Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Areas of trauma and attachment often overlooked are the impact "historical oppression" on healing children, adolescents, and families. This experiential play therapy workshop will provide participants with a socio-cultural lens through which to develop and utilize metaphors and play into their practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify two cultural values from Hawaiian culture
• Describe how to use cultural values to create a collage
• Create a storytelling metaphor that can be used with children and adolescents dealing with Historical trauma thru play therapy
• Learn one cultural StoryCraft, play therapy technique that can promote family healing

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This presentation focuses on family play therapy approaches that work well with treating autism disorders. Dimensions of family play therapy that are most effective in treating autism will be demonstrated including a parent training component and directive play based interventions.

Learning Objectives:

• Incorporate family play therapy into their treatment for autism disorders
• Identify three play based interventions to use in family play therapy with autism disorders
• Implement a parent training component into their work with families dealing with autism issues
• Describe how family play therapy can help improve skill development for children and adolescents with autism disorders

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

*Supervision Training

Attendees will experience distance supervision via live multimedia connection, as supervisor and supervisee presenters will share their lessons learned from participation in play therapy distance supervision. Trials, triumphs, and recommendations for meeting today's ethical and legal standards will be offered.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify multimedia communication options to participate in ethical and HIPAA compliant play therapy distance supervision
• Recognize and experience the benefits and challenges to using technology in distance play therapy supervision
• Increase comfort and thus willingness to engage in distance play therapy supervision
• Demonstrate the achievability and effectiveness of distance play therapy supervision

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Just one touchy subject will be tackled in this workshop: sex. More specifically, sexual abuse recovery work, sexual behavior problems, sex education, sex play, sexting, and pornography will all be addressed through the facilitative medium of play therapy.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe what is meant by "containment" of sexually thematic material
• List three play therapy interventions that help in sex education
• Describe the role of perpetrator symbols and self-objects in play-based sexual abuse recovery work
• Identify the difference in play therapy treatment approaches for two types of children with sexual behavior problems
• Identify five cognitive behavioral play therapy interventions that assist clients in structuring and practicing cognitive replacement statements for false beliefs
• List three expressive therapy mediums that allow for extra-linguistic narrative work

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This presentation addresses the importance of aggressive play. Therapists and parents face challenges when children play aggressively during child centered play therapy or Filial therapy sessions. This workshop is experiential and focuses on using role play as a training modality.

Learning Objectives:

• List 4 needs expressed through aggressive play
• Discuss the importance of aggressive play in Child Centered Play Therapy and Filial Therapy sessions
• Demonstrate a three step limit setting procedure in play therapy
• Describe their own reaction to aggression and how it affects their response to aggressive play

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

This workshop presents a unique model for implementing Child-Centered play therapy (CCPT) groups to improve social skills and reduce disruptive behaviors. New empirical research demonstrating CCPT group effectiveness will be presented. Experiential activities and special attention to multicultural populations guarantee workshop fun!

Learning Objectives:

• Explain the rationale for using play therapy groups to improve social skills and decrease disruptive behaviors
• Articulate pertinent research findings regarding the effectiveness of CCPT groups
• Identify ways to incorporate the use of CCPT groups in private practice, agency, and/or school settings
• List specific techniques that are useful when adapting group play therapy for multicultural populations

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Skills and Methods
• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Whether we administer assessments or simply receive assessment results as part of referrals, as play therapists, we need to have a basic understanding of the numbers. This workshop is designed to help play therapists help children benefit from assessment data.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the different types of assessments common to play therapists
• Discuss the importance of the reliability, validity, and cultural sensitivity of an instrument
• Explain the commonalities of assessment results
• Apply basic assessment data to their Play Therapy practice

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Often when helping troubled children, more than one treatment method is required. A child may benefit from being able to express issues through nondirective play therapy, but also may need a structured approach such as Theraplay(c) to enhance attachment and self-regulation.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the fundamentals of Theraplay
• List the main tenants of non-directive play therapy
• Discuss how to integrate several different ways of integrating nondirective play therapy and Theraplay
• Discuss the benefits and pitfalls of trying to integrate directive and nondirective play therapy methods

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Seminal / Historically Significant Theories
• Skills and Methods

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Holistic Expressive Play Therapy, integrating sensate, kinesthetic, and creative expressive therapies fits well with complex trauma research. The synthesis of head and heart perspectives provides an essential understanding required to create effective interventions supporting emotional healing.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe fundamental child developmental needs for healthy growth
• List the corresponding levels of neurological development
• Describe and assess the impact of social emotional trauma to each level
• Describe the major components of Holistic Expressive Play Therapy and expressive methods available to create interventions promoting healthy growth and development for each affected brain region
• Develop a play therapy treatment protocol for activity frequency, duration, and social ratio for each affected brain region, combining Holistic Expressive Play Therapy and neurobiological research perspective
• Evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to refine the protocol

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics

Eligible for APT and NBCC credit only.

Aggression and death are a part of play therapy, but how they relate to neuro-biology and how to make them therapeutic is the real skill. Learn the art of sword, gun and bop bag play from a brain-based perspective.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe how to facilitate aggressive play in the play therapy process without increasing or promoting aggression 2
• Discuss how to use techniques to enhance your sword fighting and bog bag play in your play therapy sessions 3
• Explain how to keep yourself regulated in the midst of intense play/trauma play and death in the play room 4
• Describe the connection between aggressive and death play as it relates to the child's nervous system

Play Therapy Primary Areas:

• Special Topics