The Resistant Child: When a Client Refuses to Enter the Playroom
Kids react to the idea of play therapy differently. Some run into the playroom with Nerf guns a’ blazing. Other kids aren’t quite as enthusiastic; they linger in the doorway, […]
Turning Time Apart into a Time to Connect
I travel all around the world. Some months I travel a lot. In order for me to follow my heart and teach, I’m required to travel; to soar, I must […]
Compassion Fatigue? Avoid it by Leaving Work in the Playroom
As play therapists, it’s not always easy for us to leave our work in the playroom. Some of us carry it with us – like sand inside our shoes, we […]
Dear 40….
Dear 40, I’ve always known I’d meet you – I even knew exactly when. I’ve been looking forward to it since I was 20, half my life ago. I don’t […]
What Does it Really Mean to Go Home?
It’s my last night in Melbourne, Australia. My bags are packed. My boarding pass is in hand. My alarm is set to make sure I get to the airport on […]
The Long Goodbyes: Giving Children Permission to Feel During Loss
By Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S Change surrounds us. The leaves fall from trees, animals go extinct, birthdays come and go, people leave and people die. Saying goodbye is part of […]
Five Out-of-the-Box Ways to Connect With Your Child
By Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S We know our children – we raise them, we love them, we struggle with them, we grow with them. But, as the years go by, […]
Emotions from the Inside Out, Part 2
“It takes courage to let go of the familiar and embrace the new.”-Alan Cohen By Kelly Miller, LCSW, RPT Everybody has emotions and feelings, but not everybody feels or expresses their […]
Help Your Child Overcome Nameless Anxiety
Children share their emotional and body-based experiences in an attempt to integrate life events; including experiences in utero, at birth and post birth. These pre-cognitive events shape a child’s behavior, […]
Emotions From the Inside Out, Part 1
Recently I was meeting with a new client’s parents for the first time. We were discussing their desired outcome for their child’s engagement in play therapy. “We just want him […]
Be Yourself – Therapist Authenticity in the Playroom
We intuitively understand that it is important to be authentic with our clients, but do we understand why authenticity is actually crucial according to our client’s brains? Did you know […]
An Antidote to Anxiety? Predictability
One of the main sources of heightened anxiety in all of us is our unknown futures. Of course we can’t predict our futures, but most of the time we can predictably […]
How Therapists Deal with Aggression in the Playroom
In our culture, aggression tends to be viewed as a no-no. When a child starts to play aggressively in a session, we can get caught up in trying to decide […]
The Significance of Neuroscience in Play Therapy
It’s crucial to bring the brain and neuroscience into the play therapy process if we really want to understand what is happening in the mind and bodies of a child […]
Authenticity: The Playroom Is The Place To Be You
It happened again. I was wrapping up my two-day conference teaching play therapists all about Synergetic Play Therapy, and I cried. I cry almost every time. The tears seem to […]
