The Most Important Toy in the Playroom
To kick off the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute’s “Lessons from the Playroom” Podcast, Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S, is challenging the thought that the toys are most important in the playroom. The most important toy is actually the therapist! Join Lisa as she uses neuroscience to begin to shift our thinking towards the therapist being the most important toy and how we can begin to engage, learn about and most effectively use this toy to help our child clients heal at profound levels.
Show Notes:
- 2:30 What does neuroscience have to say about the therapist being the most important toy in the playroom?
- 4:00 Understanding why the way a child plays with the toys is more important than the toys themselves.
- 5:50 Why don’t we tend to think of the therapist as the most important toy?
- 6:35 What is Synergetic Play Therapy and how does it support the therapist as the most important toy?
- 7:34 What is the primary way children learn and how can therapist use this understanding in the playroom?
- 12:10 Therapists feel the impact of the child’s play whether they like it or not — understanding the two choices therapists have when this occurs and the implications when a therapist chooses to deny their own experience.
- 14:15 Using modeling as a way to help a child learn to move towards uncomfortable thoughts and sensations.
- 16:00 Understanding what happens when the therapist doesn’t manage their own thoughts, sensations, and feelings.
- 17:15 What can happen therapeutically in the playroom if we embrace the idea that the therapist is the most important toy in the playroom?
- 19:00 What is the most important play therapy course to take and why we don’t usually take it?
- 19:45 What if play therapy required no toys?
