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How to Avoid Burnout and Create Meaningful Change in Play Therapy · 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.
• 0:17
  Cathi Spooner: 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: All righty.
• 0:47
  Cathi Spooner: Well welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:55
  Cathi Spooner: Today I wanna talk about something that I think doesn't get talked about very much in the play therapy community, and that is actually being part of community, I feel like we say in the mental health space.
• 1:13
  Cathi Spooner: That consultation is good.
• 1:15
  Cathi Spooner: And, and I am, I, I am one of those people too.
• 1:20
  Cathi Spooner: Like I am talking to myself as well.
• 1:25
  Cathi Spooner: I feel like we talk about getting consultation and being part of, uh, um, having others in our mental health field, in our specific area of expertise, but.
• 1:42
  Cathi Spooner: So we talk about it and then we don't often do it.
• 1:47
  Cathi Spooner: And I think sometimes that's because people don't know where, like, where can I get support?
• 1:54
  Cathi Spooner: Where can I get that community?
• 1:56
  Cathi Spooner: And I think other times we think we don't need it because.
• 2:01
  Cathi Spooner: We're experienced or we honestly don't wanna look bad in front of other people.
• 2:10
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and one of the things that I have heard over and over and over and over several years back now, um, and since, since I started my, my, um, I don't wanna say signature, but.
• 2:29
  Cathi Spooner: I'll just say Play Therapy Academy, which is my higher level consultation program.
• 2:36
  Cathi Spooner: And then now that I've started Play Therapy Elevation Circle, which is more my community and consultation program available to more people, just by the very nature of that, I can open it up and and allow that benefit.
• 2:57
  Cathi Spooner: Connecting with other play therapists.
• 2:59
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause I, I feel like that that was missing in our community.
• 3:03
  Cathi Spooner: But one of the things that I hear all the time is I'm the only play therapist in my agency, or I'm in practice private practice, and I'm the only play therapist in the group of offices, that office suite where I am.
• 3:26
  Cathi Spooner: Or, um, maybe I have a private practice and I have one or two other play therapy or expressive arts.
• 3:38
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause play therapy is one type of expressive art.
• 3:41
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe I am in a group of a variety of expressive arts mental health professionals and no one like.
• 3:55
  Cathi Spooner: Gets play therapy and what I hear a lot, I mean, have you ever had this happen?
• 4:02
  Cathi Spooner: Right?
• 4:02
  Cathi Spooner: You've had a rough week.
• 4:06
  Cathi Spooner: And I've had this happen.
• 4:07
  Cathi Spooner: I remember a few times when I had a play therapy session and I was in private practice.
• 4:14
  Cathi Spooner: I had, you know, I went through licensing, I had my supervision, then I did my play therapy credentialing process, and I had my supervisor then, and now I'm out on my own and I have nobody.
• 4:27
  Cathi Spooner: And I had a session, actually there were a couple incidents, but there's one session in particular that freaked me out and the whole time in the session, I'm thinking to myself, just stay calm.
• 4:42
  Cathi Spooner: Just stay calm.
• 4:43
  Cathi Spooner: Just stay calm.
• 4:44
  Cathi Spooner: It'll be okay, you know?
• 4:46
  Cathi Spooner: Just be fully present in the moment.
• 4:49
  Cathi Spooner: Set some limits where you need to set some limits.
• 4:52
  Cathi Spooner: But after the session was over and I delivered the child safely to their parent and what they were the last client of the day, I thought to myself, oh my God.
• 5:03
  Cathi Spooner: Oh my God.
• 5:03
  Cathi Spooner: Oh my God.
• 5:04
  Cathi Spooner: Oh my God, oh my God.
• 5:06
  Cathi Spooner: What just happened?
• 5:07
  Cathi Spooner: What just happened?
• 5:08
  Cathi Spooner: And I desperately needed another plea therapist to get it.
• 5:15
  Cathi Spooner: Who would get it to help me unpack what had just happened.
• 5:20
  Cathi Spooner: And fortunately, I did have a friend that I called and she helped me, um, and we kind of unpacked it together, which was nice.
• 5:31
  Cathi Spooner: But what it highlighted for me is we can't do this alone.
• 5:35
  Cathi Spooner: It's just not, uh, we're not in a profession that we can do alone, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that we work with human beings and we're a human being and there are, when we show up, that therapeutic use of self where I therapeutically bring all of my professional self.
• 6:05
  Cathi Spooner: Into the play therapy community or into the play therapy session that that's exhausting.
• 6:13
  Cathi Spooner: Do that day after day session, client after client, after client, after client, after client, day after day, after day after day.
• 6:23
  Cathi Spooner: I am a firm believer that as play therapists.
• 6:27
  Cathi Spooner: We need to have a space where we can unpack things, where we can be vulnerable and share our fears.
• 6:40
  Cathi Spooner: Risk looking like the fool that we think we're gonna look like.
• 6:44
  Cathi Spooner: And we're probably not gonna look like a place where we're, if we're having like, oh my gosh.
• 6:51
  Cathi Spooner: Is that an ethics issue?
• 6:52
  Cathi Spooner: What do I need to do about that?
• 6:55
  Cathi Spooner: A place where there are others who understand play therapy and that we can, we can get some help.
• 7:06
  Cathi Spooner: Unpacking that.
• 7:08
  Cathi Spooner: So that is what we are talking about today because I also am a firm believer that burnout is an ethics issue.
• 7:19
  Cathi Spooner: I kind of have this conversation, um, a lot lately and, um.
• 7:29
  Cathi Spooner: I, I think we don't talk about that either.
• 7:31
  Cathi Spooner: Burnout as an ethics issue.
• 7:34
  Cathi Spooner: And there I had a, and it, this was like probably a year ago and something happened and I was like, oh my gosh.
• 7:42
  Cathi Spooner: I, I had a fire lit under my little B behind and I was.
• 7:48
  Cathi Spooner: Looking for data.
• 7:49
  Cathi Spooner: So I, I went into the professional, uh, university library and I went down the rabbit trail and lo and behold I was right.
• 8:03
  Cathi Spooner: So I, I think it's, it's not something we talk about burnout, and I, I don't mean to say that in a shaming way because I really believe agencies.
• 8:14
  Cathi Spooner: Organizations, if you work in an organization or if you work in an agency, I really believe that we need to create an environment that supports our therapists and reduces impact while also making sure that we.
• 8:37
  Cathi Spooner: That we keep up with the requirements of documentation and doing the psychosocial and all of those things.
• 8:43
  Cathi Spooner: It's a balancing thing, and so I think as play therapists.
• 8:48
  Cathi Spooner: With play therapy and play therapy documentation and working with children, and how do you handle and manage parents?
• 8:58
  Cathi Spooner: What do you do in these situations?
• 9:01
  Cathi Spooner: I, I believe there's an ethics part of burnout as well, where.
• 9:06
  Cathi Spooner: We need to support each other.
• 9:08
  Cathi Spooner: And what exactly is gonna that gonna look like?
• 9:11
  Cathi Spooner: It doesn't mean don't do your documentation, it means that's my other pet peeve.
• 9:17
  Cathi Spooner: Um, it means how are we managing our schedules?
• 9:23
  Cathi Spooner: How are we managing our caseloads?
• 9:25
  Cathi Spooner: How are we connecting with others and getting support?
• 9:30
  Cathi Spooner: Because I believe, especially as I have witnessed what has happened in Play Therapy Academy and now that I've started Play Therapy Elevation Circle, I've we're, you know, witnessing that as well.
• 9:49
  Cathi Spooner: I think community.
• 9:52
  Cathi Spooner: Is part of the self care that we do.
• 9:56
  Cathi Spooner: I think self care is other things as well, for sure.
• 9:58
  Cathi Spooner: Like getting out into nature for me is my self care.
• 10:02
  Cathi Spooner: Being with my family grounds me.
• 10:04
  Cathi Spooner: I need my family time.
• 10:06
  Cathi Spooner: I'm kind of a homebody, but I do like to travel, but I need my people.
• 10:11
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I think all of these things are important and that's what today we are gonna talk about is.
• 10:21
  Cathi Spooner: Being connected, being supported, not being alone.
• 10:26
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapist, what are your options and what are, what are the benefits of getting support?
• 10:35
  Cathi Spooner: So that's what we're talking about today, which is um, oh, it looks like.
• 10:47
  Cathi Spooner: Okay.
• 10:48
  Cathi Spooner: Um, sorry, I'm looking at my, my, um, stream yard and I'm like, oh, all my banners are wrong.
• 10:54
  Cathi Spooner: So we won't have banners today for those of you on LinkedIn.
• 10:58
  Cathi Spooner: For those of you on Instagram, you don't get them, so you won't know what I'm talking about.
• 11:04
  Cathi Spooner: Um, all right, so the first thing that I wanna talk about is.
• 11:09
  Cathi Spooner: The problem with working alone as a play therapist.
• 11:15
  Cathi Spooner: So how many times raise your virtual hand, or for those of you watching the replay, or those of you listening to the podcast episode, if you're listening to the podcast, send me a DM man.
• 11:30
  Cathi Spooner: Um, if you're watching the relay replay post in the comments.
• 11:35
  Cathi Spooner: So how many of you have ever had this happen?
• 11:39
  Cathi Spooner: Raise your virtual hand.
• 11:42
  Cathi Spooner: You are in your office, your play, your client.
• 11:48
  Cathi Spooner: You guys are having a, just a, a rambunctious play therapy session and it's amazing and awesome, and your client is getting it done, accessing those therapeutic powers of play and.
• 12:05
  Cathi Spooner: Session is over and you're thinking to yourself, oh, that was so awesome my, my client worked through so many awesome things.
• 12:13
  Cathi Spooner: And then you're in your office cleaning up, getting ready for the next one.
• 12:19
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe at the end of the day, one of you or suite mates comes up to you or another person kind of around your office comes up to you and says, Hey, you guys are too loud.
• 12:30
  Cathi Spooner: Can you just keep it down in there?
• 12:32
  Cathi Spooner: You're really interfering with my.
• 12:35
  Cathi Spooner: Sessions, my, and they're an adult, uh, therapist, so they don't, and they don't get it.
• 12:43
  Cathi Spooner: And I mean, I get it.
• 12:44
  Cathi Spooner: It, it can be loud and if you're, it can be hard trying to juggle being with, in a office suite with just other individual around.
• 12:56
  Cathi Spooner: I mean, that it's, it's legitimate.
• 12:59
  Cathi Spooner: And at the same time, if.
• 13:02
  Cathi Spooner: You know, you're not gonna interfere with what your client is doing.
• 13:11
  Cathi Spooner: Oh my gosh, I just lost connections.
• 13:15
  Cathi Spooner: I don't know what is going on with LinkedIn today.
• 13:18
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I just lo I keep losing connection so, um, I know my virtual assistant Brill is watching.
• 13:26
  Cathi Spooner: So Brill, will you just post the replay on LinkedIn?
• 13:31
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause I don't know what's going on with LinkedIn today.
• 13:34
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so those of you watching on YouTube and Instagram, we'll get the live version.
• 13:41
  Cathi Spooner: All righty.
• 13:41
  Cathi Spooner: So, I mean, how many of you have, have had that happen?
• 13:45
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 13:48
  Cathi Spooner: In your, your offices, um, or maybe you've had a tough thing go on and you don't have anybody to talk to in your agency, and you kind of feel like you're the lone person in your agency and you don't have anybody to talk to about play therapy or get support, and you're just trying to muddle through.
• 14:13
  Cathi Spooner: Do the best that you can to get it done.
• 14:17
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe you're a seasoned play therapist and you've been doing for a while, so you're pretty comfortable.
• 14:23
  Cathi Spooner: And I mean, we all have those cases where we struggle with them and it can be challenging.
• 14:31
  Cathi Spooner: So.
• 14:32
  Cathi Spooner: To me, when you're struggling with a client or when you are trying to figure out the best strategies, or maybe you worry that it's not working, or how many of you get the frantic phone calls or texts or emails between sessions from parents who are saying it's not working, and you feel that pressure to.
• 15:01
  Cathi Spooner: Make everything better, and so then you kind of start feeling a little overwhelmed and anxious yourself, and then go down that rabbit hole of looking on the internet for ideas and resources and maybe filling up your Amazon cart with.
• 15:21
  Cathi Spooner: With books, with play therapy activities.
• 15:24
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause now you feel kind of frantic to get this fixed because parents are telling you it's not working and you think to yourself, well I wanna prove to them that play therapy does work, so I have to figure out how to fix this.
• 15:38
  Cathi Spooner: And so then you kind of go through and and start kind of using play therapy activities, hoping something is gonna stick eventually.
• 15:50
  Cathi Spooner: To me, if you have a play therapy community and you, you have a place where you can get consultation.
• 15:57
  Cathi Spooner: Then one of the things that we do in Play Therapy, elevation Circle, and we also do in Play Therapy Academy, one of the things that we do is we will, we will go step by step through case conceptualization.
• 16:11
  Cathi Spooner: We'll look at your play therapy model.
• 16:13
  Cathi Spooner: We'll look at a lot of different factors of what's going on.
• 16:17
  Cathi Spooner: We'll look at how your play therapy model.
• 16:21
  Cathi Spooner: Um, explains the problem and then from there we figure out what to do.
• 16:27
  Cathi Spooner: And to me, that's, and then you not only have my almost 35 years of experience, you have the collective wisdom.
• 16:38
  Cathi Spooner: Of the people in the group and the power of community that I have seen over and over and over is that even so you have, you have seasoned people.
• 16:52
  Cathi Spooner: Again, elevation Circle.
• 16:54
  Cathi Spooner: We have a seasoned people, new people, medium, medium, experienced people.
• 16:59
  Cathi Spooner: We have a variety of levels, and for those of you who are new to the profession.
• 17:08
  Cathi Spooner: I think you often underestimate what you do know intuitively and so, and then the seasoned people, we need help too.
• 17:19
  Cathi Spooner: And when you see all of that work together in the community where you get the support one, you have other people who get it.
• 17:30
  Cathi Spooner: Like I can't tell you how often.
• 17:34
  Cathi Spooner: One person has been staffing their case and talking about what's going on, and then another person will say, you know, I had that same thing going on.
• 17:44
  Cathi Spooner: Only it looks a little bit this way, or I had that problem.
• 17:52
  Cathi Spooner: And here's how we worked through it, and it actually did work.
• 17:56
  Cathi Spooner: So we kind of encourage each other, we give each other support.
• 18:00
  Cathi Spooner: You realize you're not the only one.
• 18:03
  Cathi Spooner: You realize you're, you have more experience and wisdom and insight than you think you do.
• 18:10
  Cathi Spooner: So your confidence grows, your skills grow.
• 18:14
  Cathi Spooner: And.
• 18:15
  Cathi Spooner: And using community, you don't get as burned out.
• 18:20
  Cathi Spooner: You have a place where you can get support.
• 18:24
  Cathi Spooner: Like I remember way, way, way back in the day when I was just getting started in private practice and I was kind of.
• 18:35
  Cathi Spooner: Um, struggling and I, I wanted my community of support, so I connected with some other therapists.
• 18:45
  Cathi Spooner: They were adult therapists though, because I was, I was the only play therapist I knew in my community.
• 18:54
  Cathi Spooner: Um, there was one other play therapist, but she moved.
• 18:59
  Cathi Spooner: Back to her town.
• 19:01
  Cathi Spooner: Um, 'cause she was commuting over to my town.
• 19:04
  Cathi Spooner: She wanted to be closer to home.
• 19:06
  Cathi Spooner: So I was the only play therapist in my whole entire community.
• 19:13
  Cathi Spooner: And I lived outside Washington, DC so, um, it's not like it was more where I am now in southern Nevada, more rural.
• 19:22
  Cathi Spooner: There were a lot of people around.
• 19:23
  Cathi Spooner: I think at the time there were 450 people in the county.
• 19:27
  Cathi Spooner: I lived.
• 19:28
  Cathi Spooner: I would say probably half of that was in the community where I live, probably 200 people.
• 19:33
  Cathi Spooner: So I was the only play therapist back in the day.
• 19:38
  Cathi Spooner: And so for me, some support was better than no support and they were awesome.
• 19:43
  Cathi Spooner: I loved these ladies.
• 19:45
  Cathi Spooner: We got together, they helped me grow in in business and looking at things a different way, but they couldn't help me with play therapy, so.
• 19:56
  Cathi Spooner: They were really supportive though, but when it came to play therapy ideas and applying a play therapy model that was not getting it done.
• 20:06
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so I kind of muddled that way a little bit without that kind of support.
• 20:14
  Cathi Spooner: And to me that kind of highlighted the importance of having.
• 20:20
  Cathi Spooner: A play therapy community, a community of play therapists who get it and understand it.
• 20:27
  Cathi Spooner: And so that, that was really helpful.
• 20:31
  Cathi Spooner: And now I see that.
• 20:33
  Cathi Spooner: The communities that Play Therapy Academy and Play Therapy, elevation Circle.
• 20:39
  Cathi Spooner: That's what we do in there.
• 20:41
  Cathi Spooner: Support each other and I'll talk a little bit more about that.
• 20:45
  Cathi Spooner: I'm also gonna talk to you about a free webinar that I have coming up in a couple of weeks in case you're interested in that.
• 20:52
  Cathi Spooner: So you'll wanna stay tuned to the end.
• 20:54
  Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna tell you a little bit more about that.
• 20:57
  Cathi Spooner: So how can community help you?
• 21:01
  Cathi Spooner: Be a better, a better play therapist.
• 21:04
  Cathi Spooner: So here's the thing.
• 21:06
  Cathi Spooner: When you have a community of play therapists, then you have access to people who are also reading books, who are also looking at research, who are also taking trainings.
• 21:21
  Cathi Spooner: And they're, they, they, they may have a specific play therapy model that they're learning how to apply.
• 21:28
  Cathi Spooner: You can, and so you have.
• 21:32
  Cathi Spooner: Of, and they all have kind of their unique way of looking at things and their unique kind of gifts and talents that they bring to the group.
• 21:44
  Cathi Spooner: And so what I've seen over and over, and I love this part of the community, which is we'll be staffing a case.
• 21:54
  Cathi Spooner: I'll be giving my insights, I'll kind of help people.
• 21:58
  Cathi Spooner: One of the things I'm really good at doing is like breaking things down, going kind of step by step.
• 22:04
  Cathi Spooner: Let's look at it in a systematic way, and then bring it all together and put a little attachment and humanness in there so that we use that connection as well.
• 22:16
  Cathi Spooner: That therapeutic relationship.
• 22:18
  Cathi Spooner: And what, when we have a community, what ends up happening is then somebody else will share some insights and looking at it slightly different way, and another person may say, Hey, I've tried it.
• 22:33
  Cathi Spooner: This, this strategy and it worked really well with my client, who sounds very similar to your client, so you get more of a, like a 360 degree support and it's not just you trying to figure it out.
• 22:52
  Cathi Spooner: That to me sometimes is where the burnout can come from.
• 22:56
  Cathi Spooner: You're kind of exhausted seeing client after client, after client after client.
• 23:00
  Cathi Spooner: Each day you are taking those phone calls from frantic parents or getting the emails in between, and then you don't have a place to unpack all of that, and so it can feel heavy.
• 23:15
  Cathi Spooner: Draining.
• 23:17
  Cathi Spooner: And one of the things I hear all the time in Play Therapy Academy and Elevation Circle is how much people feel refreshed and rejuvenated after they've had that place to unpack and unload and share some of what's going on makes a huge difference.
• 23:40
  Cathi Spooner: I think it also makes a huge difference in.
• 23:44
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the quality of play therapy services that you bring, I mean, doctors will go and they'll do grand, grand rounds, right?
• 23:55
  Cathi Spooner: They'll take their group of people and go.
• 23:58
  Cathi Spooner: Case by case, by case and get a lot of different, um, um, perspectives so that they can really provide their, provide support for their patients.
• 24:12
  Cathi Spooner: I think in mental health, that's an important thing too, where we have the ability to do that in an.
• 24:19
  Cathi Spooner: In some settings.
• 24:20
  Cathi Spooner: If you're alone, it's hard to do that if you're the only play therapist.
• 24:26
  Cathi Spooner: So I think, I think the other thing is the benefit is when you feel like you have a safe and supportive space to do that.
• 24:38
  Cathi Spooner: All of those nagging worries in the back of your head that are saying.
• 24:45
  Cathi Spooner: You're a failure.
• 24:46
  Cathi Spooner: You're not doing a good job.
• 24:49
  Cathi Spooner: These parents are gonna find out you're an imposter and in a fraud any day now.
• 24:56
  Cathi Spooner: Or, oh my gosh, I'm not doing a good job, I'm failing my client.
• 25:01
  Cathi Spooner: Then you end up feeling like you're failing yourself and you're not sure what to do, and you start feeling stuck and overwhelmed when you feel like you have a place to.
• 25:17
  Cathi Spooner: Come where there are other play therapists and you feel like you can be honest and share your vulnerabilities, share your fears.
• 25:29
  Cathi Spooner: That's when things begin to turn.
• 25:33
  Cathi Spooner: I mean, we, we know this as play therapists.
• 25:36
  Cathi Spooner: We know this as mental health people.
• 25:38
  Cathi Spooner: When our clients don't come in, when they come in and they're not really being honest with us and they're holding things back because they're ashamed or fearful, or.
• 25:50
  Cathi Spooner: Their trauma triggers are up, then their, you know, their walls are up.
• 25:54
  Cathi Spooner: We know when they're, we know they make progress when they can feel safe and begin to open up.
• 26:01
  Cathi Spooner: And we need that as play therapists where you have a place where you can safe and open up and bring your concerns so that you can get feedback.
• 26:13
  Cathi Spooner: And ideas and support, and then you actually then feel rejuvenated to go back out and do these things and feel like you have a plan to help your clients and you, you know, where you may need to set some boundaries.
• 26:31
  Cathi Spooner: Or you may need to, um, you got ideas or feedback about applying your plea therapy model more effectively where you might've been getting stuck, but you also get people telling you that you're doing well, like reinforcing that you're not doing as terrible a job as you think you're doing.
• 26:55
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but the other thing is, and I kind of mentioned this already, which is.
• 27:00
  Cathi Spooner: You can stay up to date.
• 27:01
  Cathi Spooner: There's no way that you can possibly know everything.
• 27:07
  Cathi Spooner: I've been doing this almost 35 years.
• 27:10
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, and there was a time where I thought, Ooh, I'm gonna learn everything.
• 27:13
  Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna stay up to date on everything.
• 27:16
  Cathi Spooner: I'm going to do all the things.
• 27:17
  Cathi Spooner: And then at some point I realized there's no way, there's just too much information out there and there are not enough days.
• 27:24
  Cathi Spooner: And yes, I have to get some self-care in.
• 27:27
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 27:28
  Cathi Spooner: So the thing about being part of a community is you have access to their brains.
• 27:34
  Cathi Spooner: You have access to what they've tried.
• 27:37
  Cathi Spooner: You have access to the training, the trainings that they've gone to, the books they've gone to, the resources they have available.
• 27:46
  Cathi Spooner: There may be specific.
• 27:48
  Cathi Spooner: Niches, like maybe somebody is more specialized in neurodiversity, maybe another person is more specialized in trauma, or another person may be more specialized in.
• 28:02
  Cathi Spooner: Um, anxiety or suicide or maybe somebody's more specialized in maybe atler and play therapy and another person more specialized in another, like maybe integrative.
• 28:19
  Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy Modality or maybe EMDR or maybe Somatic Experiencing or IFS, all the things.
• 28:27
  Cathi Spooner: So when you have a community and they're reading research studies and books, when you have a community, then you have access to all their brains and the c and As you're staffing cases, or also when they're staffing cases, you're learning from what they're.
• 28:47
  Cathi Spooner: Doing, you are learning from the feedback that they get.
• 28:51
  Cathi Spooner: So I think the growth kind of is exponentially fast tracked when you have that kind of community consultation where you get all those different brains coming together in one meeting and sharing ideas and inspiring each other and learning from each other and kind of growing together.
• 29:15
  Cathi Spooner: In that safe space.
• 29:18
  Cathi Spooner: So those are, um, the, those are ways in which can, being part of a community can actually help you be a better play therapist.
• 29:33
  Cathi Spooner: Then the third thing is there are some drawbacks.
• 29:37
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so I, I feel like wouldn't totally be addressing all of the things about burnout and support and community if we didn't really talk about some of the drawbacks to being part of a community.
• 29:53
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, one of those, it does require an investment of time.
• 29:59
  Cathi Spooner: It does sometimes, like in, uh, play therapy Academy.
• 30:02
  Cathi Spooner: That's my higher level, more intense small group.
• 30:07
  Cathi Spooner: Um, really limited number of people in that one.
• 30:12
  Cathi Spooner: There is a cost, a play therapy, elevation circle.
• 30:16
  Cathi Spooner: There are, um, there's a cost to that.
• 30:19
  Cathi Spooner: One's way, way, way less expensive.
• 30:21
  Cathi Spooner: Expensive 'cause I wanna make this one more accessible to people.
• 30:26
  Cathi Spooner: Um, there, there's a cost.
• 30:30
  Cathi Spooner: But think about it this way, how much time do you spend on the internet researching ideas or activities or going through Amazon or um, purchasing?
• 30:45
  Cathi Spooner: Uh.
• 30:46
  Cathi Spooner: Books for activities or ID ideas or going on YouTube and finding all the videos, or going on Pinterest or going into Etsy, how much time do you spend doing all of that?
• 31:04
  Cathi Spooner: Where if you had like a dedicated time, an hour and a half, once a month, where you know that's your dedicated time that you can get.
• 31:16
  Cathi Spooner: All of the ideas, it probably equals out.
• 31:23
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, and I think when you're part of a community, then it can be.
• 31:28
  Cathi Spooner: Even more effective though, more time efficient.
• 31:31
  Cathi Spooner: I always say work smarter, not harder.
• 31:33
  Cathi Spooner: Where if you have a a community, then you have a dedicated space and play therapy Elevation Circle.
• 31:39
  Cathi Spooner: We also have a community feature, so, and that, and that's true also in Play Therapy Academy.
• 31:46
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause I feel like in between meetings it'd be nice to have a place.
• 31:51
  Cathi Spooner: To, you know, ask for help.
• 31:54
  Cathi Spooner: Hey, anybody have these kind of resources or any ideas?
• 31:58
  Cathi Spooner: I'm feeling a little stuck.
• 32:00
  Cathi Spooner: Or, Hey, I just really had a bad day.
• 32:02
  Cathi Spooner: Here's what happened.
• 32:03
  Cathi Spooner: And we all get on there and do little heart, heart emojis, uh, in awe, we hear you.
• 32:11
  Cathi Spooner: So, um, if you have that dedicated space, then to me it kind of.
• 32:18
  Cathi Spooner: Balances out.
• 32:20
  Cathi Spooner: I think the question then becomes, do you see the value of being part of a community?
• 32:28
  Cathi Spooner: Do you see that value of not doing it alone?
• 32:34
  Cathi Spooner: Which brings me to the next kind of drawback, is you have to be willing to risk.
• 32:43
  Cathi Spooner: Meaning you have to be willing to risk opening up to share your vulnerabilities, to be honest about your fears.
• 32:54
  Cathi Spooner: That can be scary and overwhelming.
• 32:56
  Cathi Spooner: Um, 'cause you don't wanna look like the fool.
• 32:59
  Cathi Spooner: You don't wanna look like the only one who doesn't know.
• 33:02
  Cathi Spooner: Right?
• 33:02
  Cathi Spooner: That's why we don't raise our hand in class.
• 33:05
  Cathi Spooner: We don't wanna look like the only one who doesn't know.
• 33:08
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 33:10
  Cathi Spooner: But the thing is, if you have a community that is safe where you feel like you can risk that vulnerability and ask the questions, then you are gonna grow so much more.
• 33:27
  Cathi Spooner: It's those areas where we try to keep hidden away and pretend they don't.
• 33:36
  Cathi Spooner: They don't, uh, they're not there where we try to pretend we have it all together.
• 33:41
  Cathi Spooner: I mean, sometimes we have to do that, but we still need a space where we can go and say, oh my gosh, I'm so struggling putting that facade up day after day of trying to put that like.
• 33:58
  Cathi Spooner: Mask up of, I've got it all together.
• 34:01
  Cathi Spooner: I know everything while on the inside.
• 34:03
  Cathi Spooner: We're like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh.
• 34:05
  Cathi Spooner: I don't know what to do like, like me when I had that session, kind of freaked me out.
• 34:12
  Cathi Spooner: That was so hard to hold all of that because it was heavy.
• 34:16
  Cathi Spooner: And so being able to work that through with my friend and having her help me navigate and figure it out.
• 34:25
  Cathi Spooner: Lighten the load.
• 34:27
  Cathi Spooner: Plus, I did a better job when I, when I was able to risk looking like the fool.
• 34:35
  Cathi Spooner: I trusted my friend though, so I knew she wouldn't judge me.
• 34:40
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but also when I was in a community, um, like a consultation group with some from adult therapists, wait, this shoot, this is several decades ago, um, I.
• 34:53
  Cathi Spooner: I had to risk opening up and I, I had to be able to receive their feedback, which was, some of the feedback was pretty direct.
• 35:04
  Cathi Spooner: Like, girl, you gotta get over that.
• 35:06
  Cathi Spooner: They didn't say it that way, but kind of, and I needed it, but I trusted them.
• 35:11
  Cathi Spooner: I knew they cared about me, and I knew they weren't gonna judge me, so I was able to do that.
• 35:17
  Cathi Spooner: So, yes.
• 35:19
  Cathi Spooner: You might risk looking like you are the only one at the table who doesn't know anything.
• 35:28
  Cathi Spooner: And the likelihood you are the only one at the table who doesn't know anything or who has ever experienced the thing that you think nobody else has experienced.
• 35:40
  Cathi Spooner: The likelihood that is true is very, very, very slim.
• 35:44
  Cathi Spooner: And so being part of a community can actually help you grow in that area.
• 35:51
  Cathi Spooner: And then the, the third thing might be, I mean, the drawback might be for if you are a seasoned play therapist, you, you, you have a lot of knowledge, you have a lot of skills.
• 36:03
  Cathi Spooner: Like what, what would being part of a community do to help you?
• 36:08
  Cathi Spooner: Right.
• 36:09
  Cathi Spooner: You know, all the things.
• 36:10
  Cathi Spooner: So wouldn't it be one more thing you add to your cart, one more thing that you feel like you have to do?
• 36:17
  Cathi Spooner: I don't think so.
• 36:19
  Cathi Spooner: Not if you get into, uh, a, a group that you kind of align with, because I feel like even now I still get ideas.
• 36:28
  Cathi Spooner: I play therapy Elevation Circle when we staff cases in there, I get ideas.
• 36:36
  Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy Academy.
• 36:37
  Cathi Spooner: We were staffing something and somebody came up with this, their plate therapy model aligned a lot with the model that I use.
• 36:45
  Cathi Spooner: And so she shared this activity and why, and I was thinking to myself, oh my gosh, I totally need that and I could use that with this and this and this.
• 36:54
  Cathi Spooner: So even as a seasoned plate therapist, sometimes they're, you know, it's heavy.
• 37:02
  Cathi Spooner: It's hard.
• 37:03
  Cathi Spooner: Sometimes we need a place to go.
• 37:05
  Cathi Spooner: So that kind of in my mind helps get some feedback.
• 37:12
  Cathi Spooner: I feel like we all need feedback.
• 37:14
  Cathi Spooner: Nobody ever does it perfectly all the time, no matter how seasoned you are in the field.
• 37:22
  Cathi Spooner: So that is it for today.
• 37:24
  Cathi Spooner: Let me do a quick recap before we end.
• 37:29
  Cathi Spooner: So today we talked about the importance of community and the power of community.
• 37:35
  Cathi Spooner: And so what often I find is for play therapists, you often feel like you're the only play therapist.
• 37:46
  Cathi Spooner: In your community, or maybe you are the only play therapist in your community, or maybe you are the only play therapist in your agency.
• 37:55
  Cathi Spooner: So who do you have to go to to staff ideas and staff cases, especially the tough cases, the draining cases?
• 38:03
  Cathi Spooner: Who do you have that you can go to because you can feel stuck.
• 38:08
  Cathi Spooner: Overwhelmed and drained, and then that can lead to feeling burned out.
• 38:14
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the second thing is, how does community make you feel like a be?
• 38:19
  Cathi Spooner: How does it help you become a better play therapist?
• 38:23
  Cathi Spooner: Well, you have access to everybody else's brain in the group with all their training, all their ideas.
• 38:30
  Cathi Spooner: Plus you can look at the situation.
• 38:33
  Cathi Spooner: From a, like a 360 viewpoint, from a lot of different angles and help to figure out what might be going on and then get ideas.
• 38:45
  Cathi Spooner: Strategies to help your client move forward.
• 38:50
  Cathi Spooner: And then the third thing is some of the costs of being part of a community, some of the drawbacks.
• 38:57
  Cathi Spooner: Those are legitimate for sure, and you do need to consider those like the time and the cost of being in a community.
• 39:09
  Cathi Spooner: But the thing that I think about is.
• 39:12
  Cathi Spooner: If you have a community where you feel safe, then you're, you're gonna be willing to open up and feel like you can talk about what's going on and be honest, or, and you can talk about, Hey, this is going on in my personal life.
• 39:28
  Cathi Spooner: It's so draining.
• 39:30
  Cathi Spooner: You know, how do I manage all of this?
• 39:32
  Cathi Spooner: Gimme, sometimes we can just like.
• 39:34
  Cathi Spooner: Be the support for, yeah, just because you're a plate therapist doesn't mean you don't have your own life things going on.
• 39:41
  Cathi Spooner: Right.
• 39:42
  Cathi Spooner: We can be there for each other, so it helps.
• 39:45
  Cathi Spooner: One, you have a dedicated time each month where you know you are going to be able to get ideas, get feedback, so that you don't spend all that time researching on the internet or spending time going to buying more books.
• 40:04
  Cathi Spooner: And I, I love books, so don't get me wrong, I love a good book.
• 40:08
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but it sometimes we spend so much doing that.
• 40:13
  Cathi Spooner: We miss the whole framework that we need in order to apply that, and that framework is really, really important.
• 40:22
  Cathi Spooner: So, um, that is it for today.
• 40:27
  Cathi Spooner: For today's.
• 40:28
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested, um, play therapy.
• 40:31
  Cathi Spooner: Elevation Circle is I designed play Therapy Elevation Circle so that I can, um.
• 40:42
  Cathi Spooner: So that I, I can provide a way for more people to get support.
• 40:48
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapists.
• 40:49
  Cathi Spooner: So play Therapy Elevation Circle is for play therapists who want some support, but they don't need like a.
• 40:54
  Cathi Spooner: The intensive support that we do in Play Therapy Academy, that one's much smaller, more hands-on, but maybe you just need a place where you can get support, where you have community.
• 41:10
  Cathi Spooner: The other thing in Play therapy Elevation Circle that I am starting is a monthly book club, so we'll have the monthly.
• 41:19
  Cathi Spooner: Um, consultation time where we do the, the 360 view.
• 41:24
  Cathi Spooner: We get ideas, help you, you know, get unstuck, connect with your people, people who get it.
• 41:30
  Cathi Spooner: We're also gonna do, uh, a monthly book club, which I'm so excited about.
• 41:35
  Cathi Spooner: So taking a book that's focused on play therapy and unpacking it, and then how do we use that with our clients?
• 41:43
  Cathi Spooner: 'cause that's the big thing, right?
• 41:47
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested in play therapy, elevation Circle, registration is gonna open, and I think, I think it's uh, it's gonna open up the week of August 11th.
• 41:59
  Cathi Spooner: It's gonna be open a short period of time, and then it's gonna close again.
• 42:04
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested in learning more about play Therapy, elevation Circle, and getting notified when registration is opening up, then get on my wait list.
• 42:14
  Cathi Spooner: Doesn't cost any money.
• 42:15
  Cathi Spooner: You're not obligated.
• 42:17
  Cathi Spooner: Just get more information and you get to be the first to know when registration is open and, um.
• 42:26
  Cathi Spooner: Finding out more about it.
• 42:28
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested in getting on the wait list, we're gonna drop a link in the comments, but you can also head over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 42:42
  Cathi Spooner: Go onto the consultation page, and then you'll see information about play therapy, elevation Circle, and where you can, um.
• 42:53
  Cathi Spooner: Click to get on the wait list.
• 42:56
  Cathi Spooner: It's also on the resources page, so you can go over there too.
• 43:00
  Cathi Spooner: So there's a couple of places to sign up for the for the wait list, and we're gonna put a link in the comments.
• 43:08
  Cathi Spooner: For those of you watching on Instagram, you can go over to my bio.
• 43:11
  Cathi Spooner: Um, the other thing that I have, I do have a, a webinar coming up.
• 43:16
  Cathi Spooner: And what I, what the webinar is gonna do, it's a free webinar.
• 43:20
  Cathi Spooner: It's 90 minutes, it's gonna be August 11, um, in the evening if you're here in the us, the what?
• 43:32
  Cathi Spooner: Free webinar, which is the webinar is called How to Provide Play Therapy Without Second Guessing Every Clinical Decision, even Complex Cases.
• 43:44
  Cathi Spooner: And what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna teach you the framework where, like the foundational kind of framework that will help you get.
• 43:56
  Cathi Spooner: Good results.
• 43:57
  Cathi Spooner: It's kind of the framework that we use in play therapy, elevation Circle as well.
• 44:02
  Cathi Spooner: And also I use it in my higher level.
• 44:05
  Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy Academy program.
• 44:07
  Cathi Spooner: So what's that framework?
• 44:10
  Cathi Spooner: So I'm gonna teach you that framework and then we're also gonna kind of use that power of community, do a case, um, have a case.
• 44:18
  Cathi Spooner: We're gonna kind of use that case study and.
• 44:22
  Cathi Spooner: Break down all the steps and get ideas and, um, do all the things that way.
• 44:27
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested, it is a free webinar.
• 44:30
  Cathi Spooner: You'll wanna register for that soon.
• 44:33
  Cathi Spooner: Registration just opened this week.
• 44:36
  Cathi Spooner: The, the webinar is called How to Provide Play Therapy without Second Guessing Every Clinical Decision.
• 44:43
  Cathi Spooner: Even with complex cases, that's gonna be August 11.
• 44:48
  Cathi Spooner: So you'll on, you'll wanna pop over to my website and register for that one.
• 44:54
  Cathi Spooner: You'll see it on the homepage, the registration.
• 44:57
  Cathi Spooner: We're also gonna put links.
• 44:59
  Cathi Spooner: The comments.
• 45:00
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching on Instagram, then you can pop over to my bio.
• 45:06
  Cathi Spooner: All righty, and for those of you listening to the podcast, just pop over to my website.
• 45:11
  Cathi Spooner: Alright, that is it for this week, and I will see you next week.
• 45:16
  Cathi Spooner: Bye for now.
• 45:22
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 45:26
  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.
• 45:36
  Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 45:41
  Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 45:47
  Cathi Spooner: Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 45:52
  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.
• 46:03
  Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes.
• 46:08
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear from you.
• 46:10
  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.
• 46:23
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 46:26
  Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.