Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop will teach Play Therapists 4-steps to end their therapeutic relationships in a planned and sensitive manner using play therapy interventions that build resilience and foster hope with youth of all ages, including high-risk adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the 4-steps of a successful termination so that the play therapy relationship ends in a planned, sensitive manner.
• Utilize at least 12 creative, developmentally and culturally sensitive play therapy interventions that enhance resiliency and strengthen protective assets during termination with children and adolescents.
• Integrate grief work, interpersonal neurobiology and trauma theory to cultivate a deeper understanding for how to leverage the ending of the play therapy relationship to bring healing to a traumatized client.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop will lead participants through the alphabet of books and play therapy techniques. Twenty-six books and tailored play-based interventions will be introduced as we sing, dance, read, and play…A to Z!

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the benefits of using bibliotherapy with children, and of incorporating bibilotherapy with other play therapy techniques in their therapeutic practice.
• Discuss a variety of children’s books that address a wide range of social, emotional, developmental, and familial topics.
• Identify various play therapy techniques and interventions that are related to each book presented.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop will provide strategies for using the combined modalities of art and play therapy for short-term trauma resolution. A structured ten-week group therapy for treating trauma in childhood will be outlined with clear therapeutic goals for each group session.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the evidence-based rationale for using art in play therapy for the treatment of trauma.
• Identify at least three of the essential components of using art in play therapy to assist children in creating and expressing a coherent narrative of traumatic experiences.
• Articulate at least three therapeutic objectives for combining art and play therapy in the treatment of trauma including the potential benefits and/or limitations (e.g., ethical considerations).

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Lets be honest, finding ways to integrate play therapy techniques with pre-teens and teens can just feel completely “awkward”. Come learn how to navigate the therapy landscape with our clients who are no longer children, but also not quite yet adults.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify when it might be helpful to apply non-directive and directive play therapy interventions with pre-teens and teens.
• Discuss the importance of assessing the pre-teen or teen's emotional age in the play therapy process.
• Identify the most important goal when applying play therapy to your work with pre-teens and teens.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop will focus on the use of family and group Theraplay, an attachment enhancing model of play therapy, in reducing aggressive behavior and raising the self-esteem of children across the age span from preschoolers to adolescents.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate the history, theory and research related to Theraplay.
• Describe the four underlying dimensions of Theraplay and some related Theraplay activities.
• List applications in helping behavior disordered children control and diminish their aggression and raise their self-esteem.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This presentation focuses on various play therapy approaches that are effective in working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who are considered "lower functioning", non-verbal, or non-responsive. Research overview and specific implementation of approaches will be covered.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify three play therapy approaches that can be effectively used with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who are lower functioning.
• Identify two special considerations in regard to meeting the unique challenges that this population presents in play therapy.
• Describe how to incorporate parents and other family members into the treatment process.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Using drawings in assessment and therapy is controversial. Understanding the strengths and limitations of drawings can help play therapists make decisions regarding how to employ these techniques ethically and in culturally-sensitive ways in their play therapy practice. Presentation will include discussion, examples, and experiential learning.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify the strengths and limitations of using drawings in your clinical, play therapy practice.
• Describe how to ethically employ drawings for assessment and practice in play therapy.
• Identify and use different types of drawings in individual and family play therapy sessions.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Bullying may be overt or covert and the child being bullied generally experiences a pattern of repeated traumatizations. As such, bullying should be conceptualized and treated as a complex, developmental trauma and addressed with neurobiologically-informed Play Therapy.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the characteristics of complex and/or developmental trauma and neurobiological changes associated with complex trauma (viz., bullying).
• Understand what is meant by "neurobiologically-informed Play Therapy".
• Identify and utilize basic, neurobiologically-informed, Play Therapy.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This presentation will discuss how structured play therapy techniques can be used with kids who self-injure. The participants will gain an understanding of the purpose of self-injurious behavior, as well as ways to address challenging family dynamics and psychosocial issues.

Learning Objectives:

• Demonstrate 3 structured play therapy techniques that can be useful in establishing rapport with a resistant child.
• Describe 4 goals associated with self-injurious acts.
• Identify 3 psychosocial stressors that may be present among kids who self-injure.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This presentation focuses on directive play therapy interventions that can be implemented to identify and decrease dysregulation issues, teach self regulation strategies, and improve relaxation in children and adolescents with diagnoses that typically create dysregulation.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how dysregulation manifests in children and adolescents.
• Identify two mental health conditions that typically create dysregulation struggles for children.
• Identify two directive play therapy interventions that can be used to treat dysregulation.

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics