Lessons from the Playroom Season 2

Synergetic Play Therapy is celebrating 15 years 🎉 (... and Lisa is also celebrating her birthday this week 🥳) … And it’s a perfect time to reflect on this amazing field of play therapy that we’re all a part of including where we started as a field and where we’re headed (.... yes, there will be a bit of predicting the future happening 🚀✨).Join Lisa as she talks about the journey of the mental health field at large and how [...]

Join Lisa to talk about attunement and how it is such an important part of the therapeutic relationship. But why is it that important you might ask … In our play therapy sessions, we can follow the script, say the right words, go down the therapeutic checklist, but if we are not attuned to our clients (or ourselves), our clients will walk away likely feeling not seen, not felt, and not met by us. So attunement is really the [...]

In this next Lessons from the Playroom episode, we’re going in a totally different direction. Lisa Dion has a very special guest to talk about perspective - a topic we often don’t talk about enough (... or in some cases, at all!) and the significance of it in our work as therapists and as beings walking through the world. Lisa’s special guest is the lovely Dr. Rachel Altvater (Psy.D., RPT-S™). Rachel is an award-winning, pioneering expert, leader, researcher, international trainer, [...]

Join Lisa Dion for a really important and special conversation about a topic that has never been discussed in this entire podcast series … It's about supervision. And not just any type of supervision, but reflective-relational kinds of supervision. Some of you may likely be engaged in your own supervision and some of you may be supervisors ... you're encouraged to listen to this conversation in whatever way you feel is most meaningful for you.  To have this conversation, [...]

Lisa Dion’s next guest has made quite the name for herself in the world of EMDR Therapy (although this is not a conversation about EMDR Therapy, if you work with the population that we’re talking about today, you might want to consider some EMDR training 😉). Join Ann Beckley-Forest and Lisa in an inspiring conversation … one that is also quite near and dear to Ann’s heart … that will help you conceptualize how to work with children and families [...]

This next episode is so unbelievably important (maybe even critical) for you as a therapist to hear … Join Lisa for a conversation about this not so widely discussed topic - the impact of trauma exposure on therapists (or really for anyone in a helping role).As a therapist (or helper of any kind), we've chosen a profession that puts us directly on the frontline. We are required to be right there in the midst of trauma exposure, day-in and day-out, [...]

Another pioneer in the field of play therapy joins Lisa for this next episode. Lisa is super excited to be joined by Dr. Risë VanFleet (learn about her amazing background below*) for a conversation about Filial Therapy and how parents and caregivers can become a change agent for their child. Join Risë and Lisa in this insightful discussion that will enhance your child client’s therapy experience through their relationship with their parent/caregiver and deepen your commitment to the model. [...]

In this episode, Lisa revisits the topic of parents and caregivers and discusses one of the most commonly asked questions that she is asked - how to support and offer parents and caregivers templates so they can regulate themselves and ultimately regulate with their child when their child is dysregulated.  Imagine being able to offer parents in the therapeutic journey co-regulatory moments to help repattern their nervous system and that supports them in being their child’s external regulator - [...]

Dr. Robert Jason Grant, creator of AutPlay Therapy joins Lisa to discuss AutPlay Therapy as an integrative family play therapy approach designed to address the mental health needs of neurodivergent children and their families.  Robert Jason Grant is a Licensed Professional Counselor, National Certified Counselor, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, Consultant, Trainer, and Neurodiversity Advocate. Robert has a deep understanding of sensory differences, Autism, ADHD, implementing play therapy with groups and play therapy theories.  His development of AutPlay Therapy provides [...]

Lisa has another amazing guest speaker joining her - Dr. Joyce Mills to talk about StoryPlay®, an Ericksonian, resiliency-based, indirective process of Play Therapy that draws upon the natural inner resources, skills, and strengths of each child, adolescent, adult or family member to effect transformational healing, growth, and change. Dr. Joyce C. Mills is a nationally and internationally recognized storyteller, keynote presenter, workshop leader, consultant, trauma specialist, and program developer for health-care, psychological, educational, and community organizations. Founder of  StoryPlay, Dr. [...]

Lisa is joined by an incredibly important person in her life - Duey Freeman, a former professor at Naropa University (Lisa’s alma mater) and founder of the Gestalt Institute of the Rockies and the Gestalt Equine Institute. Duey, a true “elder” (as he is described by many) and mentor in the field of attachment and human development, was Lisa’s former graduate school professor and has been one the most instrumental professors in her career. (see below for Duey's full [...]

Lisa has another really special guest joining her … Dr. Cathy Malchiodi is the Founder & Director of the Trauma Informed Practices and Expressive Arts Therapy Institute. She has done countless presentations around the world and written some amazing books, one that she wrote several years ago is still one of Lisa’s all time favorite books - Understanding Children’s Drawings.Cathy is one of the pioneers in Expressive Arts Therapy. In this episode, you’ll learn what Expressive Arts Therapy is and the [...]

Have you ever wondered what intergenerational trauma can look like when it shows up in a play therapy session? If so, you have also likely wondered what you can do to support both the child and the parent to integrate the trauma. In this episode, Lisa is joined by Dr. Arielle Schwartz, a licensed clinical psychologist, certified complex trauma professional, and Kripalu yoga teacher* with a private practice in Boulder, Colorado to discuss this very topic. You will learn: [...]

This time Lisa has again invited two very important people in her life to join her. Two Certified Synergetic Play Therapists both residing in Canada – Helen Ritchie and Kristina Dixon. Join them in this conversation about working through the challenges and dilemmas that we sometimes have as therapists when working with the parents/caregivers. Find out: Why working with parents and caregivers can be more challenging than working just with our child clients. How to overcome some of the [...]

In this episode, the tables are turned and the lovely Jackie Flynn, host of the Play Therapy Community Podcast/Facebook group and the Neuroscience of Play Therapy Summits, interviews Lisa about how play therapy and being a play therapist has become a spiritual practice for her over the years.  Join Lisa and Jackie as they talk about: What spiritual practice means and how doing our own “work” as a therapist can become a spiritual practice; How the playroom is a [...]

The one-and-only Bonnie Badenoch* joins Lisa for this beautiful conversation about non-judgmental presence and how this is so critical in our role as therapists.  In this episode, you’ll hear:  How, as a profession, we've become concretized into the left hemisphere (e.g., in a movement toward protocols, interventions, and evidence-based therapies) and how this has pulled us more into the role of experts trying to "fix" people; What holding a “non-judgement” presence means;  What the “inner community” is, how to [...]

Lisa’s next guest has so many amazing contributions to the field of play therapy. Terry Kottman is the founder of Adlerian Play Therapy and the League of Extraordinary Adlerian Play Therapists. She is an unbelievably fun and engaging presenter and author who teaches around the world and writes about so many different aspects of play therapy. In 2014, she was granted a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Play Therapy; in 2017, she was given a Lifetime Achievement [...]

Wondering what bibliotherapy is or how to incorporate it in your client sessions? Lisa has invited another special guest to talk about using bibliotherapy with kids. Althea T. Simpson is the founder of Brighter Day Therapeutic Solutions and Unicorn Life Training. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, Certified LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Facilitator, and host of the podcast Chronicles of a Play Therapist. She's all about innovative solutions for mental health and her creativity has been [...]

If you’ve ever studied with Lisa, you know she loves talking about the nervous system. And in this episode, she’s going to talk about the collective nervous systems within families and how to help support the regulation of the family system. If you’re just as excited about this topic as Lisa, you’ll definitely want to take notes for this one …  Here’s what you’ll hear … How nervous system expressions occur within the context of families; How all behavior [...]

Lisa is joined by an incredibly important person in her life - an individual that she is excited to introduce you to (...someone outside the field of play therapy that you may not have heard of) - Jayson Gaddis is an author, podcaster, speaker, “personal trainer for relationships”, and is a global leader on interpersonal conflict and connection. In this podcast episode, they explore conflict and how it shows up in all our relationships - the relationships we have [...]