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What Are the Benefits of Play Therapy with Traumatized Kids? · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  Cathi Spooner: A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  Cathi Spooner: We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  Cathi Spooner: I'll discuss practical tips and ideas so you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives.
• 0:33
  Cathi Spooner: So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
• 0:47
  Cathi Spooner: There.
• 0:48
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy, where we talk about all things play therapy.
• 0:57
  Cathi Spooner: Today I wanna talk about the benefits of using play therapy when you're working with traumatized children.
• 1:06
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so I don't know how many of you have maybe ever thought to yourself.
• 1:12
  Cathi Spooner: I know I have a few times.
• 1:15
  Cathi Spooner: Over the years wonder, you know, we talk about play therapy and why it makes a difference and why we're encouraging parents to bring their child to us and to allow us to use play therapy with their child, and especially when they've experienced trauma.
• 1:39
  Cathi Spooner: I know.
• 1:41
  Cathi Spooner: In my Play Therapy Academy program, which is my online, really hands-on, I call it my, like my VIP like program.
• 1:52
  Cathi Spooner: We, we've talked a lot about different experiences where different play therapists have had parents tell them, oh, this plate therapy, thing's not working.
• 2:08
  Cathi Spooner: So they pull their child or another mental health professional or physician has told the parents, oh, play therapy's not gonna help your child.
• 2:21
  Cathi Spooner: They need this instead.
• 2:24
  Cathi Spooner: And then parents are now kind of feeling confused and looking to you to explain why they should use play therapy rather than what this other.
• 2:36
  Cathi Spooner: Professional told them that they should do.
• 2:40
  Cathi Spooner: And so I know as play therapists it often feels like it puts us, uh, for lack of a better way of saying it, puts us on the defense or kind of feeling like we have to prove why play therapy is effective.
• 2:59
  Cathi Spooner: What I've found over the last several decades is once I get settled into understanding the modalities that I'm using and the effectiveness of what I'm doing based on.
• 3:18
  Cathi Spooner: What the research shows us based on what experience tells us, based on what theory tells us, and how do we apply that theory in an effective and competent way in play therapy.
• 3:35
  Cathi Spooner: Then for me, it just kind of settled into, I know that I know that I know that I know play therapy works, and here's why.
• 3:47
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy works and so I think as play therapist, it's helpful, I would even say important for us to really be able to articulate why you're using the model that you're using and feeling confident and competent that what you are doing is gonna help your child because I will help your client.
• 4:14
  Cathi Spooner: At some point in the play therapy process, things are gonna be confusing.
• 4:21
  Cathi Spooner: You'll get a little lost, maybe overwhelmed.
• 4:24
  Cathi Spooner: You may be getting phone calls or emails or texts from parents in between or caregivers.
• 4:33
  Cathi Spooner: I use parents and caregivers interchangeably 'cause as play therapists, we know that sometimes children.
• 4:41
  Cathi Spooner: Are not living with their parents or living with other caregivers.
• 4:46
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so it's important to be able to explain play therapy to them.
• 4:55
  Cathi Spooner: And I would say most importantly, it's important for you to feel confident.
• 5:04
  Cathi Spooner: In the model that you're using and feel comp confident to explain it.
• 5:12
  Cathi Spooner: So part of play therapy, um, is really developing your confidence, but it's also your confidence is gonna come from your sense of competence and your competence comes from.
• 5:28
  Cathi Spooner: Learning a play therapy theoretical model, and how do you apply that through the different stages so that when someone asks you about play therapy and why does it work, then you can articulate why it works.
• 5:47
  Cathi Spooner: So I wanna talk a little bit about that today to kind of help.
• 5:52
  Cathi Spooner: Give you a little grounding, especially when it comes to working with traumatized children.
• 6:00
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and so one of the things that we're looking at is how does play therapy effectively help children who've experienced trauma and the negative impact of trauma?
• 6:15
  Cathi Spooner: Is disrupting their daily living.
• 6:20
  Cathi Spooner: So that's what we're gonna talk about today.
• 6:23
  Cathi Spooner: Um, we're gonna talk about why emotion regulation starts with relationship, how to build self-esteem through play therapy, how to create a sense of safety and security.
• 6:39
  Cathi Spooner: And how the playroom becomes that sacred space for healing.
• 6:44
  Cathi Spooner: And all of that is grounded in understanding the therapeutic powers of play.
• 6:52
  Cathi Spooner: So that's what we're gonna talk about today.
• 6:56
  Cathi Spooner: Today's episode is focused on what are the benefits?
• 7:00
  Cathi Spooner: Of play therapy with traumatized children, and as you understand the benefits, you'll be able to explain why play therapy is effective.
• 7:12
  Cathi Spooner: The first thing, if we're talking about play therapy and why is it effective, then we really need to talk about the therapeutic powers of play.
• 7:23
  Cathi Spooner: So the therapeutic powers of play.
• 7:26
  Cathi Spooner: Raise your virtual hand.
• 7:29
  Cathi Spooner: Hey there.
• 7:30
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so I'm going live today.
• 7:32
  Cathi Spooner: So f Sorry, I got a little distracted.
• 7:35
  Cathi Spooner: Somebody on YouTube said hi.
• 7:37
  Cathi Spooner: And then I was trying to read the name so I didn't get it wrong.
• 7:41
  Cathi Spooner: I think it's Man Manana.
• 7:43
  Cathi Spooner: Did I say her name correctly?
• 7:46
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so sorry, I got a little distracted again, so let me get back on track.
• 7:53
  Cathi Spooner: Okay.
• 7:54
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 7:55
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching live, I would love to know who's here.
• 8:00
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so post your name in the comment.
• 8:02
  Cathi Spooner: Yay.
• 8:03
  Cathi Spooner: I pronounce your name right.
• 8:05
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I always like to make sure I pronounce people's names right.
• 8:10
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, so if you're, I would love to know who's here.
• 8:13
  Cathi Spooner: So post your name in the comments, if you're watching on Instagram.
• 8:17
  Cathi Spooner: Post your name in comments.
• 8:19
  Cathi Spooner: What population are you working with?
• 8:22
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching on LinkedIn or YouTube or in my Facebook group Also post your name.
• 8:30
  Cathi Spooner: What population do you work with?
• 8:32
  Cathi Spooner: Are you using play therapy?
• 8:35
  Cathi Spooner: What maybe what setting you're working in?
• 8:39
  Cathi Spooner: What play therapy modality are you using?
• 8:43
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so go ahead and post your name in the comments and let's get started.
• 8:48
  Cathi Spooner: Oh, before I say that.
• 8:49
  Cathi Spooner: So if you find this information helpful, please feel free to share it across your social media platforms.
• 8:56
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching on LinkedIn, I mean, um, YouTube, feel free to hit that subscribe button so you get notified every time that I go live.
• 9:08
  Cathi Spooner: Also, if you're wanting to fi, uh, on LinkedIn, if you're watching on LinkedIn and you wanna see any of the past episodes, all the replays will automatically generate.
• 9:19
  Cathi Spooner: That's true on Instagram as well.
• 9:22
  Cathi Spooner: Probably the easiest place to find everything is on my YouTube channel, Kathy Spooner Renewing Hearts Training.
• 9:29
  Cathi Spooner: And you, um, click on the live button.
• 9:32
  Cathi Spooner: You'll see all my.
• 9:33
  Cathi Spooner: Livestream episodes on there.
• 9:35
  Cathi Spooner: If you wanna go back and for those of you listening on the podcast, um, feel free to send me a message on you, um, on Instagram and, uh, join the conversation.
• 9:51
  Cathi Spooner: Alrighty, so let's get started for today.
• 9:54
  Cathi Spooner: So today the first thing we wanna talk about is.
• 9:59
  Cathi Spooner: The therapeutic powers of play.
• 10:01
  Cathi Spooner: So the therapeutic power powers of play are what set play therapy apart from other expressive modalities.
• 10:10
  Cathi Spooner: For example, art therapy or music therapy or um, drama therapy or movement Play therapy is one of many types of.
• 10:27
  Cathi Spooner: Expressive arts modalities in the mental health field.
• 10:32
  Cathi Spooner: What sets play therapy apart from the other expressive arts modalities is understanding that children access the therapeutic powers of play in play therapy and the therapeutic powers of play.
• 10:51
  Cathi Spooner: Are, um, ways in which children use play for healing.
• 10:58
  Cathi Spooner: So I would, I would say this was a term that was first coined to my knowledge by Charles Schafer.
• 11:07
  Cathi Spooner: He wrote a book back in the early 1990s called Therapeutic Powers of Play, and then he and Athena Drews.
• 11:16
  Cathi Spooner: Um, for those of you watching on YouTube, Instagram or LinkedIn, you can see I'm holding up the newest version of the book.
• 11:24
  Cathi Spooner: It's called The Therapeutic Powers of Play.
• 11:27
  Cathi Spooner: 20 Court Agents of Change written by or edited by Charles Schafer and Athena Drews.
• 11:33
  Cathi Spooner: This was the second edition.
• 11:35
  Cathi Spooner: They updated it in 2014.
• 11:38
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and then if you're interested on the Association for Play Therapy website, they kind of, they created this cool little graphic, um, for the therapeutic powers of play.
• 11:52
  Cathi Spooner: So that's the Association for Play Therapy.
• 11:56
  Cathi Spooner: It's a, the number four pt.org.
• 12:01
  Cathi Spooner: You could do a search on there if you're, if you really wanna get that, that PDF.
• 12:07
  Cathi Spooner: But essentially the, the what, um, Charles Schaefer and Athena Drews did is, is categorize 20 therapeutic powers of play that they identified into four categories.
• 12:23
  Cathi Spooner: Using play therapy to facilitate communication, using it to foster emotional wellness, using it to increase personal strengths and enhance social relationships.
• 12:37
  Cathi Spooner: So there's different therapeutic powers of play that children access, um, for healing.
• 12:45
  Cathi Spooner: And so.
• 12:47
  Cathi Spooner: The, the thing about play therapy is you are helping children access those therapeutic powers of play, and that's how you help them.
• 12:59
  Cathi Spooner: Access the therapeutic powers of play is influenced by your play therapy theory model as well as a really strong therapeutic relationship.
• 13:10
  Cathi Spooner: So it's kind of threefold.
• 13:14
  Cathi Spooner: You're accessing the therapeutic powers of play by using a specific play therapy theoretical model within the context of a strong therapeutic relationship.
• 13:27
  Cathi Spooner: And so that's how you ground the work that you're doing.
• 13:31
  Cathi Spooner: And one of the things that I like to do, I like using a neuroscience and attachment lens to kind of ground the work that I'm doing.
• 13:42
  Cathi Spooner: I do use a theoretical model, especially when I'm working with trauma.
• 13:47
  Cathi Spooner: There was a trauma model that I learned.
• 13:51
  Cathi Spooner: Well, probably 15 years ago now, maybe.
• 13:54
  Cathi Spooner: Maybe not 15, probably 13, I think.
• 13:57
  Cathi Spooner: So anyways, it was a model through the National Institute and TRA for Trauma and Loss, and that's the one I was certified in.
• 14:07
  Cathi Spooner: And one of the reasons that I was drawn to that specific model is that it.
• 14:15
  Cathi Spooner: It understood back, like this is a while back.
• 14:19
  Cathi Spooner: Back then, trauma-focused CBT was all, all the rage.
• 14:24
  Cathi Spooner: Like that was the thing.
• 14:27
  Cathi Spooner: And I wasn't necessarily a fan of it because I felt like it didn't take into consideration all of the somatic and sensory ways in which.
• 14:43
  Cathi Spooner: Trauma is stored and experienced and activated.
• 14:47
  Cathi Spooner: Those triggers are activated.
• 14:49
  Cathi Spooner: And so this model that I learned took all of that into consideration and used, it's not a play therapy specific model, but I've, I've kind of used it that way.
• 15:03
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but what it did do is we used play to access.
• 15:12
  Cathi Spooner: Therapeutic.
• 15:12
  Cathi Spooner: We use the, um, model to access the therapeutic powers of play.
• 15:18
  Cathi Spooner: And so over the years, that's become kind of the framework that I use, and through that framework, I help children access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 15:30
  Cathi Spooner: The other really great thing about the model is really understanding the role of the, the therapist.
• 15:39
  Cathi Spooner: In this case plate therapist as creating that safe space for witnessing and healing and using that therapeutic relationship as a corrective experience while helping children through each stage of the play therapy process.
• 16:02
  Cathi Spooner: And so, um, if you're interested in learning more about how to use play therapy with your traumatized clients, I am gonna talk at the end about a training that I have to help children heal using play therapy, using an integrative play therapy model with this was model kind of at its foundation, and then integrating more of the neuroscience and attachment.
• 16:30
  Cathi Spooner: Um, things that we've learned from research over the last, last, uh, several years, couple decades, so you'll wanna stay tuned till the end.
• 16:41
  Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that.
• 16:45
  Cathi Spooner: So when we're talking about the therapeutic powers of play, then there are certain ones that I, I thought it would be helpful to go through and identify.
• 16:57
  Cathi Spooner: Certain therapeutic powers of play and ways in which those are gonna help children heal.
• 17:06
  Cathi Spooner: And so if the first one that we're talking about is emotional regulation, and so play therapy helps children develop healthy, healthy emotion regulation.
• 17:20
  Cathi Spooner: These are often disrupted by trauma.
• 17:23
  Cathi Spooner: So here's what we know about attachment theory and neuroscience, that children are in the process of developing that circuitry for self-regulation.
• 17:37
  Cathi Spooner: To do that effectively, they really need.
• 17:42
  Cathi Spooner: Adults in their lives for co-regulation.
• 17:45
  Cathi Spooner: And what happens when a traumatic experience occurs?
• 17:50
  Cathi Spooner: It really disrupts that process.
• 17:53
  Cathi Spooner: It, it disrupts their sense of safety and security, which means they're easily activated.
• 18:00
  Cathi Spooner: By trauma triggers and then they get dysregulated.
• 18:06
  Cathi Spooner: They have a hard time feeling safe, which means they're on high alert all the time, which means it's gonna be challenging for them to effectively regulate those emotions and develop that neurocircuitry for effective emotion regulation by themselves.
• 18:28
  Cathi Spooner: They're going to need.
• 18:31
  Cathi Spooner: Adults in their lives to co-regulate.
• 18:34
  Cathi Spooner: And so part of the play therapy process is really understanding.
• 18:38
  Cathi Spooner: As play therapists, we are, um, using co-regulation in the playroom for children to feel safe, for them to feel safe within relationship because trauma will impact negatively a child's ability to.
• 19:00
  Cathi Spooner: Use, use co-regulation from adults influence attachment and relationship building because of it alters the way in which they view the world.
• 19:13
  Cathi Spooner: It alters the way in which they view themselves.
• 19:16
  Cathi Spooner: It alters the way in which they view relationships.
• 19:21
  Cathi Spooner: I've had so many clients tell me, and now I just make it part of the.
• 19:27
  Cathi Spooner: Part of the healing process from children all the way to adults is when a traumatic event happens to them, it makes them feel different, especially if it's trauma, um, if it's abuse.
• 19:43
  Cathi Spooner: Abuse makes them feel like something's wrong with them or that something's bad about them.
• 19:48
  Cathi Spooner: They worry what people will think about them if they knew about what happened to them.
• 19:55
  Cathi Spooner: So it creates this disconnect and.
• 20:00
  Cathi Spooner: Their ability to feel safe, and oftentimes caregivers or parents are not sure how to help their child, especially if parents themselves have experienced trauma.
• 20:13
  Cathi Spooner: When their child gets activated and their triggers get activated, then it can also activate parents trauma triggers, and then parents are now.
• 20:25
  Cathi Spooner: Not regulated internally and then therefore it's gonna be help hard for them to regulate their child.
• 20:33
  Cathi Spooner: And so one of the things that play therapy can do is first and foremost in those play therapy sessions, helping with emotion regulation through our ability to co-regulate children in the playroom and help them.
• 20:53
  Cathi Spooner: Experience, relationship and experience themselves in new ways.
• 20:59
  Cathi Spooner: That also helps to build, begin that process of building those neuropathways for self-regulation.
• 21:07
  Cathi Spooner: Children are developing their emotion regulation circuitry, and so part of the work that we're helping them to do is to build that healthy.
• 21:21
  Cathi Spooner: Emotion regulation circuitry, and help them develop wide windows of tolerance because stressors happen throughout the day and all of us kind of manage our stress levels as long as it stays within that window of tolerance.
• 21:37
  Cathi Spooner: If we have a wide window of tolerance, then it's gonna help children learn how to regulate and stay within their window of tolerance.
• 21:48
  Cathi Spooner: And also when they.
• 21:50
  Cathi Spooner: Get outside their window of tolerance.
• 21:52
  Cathi Spooner: They have the ability to manage that as well as use their caregivers to help regulate and get them back within their window of tolerance.
• 22:06
  Cathi Spooner: So the other thing is play therapists.
• 22:09
  Cathi Spooner: What we can do is.
• 22:12
  Cathi Spooner: Teach parents about the role of co-regulation.
• 22:16
  Cathi Spooner: We can integrate depending on your play therapy model and the, um, how, maybe where you are in the change process or what your model says to do.
• 22:28
  Cathi Spooner: You can integrate parents into the play therapy process.
• 22:33
  Cathi Spooner: If you do that though, it needs to be intentional.
• 22:36
  Cathi Spooner: You need to have a model to do that.
• 22:39
  Cathi Spooner: I've heard so many times.
• 22:41
  Cathi Spooner: Where play therapists will say, yeah, I had caregiver in the playroom.
• 22:47
  Cathi Spooner: And then I'll kind of ask, well, you know, what, what was their role?
• 22:51
  Cathi Spooner: What was your role?
• 22:52
  Cathi Spooner: What were you accomplishing?
• 22:54
  Cathi Spooner: And oftentimes they'll say, I, I don't know.
• 22:57
  Cathi Spooner: I just, we parent just wanted in there, or I figured I'd give it a try.
• 23:05
  Cathi Spooner: What often happens when you do that is the parents feel awkward.
• 23:09
  Cathi Spooner: You feel awkward and you're not sure what you're doing.
• 23:13
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and you might eventually figure it out if you're kind of winging it.
• 23:18
  Cathi Spooner: My suggestion is always like, go back to your theory model or when you're using an integrative plate therapy model, you, you can use.
• 23:30
  Cathi Spooner: Um, other strategies like integrating parents, but there's gonna be a purpose for that.
• 23:35
  Cathi Spooner: And your, your model is gonna show you how to do that.
• 23:39
  Cathi Spooner: Some of the other play therapy models like Adlerian Play Therapy and Gestalt play therapy, they, they will integrate parents.
• 23:48
  Cathi Spooner: You can that model.
• 23:52
  Cathi Spooner: Encourages actually, I think using caregivers and integrating caregivers actually even into the therapy sessions as opposed to child-centered plate therapy where parents are not gonna be in the session with their child.
• 24:08
  Cathi Spooner: If you're using child-centered plate therapy, if they are, then you are not using child-centered play therapy, but in in child-centered play therapy, you're gonna integrate parents.
• 24:19
  Cathi Spooner: By meeting with them separately in a parent only session.
• 24:23
  Cathi Spooner: And you can teach them co-regulation that way.
• 24:26
  Cathi Spooner: So depending on your play therapy model, we'll determine how parents or caregivers are going to be integrated.
• 24:35
  Cathi Spooner: What is that gonna look like?
• 24:38
  Cathi Spooner: So when you are thinking about.
• 24:41
  Cathi Spooner: Integrating parents actually into the session.
• 24:44
  Cathi Spooner: I always encourage people go back to your play therapy model and what does it say about how you're gonna do that and how are you gonna explain it to parents?
• 24:54
  Cathi Spooner: The thing is though, in play therapy, you want to integrate them somehow and you can, if based on your theory model, you can integrate them.
• 25:07
  Cathi Spooner: Into the play therapy session and teach parents what that's gonna look like, what their role is, and how they can co-regulate their child, and practice that even in that family play therapy session, if your model allows for that.
• 25:25
  Cathi Spooner: So play therapy can help with the motion regulation because you are.
• 25:32
  Cathi Spooner: Helping you are co-regulating in the session.
• 25:36
  Cathi Spooner: You are helping children experience that co-regulation and that then begins to help them build their emotion regulation circuitry.
• 25:46
  Cathi Spooner: You're teaching parents how or caregivers how to.
• 25:50
  Cathi Spooner: Co-regulate and maybe even integrating them into the play therapy session for that co-regulation so that outside of the play therapy time session they have with you, parents are gonna be learning how to co-regulate and help them manage those emotions and build that emotion regulation circuitry.
• 26:14
  Cathi Spooner: The second thing that, uh, sec, another benefit.
• 26:19
  Cathi Spooner: For accessing the therapeutic powers of play through play therapy to heal trauma is helping to increase or improve self-esteem and confidence.
• 26:33
  Cathi Spooner: So we, what we know about trauma is that it negatively impacts, impacts a child's sense of self.
• 26:42
  Cathi Spooner: Anyone's really.
• 26:43
  Cathi Spooner: Um, children, adolescents and adults, I would say negatively impacts their beliefs about themselves, their value and worth, their confidence in feeling capable.
• 26:57
  Cathi Spooner: What happens with trauma is it, it makes.
• 27:01
  Cathi Spooner: Makes you feel powerless and helpless and terrorized in that powerlessness and helplessness.
• 27:11
  Cathi Spooner: And so through play therapy, we can help children regain or even gain, if it's been ongoing trauma throughout their lives, help them to gain a sense of control, a sense of I can.
• 27:30
  Cathi Spooner: I'm capable, uh, that sense of agency and that's gonna help them build a sense of mastery and a positive beliefs about themselves.
• 27:45
  Cathi Spooner: Depending on your play therapy model, you're probably gonna work on changing some of those cognitive distortions, those negative beliefs that have.
• 27:57
  Cathi Spooner: Resulted because of the trauma.
• 28:00
  Cathi Spooner: So you can help them to identify and challenge and reframe or come up with positive counter statements or, or positive beliefs about themselves using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 28:19
  Cathi Spooner: And then the third benefit of play therapy helping.
• 28:25
  Cathi Spooner: Children to access the therapeutic powers of play is more about neurobiology and the impact of trauma and what, what it can do to our, our internal neurobiology systems.
• 28:42
  Cathi Spooner: And that is reducing the cortisol levels.
• 28:47
  Cathi Spooner: So what do we know, uh, about trauma is it is a stressful event and.
• 28:54
  Cathi Spooner: If, depending on if it's been ongoing, um, or depending on the impact, if the impact continues to negatively impact or overwhelm and.
• 29:08
  Cathi Spooner: Create a sense of not feeling safe at all, anywhere, anytime.
• 29:13
  Cathi Spooner: And what we know is the level of cortisol in the body or in the bloodstream is gonna be high.
• 29:21
  Cathi Spooner: And so, all right.
• 29:23
  Cathi Spooner: Full disclosure here.
• 29:25
  Cathi Spooner: My, my dog, Luna.
• 29:28
  Cathi Spooner: Is so when my husband goes off to work, if you've listened to my previous episodes, you'll know when my husband goes to work, he has to open the door to my office because my dog, Luna will just like scratch, like a maniac on the door to be let in.
• 29:45
  Cathi Spooner: So we just, now, he just knows he, he has to open the door and let her in.
• 29:49
  Cathi Spooner: So what happens then?
• 29:51
  Cathi Spooner: You can see her, you might even be able to see her if you're on LinkedIn.
• 29:55
  Cathi Spooner: YouTube, she walks around, but she, she digs on the carpet.
• 29:59
  Cathi Spooner: She, she rolls around and does all her dog things.
• 30:03
  Cathi Spooner: So if you hear any weird sounds in the background, like, like digging or, or moaning, that is my dog Luna, and nothing bad is going on here.
• 30:13
  Cathi Spooner: It's just my dog, Luna, making herself comfortable and hanging out with, with mom.
• 30:19
  Cathi Spooner: She's comfy right now, but that's likely to change any second now.
• 30:22
  Cathi Spooner: So my dog Luna is now in the, in the room and those of you watching on YouTube and Instagram, you might see her.
• 30:31
  Cathi Spooner: It's harder to see on, um, Instagram.
• 30:34
  Cathi Spooner: Sorry if you're watching on LinkedIn and YouTube.
• 30:38
  Cathi Spooner: You will, you probably will see her in the background.
• 30:41
  Cathi Spooner: In the background.
• 30:42
  Cathi Spooner: It's harder to see her on Instagram.
• 30:45
  Cathi Spooner: It's a smaller little screen.
• 30:47
  Cathi Spooner: Anyways, that's my dog, Luna.
• 30:49
  Cathi Spooner: She's in the room.
• 30:51
  Cathi Spooner: So back to reduced cortisol levels.
• 30:54
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so what we know is.
• 30:56
  Cathi Spooner: Cortisol is released when there is stress and, and we have stress throughout the day.
• 31:03
  Cathi Spooner: We also know that cortisol levels are typically higher in the morning, kind of getting, I look at that as it like getting us activated and lower at night, like lowering cortisol levels at night so that you can, you can go to sleep and what we know is with prolonged.
• 31:22
  Cathi Spooner: Stress.
• 31:24
  Cathi Spooner: Then there are higher levels throughout the day, even nighttime, which could make it difficult to get to sleep.
• 31:33
  Cathi Spooner: And that the high, consistently, high cortisol levels over time can have some negative health impacts.
• 31:42
  Cathi Spooner: Um, 'cause it, you're, you're getting into your organs and the, the levels are higher.
• 31:52
  Cathi Spooner: Than are healthy for your body to maintain that healthy homeostasis.
• 31:57
  Cathi Spooner: So, so reducing that cortisol, let those cortisol levels because of the impact of trauma is a really important thing that we wanna help children accomplish.
• 32:13
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy can do that.
• 32:15
  Cathi Spooner: Because it, when we're providing that safe environment to process trauma, then we're helping to reduce those cortisol levels because we're helping to reestablish a sense of safety and security through that play therapy process.
• 32:34
  Cathi Spooner: Which brings us to the fourth benefit, which is restoring a sense of safety and security in the playroom, we are helping children.
• 32:44
  Cathi Spooner: To feel safe that there's a safe place in the world and in that safe place, they can use that play space to heal and overcome the.
• 32:59
  Cathi Spooner: The impact of that trauma, helping them to feel more secure and less anxious as you use your play therapy model to help them through each stage of the change process.
• 33:12
  Cathi Spooner: Like for example, in the, in the play therapy model, in the model that I use to help children heal from trauma is more of an integrative model with the foundation of it.
• 33:25
  Cathi Spooner: Using the model that I learned through the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children, that's the sit cap model.
• 33:34
  Cathi Spooner: I use a version of that 'cause I use an integrative model.
• 33:39
  Cathi Spooner: CCAP stands for structured sensory inter um, intervention for traumatized children, adolescents, and parents.
• 33:46
  Cathi Spooner: So it integrates parents in there as well, and then using some of that.
• 33:51
  Cathi Spooner: So there are four stages and there are specific things that you do in each stage.
• 33:58
  Cathi Spooner: And there are certain principles about the model.
• 34:01
  Cathi Spooner: So we use play therapy to implement the model using a neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 34:09
  Cathi Spooner: And so in the, in the training, the, the model that I teach you how to use really goes over all of that neurobiology and attachment to really conceptualize.
• 34:22
  Cathi Spooner: The impact of trauma so that you know what you're doing in order to help them heal and how play therapy is gonna look in each one of those stages, as well as how you're going to integrate parents.
• 34:37
  Cathi Spooner: So helping parents to create a sense of safety through your play therapy model is another thing that you're gonna be helping parents or caregivers to do.
• 34:53
  Cathi Spooner: To help restore that sense of safety.
• 34:56
  Cathi Spooner: And then the fifth benefit is it, it really facilitates that healing process.
• 35:02
  Cathi Spooner: Like the model that I use really has tells you what you're gonna do in each stage of the change process.
• 35:11
  Cathi Spooner: You're gonna help children access the therapeutic powers of play throughout that change process.
• 35:17
  Cathi Spooner: It's gonna look.
• 35:19
  Cathi Spooner: Um, differently in stage one than it looks in stage three or stage four.
• 35:26
  Cathi Spooner: And so having that model helps you to, helps guide you through each stage and helps you with your clinical decision making.
• 35:37
  Cathi Spooner: And so when we're using these therapeutic powers of play, what we're doing is helping children to heal.
• 35:46
  Cathi Spooner: From that trauma and move towards expressing their emotions, identifying those cognitive distortions, feeling empowered, expressing, um, and working through the ways in which trauma is held in our, in implicit experiences.
• 36:08
  Cathi Spooner: So some of that somatic.
• 36:11
  Cathi Spooner: Experiencing of trauma and releasing that you're in, you're integrating some of the sensory understanding of trauma and your interventions then become focused on how are you gonna help children process and work through and heal from those?
• 36:35
  Cathi Spooner: The ways in which trauma is, is stored implicitly in the body.
• 36:40
  Cathi Spooner: And so that's why you, you definitely need a play therapy model that's gonna help you through each stage and guide you in your decision making.
• 36:52
  Cathi Spooner: So that is it for today.
• 36:55
  Cathi Spooner: So today, just as a recap, today, we were talking about the benefits.
• 37:02
  Cathi Spooner: Using play therapy to help traumatize children heal.
• 37:07
  Cathi Spooner: Um, understanding that the key part, the hallmark of play therapy is really understanding how to help children access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 37:19
  Cathi Spooner: And the therapeutic powers of play are what set play therapy apart.
• 37:25
  Cathi Spooner: From other expressive arts modalities, and you're gonna be using a theoretical model to help children access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 37:36
  Cathi Spooner: And you're also doing that within the context of a strong therapeutic relationship and that you can help children access the therapeutic powers of play to help develop.
• 37:51
  Cathi Spooner: Strong emotion regulation, helping parents and caregivers understand co-regulation.
• 37:58
  Cathi Spooner: You're helping them to improve their, their beliefs about themselves.
• 38:04
  Cathi Spooner: Restoring that positive self-concept, those that positive self-esteem, improving their confidence and feeling empowered.
• 38:14
  Cathi Spooner: You're also helping to reduce the cortisol levels because you're helping them to feel safe.
• 38:20
  Cathi Spooner: You're using co-regulation.
• 38:22
  Cathi Spooner: You're creating a safe space in the playroom.
• 38:25
  Cathi Spooner: You are teaching parents how to co-regulate.
• 38:28
  Cathi Spooner: You are teaching parents how to help their child feel safe.
• 38:33
  Cathi Spooner: You're helping them to restore that sense of safety in their world.
• 38:39
  Cathi Spooner: Also using a theory model is gonna help to facilitate healing through each, each stage of that change process to overcome that negative impact of trauma.
• 38:55
  Cathi Spooner: So that is it for today.
• 38:59
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested, I do have a course out this, this course was, I did it as a, um, an in-person.
• 39:08
  Cathi Spooner: Training as well as it was kind of hybrid.
• 39:11
  Cathi Spooner: Some people were in person, some people attended via.
• 39:15
  Cathi Spooner: Webinar, live webinar and it, um, I had a lot of people asking me for a recorded version, so I did, and what I did is I just kind of rerecorded it just for better quality for the sound.
• 39:29
  Cathi Spooner: Some parts of it are from the webinar when we went through the different activities, play therapy, activities you can use.
• 39:37
  Cathi Spooner: So it's now in a recorded self-paced.
• 39:41
  Cathi Spooner: Format.
• 39:42
  Cathi Spooner: It's called Healing Trauma through Play Therapy.
• 39:47
  Cathi Spooner: Excuse me, I got a cough.
• 39:53
  Cathi Spooner: Sorry about that.
• 39:55
  Cathi Spooner: Healing trauma through play therapy, A neuroscience and attachment approach.
• 40:02
  Cathi Spooner: So right now it's available on my website if you wanna hop over to.
• 40:09
  Cathi Spooner: My website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 40:14
  Cathi Spooner: That's renewing hearts play therapy training.com, and you'll wanna, um, right now it's available at a discounted price until July 12th, and if you purchase it before July 12th, you get the discounted rate $30 off as well as.
• 40:37
  Cathi Spooner: Two free months in my brand new membership that I created, which is right now it's closed unless you, um, purchase the course, then you get two free months.
• 40:52
  Cathi Spooner: I'll be relaunching the membership in August, but right now the only way to get into the new membership, um, called Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 41:04
  Cathi Spooner: Is, um, if you are already, if you are a founding member from when I launched in March, or you took my training, so here's why I included it and here's why I actually even created this brand new membership.
• 41:21
  Cathi Spooner: I feel like when people take, go to trainings, it's, it's awesome, right?
• 41:27
  Cathi Spooner: We get great information and then.
• 41:33
  Cathi Spooner: You get in with your clients and then you come up against a challenge, and then now what do you do?
• 41:39
  Cathi Spooner: You don't have anybody to talk to.
• 41:41
  Cathi Spooner: You don't have anybody to help you through some of the hard spots.
• 41:45
  Cathi Spooner: You don't have anyone to share ideas.
• 41:48
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and so that's why I created Play Therapy Elevation Circle, a membership for play therapists.
• 41:56
  Cathi Spooner: It's online.
• 41:57
  Cathi Spooner: So that you have a place to go with other play therapists who understand play therapy to help you with getting ideas, helping you deal with challenging things, giving you ideas, resources.
• 42:13
  Cathi Spooner: We do monthly case consultation in September when I relaunch in August, September.
• 42:20
  Cathi Spooner: We're doing a monthly book club in there.
• 42:22
  Cathi Spooner: I'm super excited about that.
• 42:24
  Cathi Spooner: So what I decided to do for the course, especially since it's an on demand kind of self-paced course, is um, provide.
• 42:35
  Cathi Spooner: Access to play therapy, elevation Circle so that you have a community of like-minded play therapists where you can get ideas and resources and, um, get some support for challenging cases to figure out what's going on in their sessions, to figure out what it, what to do when certain things come up.
• 42:58
  Cathi Spooner: So the course itself is called Healing Trauma Through Play Therapy, a neuroscience and attachment approach.
• 43:07
  Cathi Spooner: It's on demand, so you can take it in your time zone when it's, when it's convenient for you.
• 43:13
  Cathi Spooner: There are modules that are all prerecorded videos.
• 43:16
  Cathi Spooner: You're gonna work, uh, work your way through those.
• 43:20
  Cathi Spooner: And then in addition to that, you can.
• 43:24
  Cathi Spooner: Have access to play Therapy Elevation Circle to take what you're learning in the course and then get help and support in play therapy Elevation Circle.
• 43:37
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested in that, you wanna register before July 12th, 2025 to take advantage of the the, um.
• 43:49
  Cathi Spooner: Access to plate therapy, elevation Circle, as well as the $30 discount.
• 43:56
  Cathi Spooner: It's still gonna be pla, the course is still gonna be available after July 12th.
• 44:01
  Cathi Spooner: You just won't get the discount and you won't get access to Plate Therapy Elevation Circle, um, the two free months.
• 44:09
  Cathi Spooner: So I would definitely take advantage of that.
• 44:12
  Cathi Spooner: Now, if you are interested in the course and you're looking for some help.
• 44:17
  Cathi Spooner: Working with traumatized children and adolescents using plate therapy.
• 44:23
  Cathi Spooner: The this course uses, uh, neuroscience and attachment approach.
• 44:27
  Cathi Spooner: And if you have any questions, feel free to message me.
• 44:31
  Cathi Spooner: We're also gonna post links in the comments or pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 44:41
  Cathi Spooner: On the courses page, healing trauma through play therapy, a neuroscience and attachment approach, and I will see you next week.
• 44:51
  Cathi Spooner: Bye.
• 44:57
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 45:01
  Cathi Spooner: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 45:10
  Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 45:16
  Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 45:22
  Cathi Spooner: Remember.
• 45:23
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 45:26
  Cathi Spooner: Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play in your own work in relationships.
• 45:38
  Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future.
• 45:43
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear from you.
• 45:45
  Cathi Spooner: Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 45:57
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 46:01
  Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.