Description & Objectives

DAY 1

Creative Play Therapy Interventions to Engage, Assess, and Treat Children, Youth, and Families

This very practical training will be divided into three components: (1) Engagement: A number of creative play therapy interventions will be illustrated to facilitate rapport-building with children, teens, and families; (2) Assessment: The instructor’s innovative play-based assessment model will be presented, and participants will receive a packet of assessment activities that they can use immediately in their clinical practice; (3) Treatment: A variety of creative play therapy techniques will be highlighted including games, stories, puppets, and art.  Participants will come away with many new and creative play therapy techniques to add to their existing repertoire. Videos of client sessions will illustrate techniques, and experiential activities will augment the learning process.

Learning Objectives:

1) Use at least 3 interventions to engage clients in play therapy.

2) Implement an innovative play-based model for assessing children and families.

3) List the steps for developing a treatment plan.

4)Describe key guidelines for selecting activities.

5) Use many creative play therapy techniques with children and teens.

6) Implement at least 3 interventions for use in family play therapy.

DAY 2

Creative Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy (CBPT) Interventions for Children with Anxiety

Anxiety disorders represent one of the most prevalent forms of psychopathology among children. As such, many children are referred to therapy to help them cope with anxiety symptoms. The most efficacious treatment for childhood anxiety in the research is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The effectiveness of this approach is enhanced by integrating playful, developmentally appropriate interventions so that children will engage in treatment and learn key skills to manage anxiety. Children who might otherwise be resistant in therapy are more likely to participate in playful activities designed to cover the CBT components.

In this workshop, a brief overview of CBT will be presented, along with innovative play therapy techniques to assess and treat children with anxiety. Interventions will address the core treatment components: psychoeducation, somatic management, cognitive restructuring, exposure, and relapse prevention. Therapeutic games, art, stories, and other engaging activities will be presented for use with children aged 6-12.

Through case examples, activity demonstrations, experiential exercises, and videos of actual client sessions, this workshop will combine theoretical material with hands-on therapeutic inter

Although the focus of this workshop will be on treating children with anxiety, many of the interventions can be adapted for use with other treatment populations. 

Learning Objectives:

1)    Describe the special challenges of utilizing CBT with children.

2)    Discuss the benefits of integrating playful approaches in CBT treatment with children.

3)    Use at least two interventions to assess anxiety in children.

4)    Describe methods for fostering treatment readiness in anxious children.

5)    Implement at least five new play therapy interventions to treat anxiety in children.

6)    List the steps of implementing an exposure plan to help children manage anxiety.