Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy® Program

LEARN A SOLID PLAY THERAPY THEORY THAT COMBINES THE POWER OF PLAY WITH INTERPERSONAL NEUROBIOLOGY!

**For program details and dates of when this program is offered, please visit the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute’s website**

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PROGRAM DETAILS!!

Have you been searching for ways to create a deeper impact for your clients? Or perhaps you are wanting to improve or learn more about …

  • Becoming an external regulator to support children with integration and repatterning the activation of their nervous system.
  • Supporting healing at deeper levels through right brain to right brain attuned communication.
  • Teaching children interoceptive (body) awareness (…the key ingredient for self-regulation and co-regulation). 
  • Creating a neuroception of safety for a child when emotional flooding happens.
  • Setting boundaries with the brain in mind to not minimize, shame or shut down the child’s play, but keep them engaged in their therapy process.
  • Building collaborative relationships with caregivers to support their child’s therapeutic process.
  • Developing goals, tracking a child’s therapeutic process, and translating what’s happening during the child’s therapy session to their caregiver(s) and others in the world.
  • Helping children develop a secure attachment to themselves (…a foundation of resilience).
  • Applying SPT concepts from a cultural lens for a more inclusive and culturally sensitive clinical orientation where a client’s unique experiences and needs are honored.
  • How to feel a little more like YOU in the therapy process (…because we know inauthenticity is the fastest way to burnout and compassion fatigue). 

Learn all of this and so much more!

Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy is a comprehensive 32-hour program that explores the foundational skills of SPT. This six-month online program is designed for both beginning and advanced practitioners and will take you on a journey to explore the neuroscience behind what is happening in the play therapy process, how to effectively work with caregivers and what it means to create a neuroception of safety allowing both the child and the caregiver to have a deeper integration, and (….if this wasn’t enough), you’ll come to understand the magic of aggressive play, sand and art from the perspectives of nervous system regulation, attunement, attachment, mindfulness, and authenticity.

Come discover what showing up in the playroom truly means and explore what is happening in the play therapy process, how change occurs, and ultimately what it takes to help children heal at profound levels. And the best part is, you get to be you on the journey! 

Check out what past students had to say about their experiences in the course!

SPT is the missing piece in play therapy. I gained an understanding of who I am in the playroom – a humanness that wasn’t there before.” -Frances Donohue

Join the growing number of mental health professionals, those in related roles (Child Life Specialists, School Counselors, Occupational Therapists, Coaches, etc.) and parents/caregivers who are learning SPT!

*For program details and objectives, see below.

Description

Program Details: 

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.

If you reside in Australia/New Zealand, you can order the book through Booktopia, Dymocks, QBD, Amazon AU, etc. Search the ISBN, 9780393713190 to pull results quickly. And if you are unable to locate the book in your country, please email us at info@synergeticplaytherapy.com, so we can contact the publisher and assist you in obtaining a copy.

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.

CE Credit Hours: 26 CE Credit Hours, NBCC Content Areas: Counseling Theory/Practice and the Counseling Relationship and Social and Cultural Foundations

Synergetic Play Therapy Institute has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7450. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Synergetic Play Therapy Institute is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.

Synergetic Play Therapy Institute is also an Approved Provider for the following associations:
*Australian Play Therapists Association (APTA) Approved Provider
*British Columbia Play Therapy Association (BCPTA) Approved Provider 23-01

Continuing education credit hours may be awarded to graduate-level counselors or students enrolled in a graduate-level mental health program. If you do not qualify for continuing education credit hours and would like to receive a certificate of completion for this course please contact the Institute directly.

If you are not a mental health professional and would like to receive a certificate of completion, you may contact the Institute upon completion of the program.

Presenter: Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S

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