Latest / Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence / 5 Components to Create a Safe Space for Healing Trauma in Play Therapy
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
- 0:04A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
- 0:14We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
- 0:23I'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.
- 0:33So 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.
- 0:47Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
- 0:52And today's topic I wanna talk about is trauma and working with children who've experienced trauma in play therapy, children and adolescents.
- 1:04And as I was thinking about this topic, I thought, you know what?
- 1:09One of the crucial first tasks for working with children, adolescents, I would even say adults and families, to engage them in the healing process.
- 1:27The first thing that has to be accomplished is helping them to develop a sense of safety.
- 1:34Within the, within the room with you.
- 1:37So establishing that sense of safety and security within that therapeutic relationship.
- 1:46And how to do that effectively.
- 1:49And when I was thinking about trauma and how to do that with trauma pe, kids who've experienced trauma, I naturally went to thinking about neuroscience and attachment theory and interpersonal neurobiology and all the things we've learned over the last several decades about these theoretical models and what science has shown us and research has shown us when we're working with clients who have experienced trauma.
- 2:23And most of us, I would say, use an integrative approach when we're working with people who've experienced trauma.
- 2:35And think about that, like an integrative approach is, is blending two or more models together into the approach that you're using with your clients.
- 2:49And so we're still using theoretical models.
- 2:52We're still using what the research shows us, and we're still using theory, which is then gonna influence what we do and how we do it in our sessions.
- 3:05And I thought, well, when we're integrating.
- 3:09What does that mean as far as how, how are we showing up in the play therapy process?
- 3:18And that's where I thought about, therapeutic rapport and how do we do that, especially when we're working with clients.
- 3:26And then I thought, well, what are the different components?
- 3:30Let's really break that down.
- 3:33So here you're getting a little bit of my special education background where I, I can't even tell you in, in, uh, my bachelor's program, we had a whole entire semester, one entire course on how to break things down.
- 3:51So your overall task that you want to accomplish, and then how do you break that down into bite-sized parts?
- 3:59Because depending on the student that you're working with, that may influence what part or what aspect of the learning that they might be struggling with.
- 4:13And so then you wanna kind of go into that specific area and shore them up a little bit and help them make some progress in that area.
- 4:24And so when I was thinking that's, my brain goes into that mode all the time when I am putting trainings together and, even when I am doing these livestream topics or podcast topics, and so when I, I'm starting a whole new series on working with children and adolescents who've experienced trauma.
- 4:46So over the next few weeks we'll be talking a lot about trauma and play therapy with trauma.
- 4:55And if you're interested in this topic, I do have a training coming up, healing trauma through play therapy using a neuroscience and attachment approach.
- 5:08Registration for that is open as of yesterday, so I'll talk a little bit more if you're interested in that.
- 5:15You wanna stick around to the end and I'm gonna talk a little bit more about the training that I have coming up.
- 5:21So for today, what I thought about is one of the crucial tasks for working with children who've experienced trauma.
- 5:31I think this is true in general, and I would say it's especially true.
- 5:37When you're working with children who've experienced trauma, is how do you create that safe space?
- 5:44And that is what we're gonna talk about today.
- 5:47So if you're joining me live, I would love to know who's here.
- 5:53Post your name in the comments.
- 5:56What population do you work with?
- 5:59What play therapy model are you using?
- 6:03Are you working with children who've experienced trauma?
- 6:07Post those in the conversation.
- 6:09Join, uh, in the comments and join the conversation.
- 6:13If you're watching the replay, I would still love to hear from you, so feel free to post in the comments.
- 6:19I read all of 'em, and I always get back to people when they comment.
- 6:25And, uh, for those of you that are watching on the live stream or watching the replay, the only thing that I would ask is that you not post specific information about clients that you're working with because this is a public format and we wanna make sure that we're maintaining privacy.
- 6:47And for those of you listening on the podcast, I would love it if you would pop over to, um, Apple Podcasts and leave a review.
- 7:00Leave a comment there.
- 7:02I'd love to hear from you.
- 7:04So also, if you find this episode useful, please feel free to share it across your social media platforms and, uh, let's get started for today.
- 7:18Alrighty.
- 7:19So the first thing that I wanted to talk about is really kind of the population that we're working with is children that have experienced trauma.
- 7:32And so if we're thinking about how to establish a sense of safety and security, then we get a lot of information from neuroscience and attachment theory over the last couple of decades about, um, what, what happens when children experience trauma?
- 7:56So how many of you have ever had a client come in?
- 8:03And they are kind of not really talking very much.
- 8:08I've, how many of you have had this situation where you have had a client come in and maybe they're, you know, you've introduced them to the playroom, you've introduced them to how it all works, and they kind of keep their back turned to you a lot.
- 8:28They kind of keep their distance a lot.
- 8:31They, they don't really respond very much when you're engaging with them.
- 8:39Pretty quiet.
- 8:42And maybe they respond with like one or two words.
- 8:48So he, so what does that tell us?
- 8:50We are reading their cues.
- 8:52What does that tell us?
- 8:55It tells us that they're not comfortable.
- 8:57Or how about you have this situation happen?
- 9:01You have a child come in and they seem like they are bouncing off the walls.
- 9:05They're very talkative.
- 9:07They're looking at everything that you, they start a task and they don't sustain the play very long before they wanna move on to the next one.
- 9:20And you could just feel their high energy in the playroom.
- 9:25What does that tell us?
- 9:27So both of those scenarios would tell us that they're not really feeling safe in the session.
- 9:37They, which means they're not going to engage, right?
- 9:42They're not really going to be able to access the therapeutic powers of play for healing until they feel safe.
- 9:53So what we've learned from neuroscience and attachment theory over the last several decades is, especially from the work of Stephen Porges with Polyvagal Theory, is that our neuroception circuits are constantly working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- 10:15They never take a break.
- 10:17And they are, well, they do take a break, but they, they are con, they're below our conscious awareness, right?
- 10:25So these are our neuro and neuroception circuits scanning our environment for danger to keep us safe.
- 10:34Our brain is wired to keep us safe.
- 10:38And once we feel safe then and we, we've looked around and we've assessed, our brain has assessed we are safe, then we can deactivate those neuros neuroception circuits in order to access social engagement circuits.
- 10:58Children can only really engage in the the play circuits so they can engage their play circuits only when they feel safe.
- 11:13And as a play therapist, their behavior gives us a clue about whether or not they're feeling safe and whether or not they're really able to engage in that play therapy process.
- 11:27I would say this is true for adolescents as well.
- 11:30It's gonna look a different, little different.
- 11:33So in adolescent.
- 11:35Maybe they come in and they plop on the, on the couch that you probably have, or the chair that you have in your office, and they're kinda slumped in their chair, not really giving you eye contact.
- 11:47Maybe one or two words.
- 11:50Or maybe they're not slumped and they're giving you eye contact, but they're, they're not really giving very much.
- 11:59They're giving like short answers, things like that.
- 12:03All of that is their body's way of saying, I don't feel safe.
- 12:09I'm not comfortable yet, and so I'm not really going to engage in a deeper way.
- 12:17And so a lot of that gives us clues about what we need to do in the beginning of the treatment process.
- 12:27But here's the other, here's the other thing to think about.
- 12:31Your therapeutic rapport with your clients is also helping to change or influence neurocircuitry.
- 12:43We know from, like Daniel Siegel coined the term resonance circuits and he talks a lot about hi in his, his, um, model that he calls mindsight talks a lot about, I'm gonna paraphrase, this is my paraphrase, how I understand it, which is creating that synchronicity between our neuro system.
- 13:07So resonance circuits are my ability to connect mind to mind as he would, as he would say in his book, mind sight, connect mind to mind with you, even physiologically.
- 13:23I am tuned into you.
- 13:26And now you're tuning into me.
- 13:29Our neurosych, our neuro circuits are sinking up, so to speak.
- 13:35We would call this from an attachment standpoint, co-regulation.
- 13:40That's a lot of what we want parents to, we wanna teach parents how to effectively co-regulate with their children to help their children feel safe and regulate their emotion circuitry.
- 13:55In play therapy we're doing that as well.
- 13:58And as we sync up with them and we do that co-regulation in the session, then our clients will naturally kind of downregulate their threat circuits in order to feel safe and then engage in a deeper way, because now they have access to their social engagement circuits.
- 14:25So how do we do that?
- 14:28How do we engage clients who've experienced trauma specifically is what we're talking about in this episode.
- 14:38So we know we need to establish that safe security.
- 14:42We know that this will help to co-regulate, help their emotion regulation circuitry in the play therapy process, and by helping them feel safe.
- 14:55And so one of the things that I thought of when I, um.
- 15:04Sorry, I was looking at I, so those of you watching on YouTube and LinkedIn, you'll notice I have these fancy little banners at the bottom of the screen and those of you on Instagram don't get to see it.
- 15:17'cause I can't use Stream Yard.
- 15:19Well, I can use Streamy Yard on Instagram, but it is so clunky.
- 15:23So I just kind of simultaneously stream using my phone.
- 15:27While I'm also using my computer to use StreamYard.
- 15:33So, uh, I got a little distracted there'cause my, my banners weren't, um, accurate to what I was talking about, but now they are, my, my banners are correct.
- 15:44So creating that safe space for healing.
- 15:48And so I kind of came up with this framework that I call the B five framework.
- 15:55So.
- 15:56How do you, how, what is your way of being in the play therapy session?
- 16:04And so I'm gonna go through, and these are just five, five components to think about as far as our way of being in the play therapy session to facilitate healing for children who've experienced trauma.
- 16:21I use this for, for, all of the presenting issues that I've ex, um, worked with, with children, adolescents, I would say adults as well.
- 16:32And, uh, but today we're gonna talk about it specifically for trauma.
- 16:38And so the first, the first one is to be fully present, be fully present.
- 16:46In the moment, and here's where I think that idea of resonance circuits can be extremely beneficial.
- 16:56And what do I mean by that?
- 16:57What I mean by that is have you ever sat in a session with a client or you're in in play therapy session and you are just, still, you're just still internally regulated.
- 17:14You're fully present in the moment and you're kind of picking up on things going on with your client, like you kind of sense maybe some fear or anxiety or anger or some something.
- 17:34Sometimes I don't always know what it is either.
- 17:37It might take me a minute.
- 17:39And when I'm still, and I'm fully present in the moment, that's when I'm really engaging my neuroception circus to tune in and and sync up.
- 17:51So that synchronicity between my client and myself happens when I'm fully present in the moment, and then I can use that information to help me understand what's going on.
- 18:08As well as help my client feel seen, heard, and understood.
- 18:15And how many times, how many of you have ever had this experience where you are just really having a rough day and things aren't going well, and you're just really struggling, really hurting, maybe working through a painful issue.
- 18:35And you go and talk to your, your person, right?
- 18:39Maybe it's your friend, maybe it's your partner, where you, you're telling them what's going on.
- 18:48They're not fixing it for you.
- 18:51They're just fully present in a compassionate way, helping you feel seen, feel heard, and feel understood.
- 19:02How healing is that, right?
- 19:04Just our therapeutic presence can be healing in and of itself.
- 19:12And so to me, that's one.
- 19:14So whenever I, whenever I, um, do training.
- 19:20So I do a lot of trainings, I do a lot of consultation and play therapy, so, Renewing Hearts Play Therapy training.
- 19:30That's where I have a lot of co do consultation with my, um, Play Therapy Academy program.
- 19:38And I have another membership that I, that I launched LA last, um, March and I had to change the name on that one.
- 19:47So it was previous call Play Therapy Collective.
- 19:50It is now, uh, being called Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
- 19:57That one is kind of closed right now 'cause it's in the beta mood.
- 20:01Beta mode, and we're getting that one work out.
- 20:02But consultation in there.
- 20:05Play Therapy Academy is my kind of VIP like cons online consultation program.
- 20:12I. And then also a lot of trainings.
- 20:15Like I have this trauma training coming up, which I'll talk a little bit more about.
- 20:20But there are three pillars that I like to focus on.
- 20:24I promise this will fit into the topic that we're talking about.
- 20:27I just wanna really tie in therapeutic presence and the use of therapeutic presence.
- 20:34So today we're talking about therapeutic presence.
- 20:38It's, it's one of three pillars.
- 20:42Or, uh, legs to a stool, if we wanna use the stool metaphor.
- 20:47But it's one of three pillars that is important when we're providing play therapy.
- 20:53So one pillar is the use of therapeutic presence for congruence and creating that sense of safety and security, co-regulation, all the, all those things.
- 21:08Are important about that therapeutic use of self or therapeutic presence, that's today's topic.
- 21:15Balanced out with theoretical application.
- 21:19So how are we conceptualizing that case?
- 21:22Conceptualization using a theory model.
- 21:25So theory is another one that gives us wisdom of how to make sense of things and how to show up.
- 21:35What, how are we showing up?
- 21:37Child-Centered Play therapy model is going to use a different way of being in many ways than maybe Adlerian play therapy or if you're using an integrated approach.
- 21:51There are similarities across all play therapy models for sure, for therapeutic presence, and there are some differences.
- 22:02So your, your theoretical model is gonna influence your case conceptualization and how you're making sense of things and how you're showing up.
- 22:09And then the third pillar that I like to integrate is research.
- 22:14So staying up to date, using those insights from research to help make sure that the play therapy model that we're using is really effective and giving us new, new insights about what's gonna work, maybe how to think about things differently.
- 22:37And so it's, to me, it's three pillars.
- 22:40Using the insight of, of research with the wisdom of a therapeutic model within the context of a strong therapeutic relationship.
- 22:50So the first one being fully present is about our therapeutic presence and how that therapeutic presence is healing in and of itself.
- 23:02It's gonna be influenced, uh, a little bit by our theory model in terms of how do we show up.
- 23:08But across all models being fully present is universal, I think.
- 23:16And so the second thing, which ties into being fully present, the, the second thing is be accepting and empathic.
- 23:26So this is where we tap into congruence.
- 23:31So congruence is, um, how am I, I have to really internally tap into feeling empathic and accepting.
- 23:44So accepting doesn't mean we don't set limits.
- 23:47Sometimes we set limits.
- 23:48Because in order to be accepting and empathic, we need to have limits in the playroom, there are certain things that cannot happen.
- 23:57Safety of toys, safety of therapists, safety of child.
- 24:00Safety of playroom, safety of child, safety of therapists.
- 24:05And if something is like for, here's an example, if I have, this is, and some of it's our personal personal boundaries.
- 24:13Personal limits.
- 24:14Like where do I need to set a limit in order to show up being accepting and empathic.
- 24:21So for me, a personal limit is I cannot play board games all day long, every single day.
- 24:28If I had to play board games, every session, every, every day, I would lose my mind.
- 24:37Like, I like board games, but there's a limit to the board games that I can tolerate.
- 24:42So I, I don't tend to use a lot of board games.
- 24:48I do use board games when I'm using more of an integrative approach.
- 24:54If the, if I'm using child-centered play therapy and there's a board game in the room and the client wants to use a board game, we're using a board game.
- 25:02Um, so there are limits.
- 25:05Being accepting and empathic doesn't mean we don't set limits.
- 25:10We do.
- 25:11We need to set limits so we can be accepting and empathic in the session.
- 25:18And so for congruence.
- 25:20That's where we're really tapping into internally that unconditional positive regard for our clients.
- 25:30And then, then, because we're feeling it internally, it shows up externally.
- 25:38So our clients are, remember we're doing that resonance circuitry thing where we're syncing up.
- 25:45So in order for my client to feel safe, they also need to feel like they matter, that they are accepted, that they are valuable.
- 25:59That's that healing component of that therapeutic rapport.
- 26:06So the third, the third thing, third component is be curious.
- 26:11I've always, um, kind of thought of curiosity as a way to avoid getting into clients feeling on the spot when asking questions or exploring, exploring things.
- 26:32There are certain, like asking questions can automatically put people on the defensive.
- 26:40And so if we're exploring and processing, when we're using more of, uh, a non, so this is non-child centered play therapy.
- 26:49If you're asking questions, you are not in child centered play therapy.
- 26:53Um, any questions.
- 26:56If you're asking questions, it's not child led.
- 26:58But for all the other models you can ask questions.
- 27:02Um, so being curious allows that kind of nonjudgmental possibility of showing up.
- 27:14It invites a client into process rather than making them feel like they have to ask a question.
- 27:24I always look at it like Colombo mode.
- 27:27If any of you watched the show Colombo, I, I've always, always, always called this my Colombo mode.
- 27:35Um, like Colombo was a, a detective on a, it was a, it was a TV show back in the seventies.
- 27:43Peter Falk played the Detective Colombo, and he was like this kind of frumpy, unassuming guy.
- 27:52And he would go in and he would use curiosity to explore things with clients like, you know, I'm curious about this, or, I'm, I'm wondering about that.
- 28:05Or, um, can you, you know, what, can you help me understand or um, you know, when this happened, I'm wondering what you were thinking.
- 28:18So, and our voice tone and all those things.
- 28:21We're using curiosity allows the ability to have clients feel like they have a, um, sense of control in the session, but also permission not to answer if they don't want to, they don't have to.
- 28:40Because if you want to create that safe space, they need to have a sense of control and permission again with boundaries in order to not if something's activating them.
- 28:58So this is when they're kind of, their alarm circuits are, are getting activated and they need a way to kind of deactivate a little bit and create a sense of safety for themselves.
- 29:13Okay, so I'm gonna do a full disclosure here.
- 29:16Right now my to dog, my dog, Luna, which.
- 29:22Oh, she heard me say her name.
- 29:24My dog, Luna has now entered the room.
- 29:27If you're watching on the video, you might see her, especially on LinkedIn or YouTube.
- 29:33You might see her little tail in the background.
- 29:36I've seen that sometimes when I've gone through and kind of edited some of the replays to, to repurpose them.
- 29:43I see her little tail in the background, but what you might also hear is Luna in the background, moaning and scratching and flapping her ears rolling around on the carpet.
- 29:54So if you hear any weird sounds in the background, it's my dog, Luna.
- 30:01There's nothing, uh, strange going on in my background other than my, my, my dog, Luna.
- 30:10So, so a fourth thing for a component of creating that safe space as a play therapist is being playful.
- 30:20Being playful to help children access those therapeutic powers of play.
- 30:26So, being fully present in the moment, being accepting and empathic, being curious will allow clients to create a sense of safety.
- 30:41And then they can engage their social engagement circuits to access their play circuitry.
- 30:49And when they can access their play circuitry, they can access those therapeutic powers of play.
- 30:55Plus for children, how do you build relationship with children?
- 31:02You play with them.
- 31:04How do you build relationships with a grownup?
- 31:08Even a teenager, I would say, um, the high, the older the teenager is, the higher the likelihood, excuse me.
- 31:17What I'm about to say is to develop a relationship with teenagers and adults, you need to talk with them.
- 31:27Then you can get them to engage in any kind of expressive arts activity.
- 31:34To develop relationship with children, you need to play with them first before you start doing tons of talking.
- 31:41And the thing that sets play therapy apart from just pulling out games and toys in the, in your office, is understanding how to help children, adolescents, even adults, access the therapeutic powers of play.
- 32:00And this is where your theory model comes in because your theory model will influence how you help children and adolescents access those therapeutic powers of play.
- 32:14How you make sense of what's going on in the session and how you make sense of, and figure out where they are in the change process.
- 32:24So play therapy is really the foundational part of that is helping clients access the therapeutic powers of play.
- 32:34So being playful with children helps them to feel safe because that's their language, right?
- 32:43And then they can access those therapeutic powers of play.
- 32:47And then the fifth component is what I call be aware.
- 32:51So be aware.
- 32:53Uh, so if, especially if you're, if you're using a specific theory model, then you're aware of what your theory model says about like the initial stage of play therapy.
- 33:05How are you establishing that safety and security in that first stage of play therapy?
- 33:13How you show up, the way you show up in sessions for child-centered play therapy is gonna be a little different than like Adlerian play therapy or Gestalt play therapy, or even an integrated model, unless you're integrating in some child-centered play therapy in there.
- 33:36I know I just made people who are strict child-centered play therapist a little, twitch there a little bit and I, I don't mean to do that, but I think there are components of child-centered play therapy.
- 33:48Like your way of being, your way of allowing children to lead, giving up control.
- 33:55I think that can be really useful and.
- 33:59I, I, I always say for if all the theory models, if you wanna learn how to let children lead a bit, little bit, you can learn a lot from child-centered play therapy.
- 34:10Um, so when, when you are, when you're using play therapy, you wanna be aware of the theory model that you're using, even when you're using an integrated model.
- 34:24So you're thinking if you're using, like when you're working with trauma we are, it's not uncommon.
- 34:30A lot of times we'll look at cognitive distortion, so some of those lies that they believe about themselves as a result of that traumatic experience.
- 34:43And so it, let's even look at this developmental trauma where we have the attachment wound in there with the trauma wound and how does that influence their beliefs about themselves, others, and relationships and the world.
- 35:01Trauma will, will, um, impact your way of experiencing the world around you, because now your threat circuits are on high alert all of the time, so you're kind of hypervigilant.
- 35:18And so it's a lot of the trauma models will use uh, components of exploring thinking errors or distortions, I call them lies that we believe to that are activating those threat circuits.
- 35:36And I would say even, um, your, your, and so if we're using more of a mind body model, like somatic experiencing or the trauma model that I was trained in.
- 35:52Let's see, about like 15 years ago, 14, 15 years ago, um, was a model that was developed by the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children.
- 36:05It was a model, it, which is evidence-based of, pretty sure it's still evidence-based.
- 36:11I'm, I'm, I let my certification lapse just, it was so hard back then to get the trainings 'cause I had to fly to Texas and the only office, this is way before we started doing things on the internet like we do now.
- 36:26I've actually looked back into it getting like, uh, renewing my certification.
- 36:31But anyway, so this specific model, um, really what I loved about it is accessing sensory aspects of the the trauma.
- 36:46So understanding that trauma impacts us implicitly through our sensory circuits, that internal sensory processing and how that mind body experiences.
- 37:02I'm taking information in through my body and then, you know, bottom up kind of processing and then how does that influence top down processing?
- 37:11And so if we're using that model, then we're gonna wanna integrate in how are we using our presence for establishing that felt sense of safety and security.
- 37:28How are we helping children through all of their sensory aspects feel safe?
- 37:39So be aware of your theory model.
- 37:41Be aware of your language.
- 37:43What language are you using?
- 37:45How are you saying things?
- 37:47Um, that's where curiosity can come in.
- 37:50Also, depending on your theory model, the how you talk in the sessions is going to be influenced by your theory model.
- 37:58Definitely is for child-centered play therapy.
- 38:00'cause there's a way that you do the tracking that's gonna be different than if you're using Adlerian play therapy or Gestalt play therapy.
- 38:08And then you also want to be aware of your non-verbals, right?
- 38:14So we're talking about that sensory aspect and all those nonverbal messages that we send through where we're sitting.
- 38:24How close is my client comfortable with me sitting?
- 38:28Some clients need to be farther away.
- 38:30Some clients want to be closer.
- 38:32So I'm mindful, and again, I have to be fully present in the moment to pick up on these things.
- 38:37Right?
- 38:38And I'm mindful of my client's responses to me.
- 38:44I'm picking up on their body positioning.
- 38:47I'm picking up on their nonverbal language so I can do the, the last thing in this category, be aware of how you're present in sessions is, um, be aware of the, you are using that information to help.
- 39:04Be aware of pacing.
- 39:06What is the pacing of the sessions if, and you're taking in all that body language and all those nonverbals connecting because you're fully present in the moment, resonating, sinking up, taking in all of that information to help you pace the sessions with your clients.
- 39:26Because if you go too fast it will feel unsafe.
- 39:32And when you hit those parts in the the deeper level change stage of play therapy, you're gonna need them, you're to feel safe in order to work through some of those challenging things.
- 39:47You pacing is going to help to maintain that sense of safety and security in the sessions because maybe if you've hit a a kind of a really challenging spot.
- 40:00Then maybe you follow their lead and like pull back the pacing a little bit in the session.
- 40:07And when I say pacing, I mean like what are you addressing in the sessions?
- 40:15So for child-centered play therapy, you're always gonna be following.
- 40:20Um, but the other models, you're, sometimes you're gonna lead and sometimes you're gonna follow.
- 40:26And so that pacing is gonna help you be aware of knowing when you need to lead, but maybe when you need to follow or maybe when you need to lead by doing something that's maybe more soothing to help regulate those nervous systems.
- 40:42So that is it for today, and let me just kind of do a quick recap.
- 40:49So trauma, what we know, the impact of trauma on the nervous system when we're thinking about creating a sense of safety and security is that their, their nervous systems are in a heightened state of alert.
- 41:06And so we are going to use our therapeutic presence to help establish that sense of safety and security in the sessions.
- 41:16What we're also doing is getting that sense of synchronicity.
- 41:21Syncing up with their neuro systems for co-regulation and helping their nervous system to to deactivate those threat circuits so their body can feel safe, and that allows them to engage their social engagement circuits, which then allows them to engage their play circuits.
- 41:47And so when we're thinking about the components of creating that safe space and that therapeutic use of self.
- 41:56Then we're thinking about, like the framework that I have is called the B five framework.
- 42:01And you're being fully present in the moment.
- 42:04You're being empathic and accepting, setting limits when you need to'cause you can't be accepting and empathic, um, if you are dreading them coming into your office.
- 42:17And so you want to ha be empathic and accepting so you can really fully engage in congruence.
- 42:27So access congruence to demonstrate unconditional positive regard and empathy in the sessions.
- 42:35You wanna be playful, you're accessing those therapeutic powers of play.
- 42:40In order to do that, you need to play with children.
- 42:45Um, but, but also, um, remember, if you're working with teenagers, they need you to talk to them first a little bit before you can get them to be playful for children.
- 42:58They need you to be playful and then that helps to develop the rapport.
- 43:04Be curious.
- 43:05That helps you to invite them into the processing rather than feeling like they're put on the spot.
- 43:14And then be aware of your theory model.
- 43:17Be aware of the language that you're using.
- 43:20Be aware of non-verbals, your body positioning, and also be aware of the pacing of the sessions.
- 43:29So that is it for today.
- 43:33Um, so if you are interested.
- 43:38I do have a training coming up.
- 43:42It's called Healing Trauma Through Play Therapy.
- 43:48Using a, a neuroscience and attachment approach.
- 43:52So it's a one day training, it's gonna be in person in southern Utah.
- 43:57It is beautiful in southern Utah.
- 43:59For those of you who can't attend in person, there will be a virtual option.
- 44:04So we're gonna, so case conceptualization is gonna be using a neuroscience and attachment lens to really understand trauma and how trauma impacts children and adolescents, and then using that theoretical lens to look at all each stage of change.
- 44:28So what are you, what are, what are you working on in play therapy?
- 44:33What are the stages that you're working on?
- 44:36What are you gonna do?
- 44:37What can you do?
- 44:38We'll do a lot of experiential activities and a lot of time.
- 44:43I think the other part is with the trainings.
- 44:46I think it's also a nice time to come together with other play therapists.
- 44:51Get ideas, get rejuvenated, so if you're able to come in person.
- 44:57That's awesome.
- 44:59If you're not able to come in person, then definitely there is a virtual option.
- 45:05The training is gonna take place on Saturday, May 17th, so if you're interested in the training, then pop over to my website on the course page.
- 45:17It's called Healing Trauma Through Play Therapy, a neuroscience and Attachment Approach.
- 45:23The website is RH play therapy training.com.
- 45:30That's renewing hearts play therapy training.com/courses.
- 45:35So you wanna pop over to the courses page and register soon.
- 45:40There's early bird pricing, so if you wanna take advantage of that early bird pricing, then you're gonna wanna register soon.
- 45:47And that is it for today, and I will see you guys next week.
- 45:53Bye for now.
- 45:59Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
- 46:03I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
- 46:12If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
- 46:18Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
- 46:24Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
- 46:29Whether 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.
- 46:40If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
- 46:47Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Heart's Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
- 46:59Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
- 47:03Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.