Aggression in Play Therapy: A Synergetic Approach for Integrating Intensity and Trauma

Although aggression is a common part of the play therapy process, many therapists don’t have a clear understanding of what to do and how to facilitate the intensity when it enters the playroom during play. The result can lead to inadvertently promoting aggression and increasing low brain disorganization. It can also lead to the therapist feeling beat up, exhausted and hyper-aroused themselves, which can over time significantly impact their longevity in the field, as well as their ability to stay attuned and present to a child in the playroom.

This 3-hour workshop led by Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S, is designed to help play therapists understand aggressive play from a neuro-biological perspective and through a Synergetic Play Therapy lense. With the help of neuroscience, therapists will learn how to effectively work with this type of play in a way that supports nervous system regulation and reorganization of the child’s lower centers of the brain while decreasing compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma.

Participants will:

– Understand the link between a child’s dys-regulated states of their nervous system and their play

– Learn how to set boundaries without shaming or shutting down a child’s play

– Understand the Synergetic Play Therapy concept of “The Set Up” in the playroom

– Understand how to facilitate aggressive play in the play therapy process without increasing or promoting aggression

Registration details are coming soon!