Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

If you are a practicing play therapist, chances are you treat bullies and/or their victims. This workshop will look at the dynamics of this problem and equip play therapists with a myriad of tools to use with the victim, the bully and the bystander. Special attention will be given to the clean-up process when bullying leads to tragedy.

Learning Objectives:

• Delineate gender differences in the way that boys and girls bully
• List five play therapy interventions geared for victims of bullying
• List five play therapy interventions designed for bullies

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

*Supervision Training

This workshop will present content and activities focused on the complex process of supervision in play therapy by examining aspects of countertransference in the supervisory relationship. These issues may be due to client issues or relational dynamics between professionals.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify factors which make play therapy supervision a complicated process
• Identify types of countertransference which may exist in play therapy with children
• Identify countertransference roles they may experience as therapist and/or supervisor
• Identify how these roles may impact the supervisory process

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Come learn about the unique symptoms and themes that many adopted children present in the play room. A special emphasis will be given to understanding attachment and neuro-biological processes such as regulation and dys-regulation in the play therapy process.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the impact that adoption can have on a child's emotional and psychological development and how these issues can show up in play therapy
• Discuss the importance of addressing lower brain center functioning to resolve trauma in the play therapy process
• Analyze the play therapist's role in healing attachment issues

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Symptoms and behaviors commonly seen in sexually reactive children will be explored, along with the unique characteristics of juvenile perpetrators versus sexually reactive children. Play therapy techniques specific to this population will be explored.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify age appropriate sexual exploration in comparison to the sexually reactive child
• Identify play behaviors that represent the sexually reactive child
• Differentiate between a sexually reactive child and a sex offender
• Participate in play therapy techniques to utilize with the sexually reactive child

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Learn inventive-kinesthetic-visual-projective-expressive-play therapy techniques inspired by adolescents. Focus includes many teen challenges: substance abuse, relationships, body image, sexuality and identity development. Play therapy strategies to assess, engage and build relationships. Acquire adaptations to address developmental levels groups and schools settings.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate three reasons play therapy is a viable modality to use with adolescent clients
• Identify the primary developmental tasks of adolescence
• Demonstrate a specific play therapy techniques to use during the assessment stage with resistant adolescents
• Describe two engaging play therapy techniques that work with resistant adolescents

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

In this dynamic point/counter point conversation, we will explore potential applications of technology in the field play room.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the practical clinical uses of technology in the playroom
• Appreciate the possible legal and ethical issues involving the use of technology in the playroom
• Develop awareness of the potentially detrimental uses of technology in and outside of the playroom

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Exploration of the rationale for group play therapy, selecting group members, play therapist role, unique problems, and limit setting. DVD clips will show what the process looks like with a group of 4 children, siblings, and interventions in aggressive behavior.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe three reasons for using group play therapy
• Describe what children are recommended for group play therapy
• Describe the basic role functions of the group play therapist
• Describe when the group play therapist should intervene in aggressive behavior

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

When foster and adoptive families enter play therapy treatment they are exhausted and discouraged. Participants will delve into the current models for treating these families and engage in frank discussion, and perhaps healthy debate, about what works and what doesn’t.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe a pattern of cue/miscue behavior in an attachment disturbed dyad
• List three intervention models currently in use to treat attachment disturbed families
• Describe the potential dangers of ignoring and time outs with attachment disturbed children
• List one aspect of traditional parenting practices and how this must be done differently with a child who presents with the neurochemistry of fear

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

The workshop is designed to provide play therapists with a foundation for understanding basic neurobiology, neurotransmitters, and how medications impact play therapy. Play therapist will be introduced to neurotransmitter pathways and brain areas involved in medication effects and subsequent behaviors.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe basic neurobiology, neurotransmitters, and the site of medication effect
• Identify different types of psychopharmacological agents and their mechanisms of action
• Identify how the beneficial effects of medications may facilitate play therapy
• Utilize play therapy techniques to compensate for the side effects of medications

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics