, every bedtime battle—it’s all influenced by the way their family dances together (or doesn’t). And yet… we often work with kids alone, peeking at the family system through the keyhole of second-hand parent reports. No wonder some problems keep coming back no matter how many play therapy tools we throw at them. If you’ve ever wondered – What am I missing? – when progress stalls, you need to be here.
Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| 5 Components to Create a Safe Space for Healing Trauma in Play Therapy | 17 Apr 2025 | 00:47:09 | |
The last several years of neuroscience research has shown mental health professionals how to better understand the role of autonomic nervous system and interpersonal neurobiology. It’s provided a wealth of information to understand the importance of creating a safe healing space for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma. Children cannot establish a connection with play therapists unless they first experience safety within the therapeutic relationship and in the playroom. How do you help children activate their social engagement circuits so they can engage in the play therapy change process? Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll share five components that will ensure children deactivate their threat circuits and activate their social engagement circuits so they can access the therapeutic power of play. That’s where the magic happens, so creating a safe therapeutic space is critical for play therapy to be successful. So, don’t miss this week’s episode! Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Play Therapy with Children & Teens Experiencing Eating Problems | 10 Apr 2025 | 00:47:56 | |
Have you ever had a client present to your office and you were kind of stumped about what to do? Me too. I’ve totally been there. The thing that helped me to make sure I was doing my best to help my client was having a good network of colleagues and mentors to share their knowledge and resources. That’s exactly why I’m soooooooooo excited about my guest this week - Leah Evans, LPC, RPT. Leah is part of our Play Therapy Academy community and regularly shares her knowledge about using play therapy with children experiencing problematic eating. Interested in learning more about play therapy with children experiencing eating challenges? Join me for this free weekly podcast! Leah and I will discuss signs to recognize a potential eating problem in children and teens as well as how play therapy can help. For more information about Leah Evans, check out her Psychology Today profile at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/leah-m-evans-san-antonio-tx/899627 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Does Case Conceptualization Matter in Play Therapy? | 03 Apr 2025 | 00:42:07 | |
I’ve heard it said by mental health professionals and play therapists that case conceptualization doesn’t really matter when you’re working with clients. When I dig a little deeper about their reasons, the response that I get is that play therapy and counseling is intuitive and it’s about building a strong relationship with clients. When I challenge them a little, most of the time they are using case conceptualization to inform their decision making and don’t realize it. My thought is that being more intentional about case conceptualization and how it helps provide excellent play therapy services to clients can only be a good thing. Are you using case conceptualization to inform your decision-making about what to do with clients? Does it really matter if you’re using case conceptualization? Join me for this free weekly podcast! I’ll discuss what is case conceptualization and how you can use it to maximize healing for your play therapy clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Role of Parents in Play Therapy? | 27 Mar 2025 | 00:42:22 | |
Boost Parental Involvement in Play Therapy with Attachment & Neuroscience Strategies If you’re a play therapist or child/adolescent therapist, then you know children exist within the context of a family and parental involvement in the treatment process is important. But do you view parents as the therapeutic agents of change for their child? As the therapeutic agent of change for their child, parents play a critical role in the play therapy change process for co-regulation to help their children use their parents to navigate the day-to-day challenges of everyday living. If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to involve parents, it’s probably because you’re not sure how to include parents in the change process or maybe you’ve struggle with getting parents to be involved consistently and in a meaningful way. We also know from decades of research that children who have secure relationships with their parents are resilient and have a healthy sense of self. If you’re struggling with engaging parents in the play therapy change process then join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss how you can maximize positive outcomes in play therapy for your clients by getting better engagement from parents. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How Play Therapists Can Avoid Burnout | 20 Mar 2025 | 00:47:12 | |
As play therapists, we are often the ones who sit with stories of pain, loss, and struggle—walking alongside our clients during their toughest moments. But let’s face it: hearing these stories day after day can take its toll on even the most seasoned therapists. How do we keep our hearts open and our spirits strong while "holding hard things"? ✨ One of my favorite concepts is that of the "wounded healer." It acknowledges that we, too, have faced challenges and overcome our own struggles, which allows us to offer authentic and transformative healing to others. But it also means we need to be vigilant about our own self-care, nurturing the healer within so that we can continue to show up fully for our clients. Join me for a FREE weekly Podcast, I’ll share tips and strategies I’ve learned over my 30+ years in the mental health field on finding balance and sustaining your energy as a play therapist. Let's connect, reflect, and support one another in this vital work we do for children and their families. 💙 Don’t miss this opportunity to recharge and refocus so you can keep doing what you do best—helping others heal. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Want to Be Part of a Play Therapy Community? | 13 Mar 2025 | 00:30:58 | |
Are you part of a play therapy community? I’m going to share my ideas for what this community might look like and I’d LOVE your ideas. So join me this week and let’s explore the endless possibilities for creating a community of play therapists who thrive and make an impact healing children heal. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Develop Culturally-Informed Play Therapy Case Conceptualization | 06 Mar 2025 | 00:43:38 | |
How good are you at identifying the role of culture in the problems your clients are experiencing? Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Get Great Results in Play Therapy | 27 Feb 2025 | 00:38:27 | |
What does clinical case conceptualization in play therapy mean and does it really matter? 🙄 Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| How to Write Great Play Therapy Documentation Quickly and Easily | 20 Feb 2025 | 00:35:47 | |
What’s your least favorite part about providing play therapy services to your clients? Let me tune into my mind reading skills to read your mind 💭- documentation, right? Over the last 30 years in the child and adolescent mental health field, I’ve never met a therapist who says they love writing progress notes, treatment plans, and psychosocial assessments as much as or more than working with clients in sessions. What I have learned over the last 30+ years is HOW to write progress notes, treatment plans, and psychosocial assessments using a process that helps me get it done quickly and in a way that’s actually useful. The key is learning these simple strategies to give you a framework so your documentation looks professional, meets agency and insurance standards, and shows the story of your client’s journey in play therapy. Join me for this weekly podcast, I’m going to walk you through the process of how you can make your play therapy documentation sound professional, meet agency and insurance standards, and help you get the best results for your clients without wasting hours agonizing over it. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Why do you need strong Case Conceptualization skills for play therapy? | 13 Feb 2025 | 00:34:06 | |
Most therapists I talk with, including play therapists, want to get straight to helping their clients during the very first session so they skip the detailed information gathering needed for a thorough assessment. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Play Therapy with Parents | 5 Essential Tips for Family Play Therapy Sessions | 16 Oct 2025 | 00:41:10 | |
🚨 5 Signs You Might Be Accidentally Sabotaging Your Play Therapy Progress (and What to Do Instead) If you’re a play therapist who’s tired of getting those frantic mid-week parent calls, texts, or emails saying “nothing is working”—even though you see real progress in the playroom—this week’s free livestream is for you. Here’s the hard truth: sometimes our best play therapy efforts fall flat outside our offices. Parents get frustrated. Kids feel misunderstood. And you end up buried under play therapy session notes, parent updates with phone calls/texts/emails, and endless questions… while the transformation you know is possible never fully takes root at home or school. Leaving you feeling like you’re missing something but can’t quite figure it out. What’s a play therapist to do? In this podcast episode, we’ll unpack the 5 signs you may be sabotaging your client’s progress without even realizing it—like relying too much on parent reports, or missing the chance to see family dynamics play out in real-time. Then I’ll show you exactly what to do instead so you can stop guessing what’s happening outside the playroom and start watching your clients and their families heal right in front of you. Expect a fresh perspective, some “ouch” moments (in a good way), and practical steps to shift your sessions from just play to powerful, family-centered transformation. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What skills are needed to be a play therapist? | 06 Feb 2025 | 00:37:05 | |
What does it mean to be a play therapist and what skills are needed to provide play therapy? Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What is Bias in Play Therapy? | 30 Jan 2025 | 00:40:43 | |
Mental health professionals are human beings who bring all of themselves into the counseling process to walk alongside their clients in the healing process. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| 4 Basic Skills for Play Therapists | 23 Jan 2025 | 00:37:45 | |
What are the four basic play therapy skills every play therapist needs to master to competently provide play therapy that gets real results for your clients? Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| What’s the Backbone of Great Play & Expressive Arts Therapy? | 16 Jan 2025 | 00:39:48 | |
What’s the Backbone of Great Play & Expressive Arts Therapy? Any really great therapist will tell you that one the foundational elements of providing excellent psychotherapy to clients is … … Clinical Case Conceptualization. Are you having flashbacks to graduate school and rolling your eyes at me as you read this? Hang in there a minute. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE , LOVE clinical case conceptualization. It's like being a psychotherapy detective (yes, that's my guilty pleasure - watching detective shows). I love a good "who dunnit." As a psychotherapy super sleuth, you go on an investigation to figure out what is going on underneath those symptoms and how to help your clients get better. Here’s why it’s the backbone… (full disclosure – I’m passionate about this because I see it go wrong so often) it’s the way in which you conceptualize what’s going on with your clients and then formulate a plan to help your clients overcome the problem they were seeking you to help them resolve. The same is true for play therapy and expressive arts. How you conceptualize the presenting problem determines how you plan to help your client overcome it. So you need to be a good psychotherapy super sleuth! Join me for this week's podcast episode, I’ll be discussing what is clinical case conceptualization, tips for getting it right, and what happens if you get it wrong so that you can provide excellent play therapy and expressive arts treatment for your clients. Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground. | |||
| Clinical Decision-Making in Play Therapy: What’s in Your Toolbox? | 09 Jan 2025 | 00:31:25 | |
What are the clinical tools in your play therapy and expressive arts toolbox and how do you use those tools effectively with your young clients? 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. | |||
| 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. | |||
| Is Individual Play Therapy Better Than Family Play Therapy? | 10 Oct 2025 | 00:43:58 | |
The norm in play therapy, and the mental health profession in general, is to meet with a child or teen every week for individual counseling sessions and meet with parents as an adjunct to treatment. This format has been around for decades and is the approach taught in most universities. I’ve always been a believer that this isn’t the best way to help children heal. Don’t get me wrong – individual play therapy counseling is beneficial and I use it with my clients. Individual counseling allows the ability to provide a space where children and teens can have your undivided attention and support. Who doesn’t love that, right?! However, if play therapists only conceptualize the individual child then they miss out on influential dynamics impacting the child’s everyday life. I’m referring to conceptualizing the child within the context of their larger family system and the influence of generational family dynamics on children. (Can I hear an Amen! from my marriage & family therapy peeps?!) Family play therapy sessions allow play therapists to see in real time the relationship interaction patterns among children and their family members. What’s the saying? – No man is an island unto himself. We are all influenced by and influence our family members through the generations. So – which is best – individual play therapy or family play therapy? I’ll be discussing the benefits and drawbacks of individual play therapy and family play therapy. Spoiler alert – I’m not an either-or kind of person generally speaking. Grab your coffee, tea, or other beverage and join us for this week’s episode and share the information with your colleagues! 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. | |||
| 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. | |||