Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive - Fort Collins
2019-02-01
February 1st–3rd and 8th-10th, 2019 (Two Weekends)
The Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive allows you to jump in and really experience the magic of Synergetic Play Therapy! We hold these intensives regularly throughout the year, limiting this program to four people in order to permit extensive skill practice with individualized coaching and feedback. Each participant will be paired with a child client with whom they will work every day during the training under direct supervision as part of a therapeutic observation team. Dive into SPT and see if it’s right for you!
Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive Prerequisite Training:

Participants should have completed or be enrolled in a Master’s Degree (or equivalent) program in counseling, social work, or education.
Previous experience working with children and families is also required.
A basic understanding of play therapy and play therapy skills is required.

Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive objectives:

Understand some of the neuroscience behind identifying a child’s states of dysregulation and how these influence the symptoms and play in the playroom
Learn how Synergetic Play Therapy tools such as the Nervous System Chart, The Process of Change, and explaining the Synergetic Play Therapy Stages can help a parent understand the play therapy process and keep them engaged
Begin to understand how to identify a child’s emotional age in their play
Understand how mindfulness and self-awareness in the playroom is an essential component to helping widen a child’s emotional window of tolerance
Understand how to work with parents in the play therapy process and keep them engaged
Understand how to use boundaries to help reduce emotional flooding and overwhelm in both the child and the therapist, as well as how to set them without shaming or shutting down the child’s play
Understand the projective process and how children engage in “The Set Up” as a way to integrate their perceptions of what is challenging them
Understand how the therapist’s authenticity and attunement supports the attachment process in play therapy
Understand the importance of being regulated in the midst of challenging play as an essential component of becoming the child’s external regulator in the playroom
Understand how to use regulation to support a child’s ability to learn how to regulate during play therapy sessions

For availability and registration details, please contact the Institute at 720-458-9597 or email info@playtherapycolorado.com.

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - FASD in the Playroom
2019-02-06
Join us for a new Lessons from the Playroom Podcast on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. Lisa will be joined by special guest Natascha Lawrence, MA, RCC, who specializes in FASD.
To learn more about her work, please go here:
http://fasdcounselling.com

Garrett Counseling - Closed Training - Alabama
2019-02-09 - 2019-02-10 | Garrett Counseling, 1215 Jackson Way SW, Jacksonville, AL, 36265, United States
A two-day workshop on Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity.
Through the lens of neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology, therapists are taught how to integrate the intensity experienced by both the child and the therapist during aggressive play in a way that leads towards greater healing and integration. This course teaches the neurological processes that lead kids to dysregulation and provides therapists with tools to help their clients facilitate deep emotional healing, without causing their own nervous system to shut down.
Topics covered include: embracing aggression; understanding the nervous system; understanding regulation; developing yourself as an external regulator; authentic expression; setting boundaries; working with emotional flooding; supporting parents during aggressive play.

Acorn Preschool Private Training - Boulder
2019-02-15 08:00 - 12:00 UTC
Understanding Children’s Moods and Behaviors: A Neurobiological Perspective
This is a therapist-designed course that assists teachers, early-childhood educators, and caregivers in learning how to support the nurturing of social-emotional development in a group and classroom setting. Looking for a fresh explanation on why children feel and act the way they do? Curious about the relationship between brain development and perception? Want to know how the nervous system lives up to its name? Learn this and more!

Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy - Spring Session Begins
2019-02-19
The Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy launches you on a personal journey towards discovering what showing up in the playroom truly means. It explores what is happening in the play therapy process, how change occurs, and ultimately what it takes to help children heal at profound levels. It invites you to be you!
Curious what this class is truly about? Get all the details about the class here
To learn what others have to say, check out our testimonials.
This six-month course includes three, one-hour LIVE webinars with Lisa Dion, six 2.5-hour recorded videos and monthly 50-minute consultations with an SPT Supervisor/Consultant to help you integrate what you are learning.
Important class dates:

February 19th, 2019: One-hour LIVE Webinar (2 p.m. MST) & 1st video course released
March 22nd, 2019: 2nd video course released
April 26th, 2019: 3rd video course released
May 24th, 2019: One-hour LIVE Webinar (2 p.m. MST) & 4th video course released
June 21st, 2019: 5th video course released
July 2nd, 2019: One-hour LIVE Webinar (2 p.m. MST)
July 19th, 2019: 6th/final video course released

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - Kids Who Don't Play
2019-02-20
Sometimes the playroom is void of “play.” We’ve all been there, paired with a child client who’s got no time for toys, no palate for play. How can we help these kids and how can we discover what is at the root of their refusal? Tune in as we engage in an important discussion.

Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy: 5th video course released
2019-02-22
Synergetic Play Therapy will take you on a journey to deeply understand yourself. With an emphasis on therapist authenticity, SPT is designed to help therapists birth their authentic selves so that they can help their child clients do the same. SPT recognizes that therapist authenticity and attunement in the playroom is integral to the healing of the child.
This six-month course includes three, one-hour LIVE webinars with Lisa Dion, six 2.5-hour recorded videos and monthly 60-minute consultations with an SPT Supervisor/Consultant to help you integrate what you are learning.
Learn more here.

Colorado Association for Play Therapy 25th Annual Conference - Denver
2019-02-22 | Denver First Church of Nazarene, 3800 E Hampden Ave,, Denver, CO, 80113
Join us for the Colorado Association for Play Therapy’s 25th Annual Conference.

On February 22, Lisa will be hosting the workshop: What is Behind the Magic? How Play Therapy Really Works.

You know that play therapy works, but do you really know how it works and what is happening in children’s minds and biology leading to their transformation and healing? Come explore the “How” behind the magic of play therapy.

And don’t forget to stop by our Synergetic Play Therapy Institute booth! Sign up for our raffle, spin the prize wheel, buy Lisa’s new book, and learn more about SPT!

Learn more or register here:

https://www.coloradoapt.org/

Lisa Dion Book Signing - Boulder
2019-02-27 19:30 | Boulder Bookstore, 1107 Pearl St, Boulder, CO, 80302, United States
Join us at the Boulder Bookstore as Lisa Dion signs copies of her new book, Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity.
Bring your copy or buy one there!

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - Signs of Therapist Flooding
2019-03-06
Therapists are prone to burnout – in fact, the mental health profession has one of the highest rates. While there are certain steps that you can take to sidestep this (such as engaging in self-care), flooding inside the playroom is also a major factor. So, how do you recognize this flooding before it causes damage? Join us as we explore this important topic.

Synergetic Play Therapy and EMDR - Albuquerque
2019-03-07 08:00 - 2019-03-09 17:00
Have you completed Basic EMDR training? Then come experience it with an SPT-twist!
In this workshop, therapists will have a one of kind experience exploring the basic components of play therapy from a neurobiology perspective as they get introduced to Synergetic Play Therapy and learn how it applies to the EMDR process with children. Through didactic and experiential teachings, participants will learn cutting-edge research on neural anatomy, mindfulness, attachment theory and brain development as the research is translated into practical ways of working with children and parents. Participants will gain an understanding of the Adaptive Information Processing Model (AIP) in EMDR as it relates to Synergetic Play Therapy.
Participants will also learn what it means to attach to one’s self as the cornerstone for all healing, the importance of congruent emotional expression in the playroom, how to identify types of dys-regulation in the playroom, how to model regulating activities to the client, how to talk to and involve parents and ultimately how to re-pattern a child’s nervous system through the play therapy process. Aggressive play will also be covered from the perspective of nervous system regulation, attunement, and mindfulness. Finally, participants will also learn how to track a client’s changes in a simple, yet comprehensive way.
This is a 3-day workshop. Following the training, participants may sign up for case consultation with consultants trained in both EMDR and SPT.

Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy: One-hour LIVE Webinar
2019-03-11 14:00 - 15:00

Wisconsin Association for Play Therapy - Milwaukee
2019-03-15 | Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology, 9120 W Hampton Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53225, United States
Aggression in the Playroom – a Synergetic Approach for Working With Trauma and Intensity in Play Therapy
Are your play therapy sessions filled with swords fights, battles, babies dying, handcuffs, you dying, explosions, or other highly intense play? Are you often set up to watch or be a part of play that leaves you feeling nervous, unsafe, overwhelmed, confused or just wanting to run away and hide? If so, you are not alone.
Although aggression and death are 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 workshop is designed to help play therapists understand aggression and death 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.
This fun experiential workshop will take you to new possibilities as we explore a science-based process for working with children at the deepest, most profound levels while staying safe and sane. You will learn the art of sword fighting, gunplay, bop bag play, and more while understanding what it takes to maximize growth and integration for your clients and for you as the therapist.

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - Carl Rogers and Congruency
2019-03-20
The importance of congruency is a major element to Synergetic Play Therapy. Why? Because kids can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. But what did Carl Rogers have to say about being congruent? Tune in to find out!

Neurobiology of Play Therapy with Childrens and Teens: A Synergetic Approach - Singapore
2019-03-21 - 2019-03-22 | 87 Club St, 87 Club St., 069455, Singapore
This 2-day workshop for clinicians launches you on a personal journey towards discovering what showing up in the playroom truly means. It explores what is happening in the play therapy process, how change occurs, and ultimately what it takes to help children heal at profound levels.
Therapists will spend two days exploring the components of therapy with children and teens through the lens of neurobiology and Synergetic Play Therapy. With didactic and experiential teachings, they will learn cutting-edge research on interpersonal neurobiology, mindfulness, nervous system regulation, and brain development as the research is translated into practical ways of working with children, teens, and parents.
Register here.

Online Introduction to Synergetic Play Therapy: 6th/final video course released
2019-03-22

Awakening a Child's Genius
2019-03-23 10:00 - 12:00 | EtonHouse International School, 10 Tanglin Rd, 247908, Singapore
This 2-hour presentation, for dedicated parents, education professionals and clinicians who are focused
on awakening a child’s genius, will introduce a framework for human potential that will reveal what it
takes to help awaken the genius that is sitting inside every child, and in you!
You will learn what drives individuals to do what they do and why certain things interest them. You will also learn key information to help you communicate to others in a way that ignites inspiration and enthusiasm in their lives.
You will walk away from this presentation with a deeper understanding of what it takes to help a child
feel truly inspired in their studies and in their career choices.
Learn more or sign up here.

Emotional Regulation for Children & Youth- Synergetic Play Therapy
2019-03-25 | Asian Theological Seminary, 54 Sct., Madrinan, QC, Manila, Philippines
Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) employs insights from interpersonal neurobiology to help difficult clients achieve self-regulation. This full day workshop is designed to help clinicians understand what regulation is and is not, the biological mechanisms in the brain and nervous system allowing for regulation, and the practical tools for developing a child’s regulatory capacity. Clinicians will also learn what it takes and how to become the external regulator in the relationship – the most important tool to have in the toolbox.

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - Resurrecting Rogers
2019-04-03
The importance of congruency is a major element in Synergetic Play Therapy. Why? Because kids can smell inauthenticity from a mile away. But what did Carl Rogers have to say about being congruent? Tune in to find out why this mind from the past still matters so much in the present.

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - Rupture and Repair
2019-04-17

Lessons from the Playroom Podcast - Twins
2019-05-01
From the fraternal to the identical, twins share a unique bond. But with this unique bond comes unique challenges. How do you work with twins in the playroom, repairing pairs and doubling up on the healing? Join us as we discuss this topic!

Synergetic Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Using Play in Therapeutic Practice with Children
2019-05-06 - 2019-05-07 | Commodore Hotel, 449 Memorial Avenue, Christchurch, 8053, New Zealand
Join Lisa Dion in New Zealand on May 6th & 7th for a two-day workshop on Synergetic Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Using Play in Therapeutic Practice with Children.
Come explore authenticity and congruence, neuroscience, aggression, boundaries, and more!

To register, please email: Karen.Broughham@stop.org.nz.

First Annual SPT Destination Retreat - Oregon City
2019-05-16 - 2019-05-19
We are pleased to announce the First Annual Certified Synergetic Play Therapist Retreat!
Here’s what you need to know:
Who: Anyone certified in Synergetic Play Therapy
What: A four-day topic-focused retreat (from Thursday night thru Sunday at noon)
Where: Oregon City, Oregon
When: May 16, 2019 – May 19, 2019
This is not a play therapy retreat! This is a retreat for you! This retreat is focused on achieving your dreams and relying on our community to support you on that journey! The theme of this retreat is “Building Your Dreams and Building Your Business.”
This retreat includes instruction time as we work through our money mindset, conquer our fears/blocks that are holding us back, and find footing with strategy! There’s plenty of time for contemplation, vision planning, walks in nature, and naps on porches to help you dream and build as you put it all down on paper.
They’ll be lots of bonding, too! From yoga to energy healings to a celebration of each other, this retreat serves as a time to reunite, regenerate, relax, and – of course – regulate!
And we’re doing it all in style!
The house we’re renting sits on forty acres with its own river, forest, and beach. It’s an organic working farm complete with goats, chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs. The house itself offers resort-like features – spacious, homey, and filled with spectacular views.
The only thing missing? You!
SAVE THE DATE! Registration links and more details are coming soon!
Are you interested in joining us? Please let us know by sending an email to info@playtherapycolorado.com. This will help us get a head count and plan more accurately.

Kern County School District Training
2019-05-30 - 2019-05-31 | Bakersfield, CA, Bakersfield, CA, United States
This is a private training for mental health clinicians and supervisors in Bakersfield, CA on Synergetic Play Therapy.

Australian Childhood Foundation International Speaker Tour - Sydney
2019-06-13 - 2019-06-14
Lisa Dion is the creator of Synergetic Play Therapy – a researched-informed model of play therapy based on nervous system regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, physics, attachment, mindfulness, and therapist authenticity. It aims to replicate the delicate dance of attunement that occurs between a caregiver and an infant. It focuses on ensuring that the practitioner’s verbalizations and non-verbal activity are congruent during the play therapy sessions in order to transmit trust and safety. In doing so, the approach maximizes right-hemisphere to right-hemisphere communication and acts as an external regulator for children’s dysregulated states as they arise in the therapeutic process.
Lisa defines the therapist as the most important toy in the playroom. Her approach is applicable to all children, as the basis for her theory is rooted in neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology. Her work is also effectively applied to work with children and young people who express aggression in their behavior during the therapeutic process. This is a vital new area that has rarely been conceptualized. Lisa’s approach highlights how a compassionate and relational orientation is critical to gaining awareness of the multiple layers of meaning that occurs in the exchanges between therapist and child/young person.
Using hands-on and practical techniques, Lisa will assist the group to trace the moment by moment shifts in regulation between therapist and child, providing a level of insight which supports the transformation of aggression into ways of connecting and mutual trust.
Register here.

Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive - Littleton
2019-06-15
June 15th – 21st, 2019 (day off in middle)
The Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive allows you to jump in and really experience the magic of Synergetic Play Therapy! We hold these intensives regularly throughout the year, limiting this program to four people in order to permit extensive skill practice with individualized coaching and feedback. Each participant will be paired with a child client with whom they will work every day during the training under direct supervision as part of a therapeutic observation team. Dive into SPT and see if it’s right for you!
Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive Prerequisite Training:

Participants should have completed or be enrolled in a Master’s Degree (or equivalent) program in counseling, social work, or education.
Previous experience working with children and families is also required.
A basic understanding of play therapy and play therapy skills is required.

Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive objectives:

Understand some of the neuroscience behind identifying a child’s states of dysregulation and how these influence the symptoms and play in the playroom
Learn how Synergetic Play Therapy tools such as the Nervous System Chart, The Process of Change, and explaining the Synergetic Play Therapy Stages can help a parent understand the play therapy process and keep them engaged
Begin to understand how to identify a child’s emotional age in their play
Understand how mindfulness and self-awareness in the playroom is an essential component to helping widen a child’s emotional window of tolerance
Understand how to work with parents in the play therapy process and keep them engaged
Understand how to use boundaries to help reduce emotional flooding and overwhelm in both the child and the therapist, as well as how to set them without shaming or shutting down the child’s play
Understand the projective process and how children engage in “The Set Up” as a way to integrate their perceptions of what is challenging them
Understand how the therapist’s authenticity and attunement supports the attachment process in play therapy
Understand the importance of being regulated in the midst of challenging play as an essential component of becoming the child’s external regulator in the playroom
Understand how to use regulation to support a child’s ability to learn how to regulate during play therapy sessions

For availability and registration details, please contact the Institute at 720-458-9597 or email info@playtherapycolorado.com.

Australian Childhood Foundation International Speaker Tour - Brisbane
2019-06-17 - 2019-06-18

Australian Childhood Foundation International Speaker Tour - Perth
2019-06-20 - 2019-06-21

Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive - Fort Collins
2019-06-22
June 22nd – 28th, 2019 (day off in middle)
The Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive allows you to jump in and really experience the magic of Synergetic Play Therapy! We hold these intensives regularly throughout the year, limiting this program to four people in order to permit extensive skill practice with individualized coaching and feedback. Each participant will be paired with a child client with whom they will work every day during the training under direct supervision as part of a therapeutic observation team. Dive into SPT and see if it’s right for you!
Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive Prerequisite Training:

Participants should have completed or be enrolled in a Master’s Degree (or equivalent) program in counseling, social work, or education.
Previous experience working with children and families is also required.
A basic understanding of play therapy and play therapy skills is required.

Six-Day Synergetic Play Therapy Intensive objectives:

Understand some of the neuroscience behind identifying a child’s states of dysregulation and how these influence the symptoms and play in the playroom
Learn how Synergetic Play Therapy tools such as the Nervous System Chart, The Process of Change, and explaining the Synergetic Play Therapy Stages can help a parent understand the play therapy process and keep them engaged
Begin to understand how to identify a child’s emotional age in their play
Understand how mindfulness and self-awareness in the playroom is an essential component to helping widen a child’s emotional window of tolerance
Understand how to work with parents in the play therapy process and keep them engaged
Understand how to use boundaries to help reduce emotional flooding and overwhelm in both the child and the therapist, as well as how to set them without shaming or shutting down the child’s play
Understand the projective process and how children engage in “The Set Up” as a way to integrate their perceptions of what is challenging them
Understand how the therapist’s authenticity and attunement supports the attachment process in play therapy
Understand the importance of being regulated in the midst of challenging play as an essential component of becoming the child’s external regulator in the playroom
Understand how to use regulation to support a child’s ability to learn how to regulate during play therapy sessions

For availability and registration details, please contact the Institute at 720-458-9597 or email info@playtherapycolorado.com.

Australian Childhood Foundation International Speaker Tour - Adelaide
2019-06-24 - 2019-06-25
