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432 | The Missing Piece in Your CCPT Training · Play Therapy Podcast: A Master-Class in Child-Centered Play Therapy

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  You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,
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  your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.
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  Hi,
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  I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,
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  The Kid Counselor.
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  This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get
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  a master class in child-centered play therapy
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  and practical support and application for your
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  work with children and their families.
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  Today I wanna talk about something that has been coming up again and again,
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  specifically when I've been doing live events and
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  meeting with therapists all over the country.
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  And the frustration
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  that we feel
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  when we feel like we have inadequately been prepared.
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  To do this work.
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  And so the standard,
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  the common refrain is,
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  I'm the only CCPT in my office.
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  I'm the only CCPT in my office.
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  I'm the only one that sees kids.
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  I
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  am new,
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  fresh out of grad school,
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  and so they assigned me all of the kids that no one else wants to work with.
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  I didn't learn anything about working with kids in grad school.
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  I didn't even take a play therapy course
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  when I was in my training programs.
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  And so what we're doing is
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  we're putting
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  therapists out into the world.
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  That are serving a population that they're completely unprepared to serve.
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  And the frustration mounts because
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  we're left to figure it out on our own.
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  So what ends up happening is we start looking for podcasts,
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  probably how you found this.
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  You start looking for trainings,
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  you start looking for communities,
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  you start going on social media and seeing what groups exist.
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  You start reading books
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  and going to webinars and conferences.
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  And all of those things can be part of
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  the process
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  toward mastery.
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  But
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  I'm not going to reinvent something that Landreth has very clearly laid out for us.
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  Landreth more than 20 years ago
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  stressed again and again
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  that the only way for a CCPT
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  to achieve mastery is through video review.
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  So
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  I say that often,
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  but it's not my concept.
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  It's straight out of Landreth training and why?
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  Because
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  it's been proven that that is the way that we grow.
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  If you don't have someone watching videos
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  of your sessions.
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  You're spinning your wheels,
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  and I suspect many of you feel that way.
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  I talked to someone this weekend at the conference.
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  She came up in tears
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  and said,
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  You used the word clunky,
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  and this is exactly how I feel.
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  This is exactly what describes what I've experienced,
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  so much so that I've thought about not even doing this anymore,
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  and she's not even licensed yet.
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  Newly out of grad school,
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  thrust into therapy with children
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  and said,
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  I'm not even sure that this is what I want to do.
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  Why are we experiencing these lows?
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  Why do we feel so defeated and why are we so exhausted and why are we doubting so much?
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  And why is there so much,
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  so much mistrust
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  in the efficacy of what we're doing?
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  Because we're piecemealing it together
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  and because we don't have anyone coming alongside us
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  and watching
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  videos.
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  To mentor us
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  and to coach us
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  and this isn't my idea like I said I I'm not
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  going to reinvent something this is straight out of Landreth's mouth
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  that
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  when you have someone watch a video
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  of your play session
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  you get real world practical
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  support and experience
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  of knowing what to do.
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  Differently,
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  knowing what you're doing adherently
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  and things that you can constantly be thinking
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  about in the way of growth and mastery.
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  This is crucial
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  for our field,
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  especially as child-centered play therapists.
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  It's the way I was trained.
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  It's the way UNT used to train people.
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  I'm not sure if they're still doing that,
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  but
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  Jennifer Baggerley trained with video review at UNT.
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  She came to USF and trained me with video review,
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  and I trained my therapist with video review.
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  That is the path toward mastery.
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  And we get so frustrated and defeated
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  and we second guess and we question and we feel
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  so much doubt
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  and so much mistrust
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  it's really hard to be adherent to the model
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  when
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  you're not sure what you're supposed to be doing.
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  And I talked about this at the conference over the weekend.
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  What
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  does it communicate
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  to the world?
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  When
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  the newest people out of grad school that are pre-licensed
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  are given kids.
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  What,
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  what does that make you think about?
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  How does that make you feel?
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  What are we doing?
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  When
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  we assume
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  that kids
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  don't need
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  highly trained therapists.
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  That kids don't need therapists that are grounded in the theory
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  and licensed and knowledgeable about how to work with them.
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  We're essentially implying that they don't deserve anything more
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  than the lowest person on the totem pole.
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  And that's what I'm trying to change.
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  First of all,
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  the,
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  the whole implication that,
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  that,
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  that's where kids rank,
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  that's so frustrating.
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  Someone actually yelled out at the conference,
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  it's wrong,
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  and I completely agree with that.
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  But beyond that,
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  so many of us stumble into working with kids or
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  we are given children and we're completely unprepared for it.
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  So why am I talking about this?
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  Because
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  if this describes you even a little bit,
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  if you have never had someone watch one of your videos,
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  if you've never even recorded one of your sessions.
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  You can always watch them yourself,
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  but that is only a partial piece of the puzzle as well.
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  If you
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  do not have someone actively reviewing videos with you
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  and giving you in real time,
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  you and a child in a playroom feedback as a mentor,
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  as a coach.
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  If you don't have that,
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  you need it.
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  And
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  that's why I have coaching programs.
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  The hallmark of my coaching program
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  is video review.
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  All my graduates will attest to how beneficial
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  video review has been and was for them.
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  Many of them still review their own videos because
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  they realize how valuable it is.
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  And from my awareness,
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  if you,
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  if you know of another one,
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  please reach out and let me know.
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  As far as I know,
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  there's no other coaching program for child-centered play therapy
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  like this
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  that provides you with video review.
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  And the reason why we do it is because it's the path toward mastery.
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  Landreth said it.
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  I've seen it happen.
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  And if you are in that place where you're like,
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  gosh,
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  I just don't know what I'm doing and I don't know what I'm doing and
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  I don't even know how to fix what I don't know that I should be fixing
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  and I have no frame of reference and I have no support and I'm the only CCPT
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  my supervisor has no idea about this model and every time I bring a case up
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  they either say,
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  yeah,
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  sounds like you've got it figured out or they tell me to do something directive.
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  These are the stories that I hear all the time.
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  We are
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  failing.
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  As a field
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  to support therapists working with children,
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  especially in child-centered play therapy,
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  so
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  you do not have to suffer,
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  you do not have to question,
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  you don't have to second guess.
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  You certainly don't have to think about leaving the field.
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  If you
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  are gripped by child-centered play therapy and you
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  know it is what you're meant to do.
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  You just need a mentor and a coach to come alongside you
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  and help you believe that yourself,
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  that you are capable,
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  that you can be confident,
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  that you can be competent.
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  That's what video review provides for you
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  because over time
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  you start to go,
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  OK,
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  I,
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  I believe in myself now.
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  I trust this process now.
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  I know how to handle these things that come up in sessions
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  and then as all of those things start to converge.
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  You're able to absolutely trust this model and trust the process.
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  So I hope that encourages you.
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  I hope that you do not let defeat and doubt and frustration get in the way of this work.
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  If you need support.
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  Get in a coaching program.
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  We have openings right now.
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  Uh,
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  this isn't a sales pitch.
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  This is a support scenario.
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  If you are needing someone to come alongside you
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  because you can go to trainings all day long,
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  that's been the bent lately
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  for CCPTs.
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  We go to conferences,
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  we go to conferences,
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  we go to workshops,
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  and I know that's ironic because I just had a conference,
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  but
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  training
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  kind of lives as one component,
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  one part
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  of the whole.
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  Coaching is something completely different.
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  Training gives you all kinds of information.
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  It's hard to go home after you're on the mountaintop high of an event.
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  It's hard to go home and actually implement what you learned.
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  The implementation and the accountability of the implementation and the
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  accountability of the implementation and the tweaking of the implementation
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  comes from mentorship and coaching.
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  The person that spoke at the event
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  goes back to where they live and you go back to your practice,
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  and that was the end of the relationship.
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  Coaching and mentoring
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  is over the course of a very long stretch of time.
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  And mastery is achieved through that relationship.
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  So please do not suffer.
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  Please do not feel like this is too hard to do on your own.
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  Get in a group,
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  get in community,
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  have someone come alongside and mentor and coach you.
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  It changes everything.
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  And my graduates
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  will attest to the value
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  of the time spent watching videos,
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  and this is the program that gives you access to that.
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  So
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  I hope that you will consider
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  how you can start feeling more confident and competent
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  and maybe for some of you that's through a coaching program.
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  Maybe it's through watching your own videos.
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  Maybe it's through getting in the Collective so that you have a community of CCPTs.
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  Don't walk this journey alone and certainly
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  don't let the loneliness and the isolation
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  cause you to doubt why you're doing this in the first place.
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  We have an entire world full of CCPTs
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  that need each other,
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  and we are all working to be the best child-centered play therapist that we can be.
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  That's the goal.
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  And for some of you,
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  the way that you can get there
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  is to get coached and,
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  and have your videos watched.
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  So
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  please consider the power of what Landreth said 20 plus years ago.
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  Video review is the path to mastery.
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  Don't let that land on deaf ears
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  and just keep doing what you're doing.
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  This is one of those defining moments for some of you
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  where you say,
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  I'm never going to get to be the CCPT that I wanna be
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  unless I make this change,
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  unless I take this step.
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  This might be the moment that changes the trajectory of your career,
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  and I hope that you feel encouraged and ready
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  to take that step.
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  It's that big of a difference on the other side.
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  I love you.
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  We'll talk again soon.
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  Bye.
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  Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.
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  Brenna Hicks.
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  For more episodes and resources,
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  please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.