Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® Program

This six-month online program includes three, one-hour LIVE webinars with Lisa Dion, six 2.5-hour recorded videos, two additional 1 hour video lessons, a Book Review, and monthly group consultations with a Synergetic Play Therapy Consultant, adding up to about 32 hours of engagement! 

*Please note that consultation is a mandatory part of the program to help you integrate what you are learning, however, the 6 hours spent in consultation do not count toward total CE Credit Hours.

Consultation is provided to accommodate ALL time zones. Students will be provided with a questionnaire to select their group consultation times upon purchasing this program in a confirmation email. Group consultation assignments will be first come, first serve.

Where: Learn from anywhere! No commute required!

When: Program offered three times per year. Click here to see when this program is offered next.

What You’ll Learn: Throughout this comprehensive 6-month online program, you’ll delve into topics including: the neuroscience behind what’s happening in the playroom; how to repattern the activation within your client’s nervous system; what it means to become an external regulator; how to work with aggression and create a neuroception of safety; how to more effectively work with caregivers/parents; a deeper understanding of attachment theory and ways to help children develop a secure attachment to themselves (a foundation for resilience); ways to honor a client’s culture in the play therapy process; offering sand and art from the perspectives of nervous system regulation, attunement, attachment, mindfulness, and authenticity; the importance of developing a child’s interoceptive awareness (a crucial skill for regulation); and so much more! 

Mandatory Book: Please purchase this required book before your training. Lisa will be using it as a reference to provide supplemental readings: Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity by Lisa Dion. The book is also currently available in Audio format and two translations: Spanish and Japanese!

If you have not already purchased the required reading, you can get it at a 25% discount. This only applies for purchase made in the U.S. Go here to redeem: https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393713190. Use coupon code LDION21 or https://WWNorton.com/rd/LDION21.

Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® Program Learning Objectives by Module:

Module 1 / Webinar 1 – Understanding the Set Up / Offering

• Describe how Synergetic Play Therapy® was inspired, the tenets, the history, and its main play therapy influences
• Explain how children use The Set Up/Offering in play therapy to set the toys and the therapist up to feel how they feel
• Describe how children are looking for templates to help pattern and re-pattern their states of activation

Module 2 – Understanding States of Activation

• Explain the link between nervous system states and the symptoms that show up in the playroom
• Describe the importance of regulation in the playroom
• Explain what regulation is and isn’t according to Synergetic Play Therapy®

Video Lesson – Synergetic Play Therapy® and Cultural Humility 

• Identify the importance of differences in how a child approaches play therapy depending on an individual’s culture
• Explain what it means for play therapists to have “done the work” to become curious with their clients in play therapy using a cultural approach
• Understand the term “microaggressions’ and how to apply Synergetic Play Therapy® concepts in the play therapy process

Module 3 / Webinar 2 – Becoming an External Regulator

• Explain the “funnel analogy” as a way to understand what children are attempting to integrate in their play therapy sessions
• Describe how Synergetic Play Therapy® approaches boundary setting
• Describe what it means to become the external regulator in a session to help a child integrate their challenges

Video Lesson – 4 Threats and the Set Up Through a Cultural Lens 

• Explain why culture is important when considering the 4 Threats in play therapy
• Understand how culture impacts the Set Up and Offering in play therapy
• Demonstrate ways that as a therapist culture can be considered in the play therapy process

Module 4 – Partnering with Caregivers / Tracking the Play

• Discuss the implications for caregivers being in their own grief process when they bring their children to play therapy
• Describe what it means to become a caregiver’s external regulator
• Discuss the importance of setting goals and speaking in terms of what is important to the caregiver when partnering with them in therapy
• Describe the Therapeutic Stages in Synergetic Play Therapy®

Module 5 – Understanding Attachment & Emotional Age

• Discuss Synergetic Play Therapy®’s perspective on attachment
• Explain why interoception is the pre-req for the ability to regulate and co-regulate and why this is a key focus in a Synergetic Play Therapy® session
• Describe the difference between a child’s emotional age and their chronological age

Module 6 / Webinar 3 – Sand, Art, & Aggression in Synergetic Play Therapy®

• Explain how to use regulation as a way to help integrate aggressive energy in the playroom
• Describe how to facilitate the use of sand from a Synergetic Play Therapy® perspective in the playroom
• Explain how to facilitate the use of art from a Synergetic Play Therapy® perspective in the playroom

Book Review: Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity 

• Develop an understanding of aggression and death play that is based on brain function and neuroscience in the play therapy process.
• Explain the four threats to the brain that activate a fight/flight/freeze/collapse response and why this is so important to know when working with children in play therapy.
• Assess the concept of “one foot in and one foot out” and its impact on the play therapy process.
• Understand the practical ways to authentically work with the intensity of aggression and death play, without causing compassion fatigue or burnout in play therapy.
• Develop an understanding of how to set boundaries without shaming or shutting the child down in the play therapy process.
• Identify ways to regulate yourself in the midst of an intense play therapy session so as to model to the child client how to do the same, thereby enhancing the child’s capacity for self-regulation.