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How to Make Progress in Play Therapy When You’re Feeling Stuck · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  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
  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
  Hey there.
• 0:48
  Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy, and today I wanna talk about a topic that comes up a lot when I am working with people using L Learning how to use play therapy.
• 1:05
  Especially, this is a topic we talk a lot about in Play Therapy Academy, people getting stuck, not sure if play therapy is actually working.
• 1:15
  I. How can you tell if it's working?
• 1:18
  Not sure how to proceed, kind of feeling like you're kind of stuck in a loop going nowhere, but you don't know if you're not going anywhere.
• 1:30
  So today that's what we're gonna talk about.
• 1:32
  So if you've ever felt like you have been working with your clients using play therapy and you're not making any progress.
• 1:43
  You wonder if you're making progress.
• 1:46
  You've kind of looked through all, all the, you've looked through the internet, you've searched Etsy and Pinterest to see if you can get ideas to get unstuck and find the thing that's actually gonna help you get unstuck or feel like your clients are actually making progress and you're helping them.
• 2:12
  Maybe you've even talked to your colleagues or maybe your supervisor, but they don't use play therapy, so they don't really know how to help you.
• 2:22
  Maybe you're own, you are the only one in your agency or at the practice where you are working that uses play therapy or use or even works with children.
• 2:34
  And so, to kind of give you a pat on the back and encourage you, give you moral support, but it doesn't really help to know if play therapy is working or what you should do in your sessions.
• 2:50
  They're well-meaning, but it still kind of feels like you're isolated and alone.
• 2:57
  So if that's you or if you have ever felt that way, then today's livestream and podcast episode is for you.
• 3:08
  I'm gonna talk about four things that you can do to help you figure out if, if your clients are making progress, figure out if play therapy is actually working, if what you're doing is actually working so that you can get back on track.
• 3:30
  The first thing that I want to talk about, oh, before I do that, I wanted to welcome whoever is watching live.
• 3:39
  So if you're on LinkedIn or YouTube, or maybe here on Instagram.
• 3:45
  If you're watching live, I would love to know who's here.
• 3:49
  So post your name in the comments.
• 3:51
  What, what play therapy modality are you using?
• 3:57
  What population are you working with?
• 4:01
  Feel free to join the conversation, ask questions, even if you're watching the replay.
• 4:07
  I would still love to hear from you post your name, what population you're working with.
• 4:12
  And for those of you listening on the podcast, um, feel free to pop over to my Instagram channel and message me.
• 4:21
  Or if you're in my Facebook group, message me in there, a post in the, in the, um, Facebook group.
• 4:29
  So, and if you find this information helpful, I would love it if you would share it with colleagues, anyone you think that might benefit from it.
• 4:39
  Let's kind of pass on the information and share the love, so to speak.
• 4:47
  So let's get started for today.
• 4:50
  Alright, so if you are feeling like you are stuck in an endless cycle of searching the internet.
• 4:59
  Going through all your handouts from your previous training to remember maybe some of the activities that you do.
• 5:06
  That's what I do Sometimes I like to review the handouts and go back over 'em lately, uh, later.
• 5:13
  So if that's you, then I, I'm gonna talk about four things that you can do to help get back on track.
• 5:23
  And to feel like the play therapy is working and how to tell if play therapy is working.
• 5:30
  The first thing we're gonna talk about is really going back to the basics, which is go back to your case connect case conceptualization.
• 5:41
  So if you're not familiar with that term.
• 5:46
  Basically what it means is you have gathered all of the information at that initial diagnostic intake session.
• 5:56
  And you have gathered all the information and used that information to formulate your kind of working hypothesis about what is going on that is causing these problems for your client.
• 6:13
  So if you're interested in that topic, I would highly recommend you go back and listen to some of my other, uh, podcasts or livestream replays, it's probably easiest to find them on my YouTube channel.
• 6:29
  Go back and listen to that.
• 6:30
  I go into a little bit more in depth about that, but here's the reason it's helpful to go back to your initial case conceptualization.
• 6:40
  It's kind of your, I look at it as my working hypothesis.
• 6:45
  When I'm not sure what's going on or I'm getting kind of frustrated, then what I'll do is I'll, I'll, I'll step back.
• 6:54
  I'll tell myself, stop, take a step back, take a breath, and go back to what if I'm, I typically am, my kind of overall is using a neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 7:10
  So I'll kind of take a, take a step back.
• 7:14
  I'll look at the situation through that lens.
• 7:18
  I'll remember all the information that I gathered in my initial kind of working hypothesis, and then add the rest of the information I've gathered in the session.
• 7:30
  The thing that you also wanna think about is your case conceptualization is gonna be influenced by your play therapy model.
• 7:37
  So you want to, you go to your case conceptualization, and then you also go back to your model and figure out, okay, well I where are they?
• 7:48
  What stage of play therapy is my client in?
• 7:54
  And that can be really helpful to kind of reorient yourself to what is going on.
• 8:02
  Reorient yourself to the issues that are present, that are contributing to these things going on.
• 8:11
  It will also reorient you to some of the positive things.
• 8:16
  What are, where are these resiliency factors?
• 8:19
  How are those, um, showing up in the play therapy process?
• 8:27
  Think about what, where your client was at the beginning.
• 8:30
  I. Where they are now.
• 8:32
  The thing that I find happens the most often, and we talk about this a lot in Play Therapy Academy and that I'll, I'll talk a little bit more about Play Therapy Academy at the end.
• 8:43
  So if you're interested and you need more help, you need more hands-on support with a community of, of really supportive play therapists who get it then, then that would be Play Therapy Academy.
• 8:58
  The thing is, one of the things that we do in Play Therapy Academy, because this comes up a lot, is we will, um, kind of go back to what were the presenting issues, what is your initial case conceptualization and what does your play therapy model, how does your play therapy model explain this to get reoriented and re-grounded so that when you're looking at things again through through new eyes, so to speak.
• 9:29
  Then you can kind of remember, okay, this is where they were.
• 9:34
  Here's what's going on now.
• 9:36
  Here's my play therapy model.
• 9:39
  Here's that because this is what's going on and I'm using this play therapy model, I, I'm looking at what stage of play therapy client is in, and then what are you doing?
• 9:53
  What does your model say that you're doing in that stage so that when you go looking for those AC activities, if you're using a model that has directive and non-directive, then most likely you're looking at um, activities that you can use and you wanna integrate those in there.
• 10:16
  If you're using child-centered play therapy, then you wanna reorient yourself back to child-centered play therapy.
• 10:25
  What stage are they in?
• 10:26
  What are the themes that you've been recognizing?
• 10:29
  How are you tracking that?
• 10:30
  And maybe you need to let go and allow the child to lead.
• 10:35
  And, um, look at the themes.
• 10:38
  And use that to help you track where they were, where they are now, and where you're going based on what stage of play therapy you're in.
• 10:50
  And what does your play therapy model say to do in that?
• 10:53
  One of the things that I find this is, this is one of the things I find that happens a lot, and we talk about this a lot in Play Therapy Academy also, when people schedule their free.
• 11:07
  30 minute video call to see if play therapy's a good idea or can be, can help them.
• 11:14
  This one comes up a lot.
• 11:16
  Um, and so I find this is an area where people get stuck a lot, so I thought it would be a good episode to talk about today.
• 11:26
  The next thing you wanna do is, so first thing is step one, get grounded.
• 11:33
  Get grounded in your case conceptualization.
• 11:36
  Get grounded in your theory model.
• 11:38
  Step two is check in with yourself, right?
• 11:42
  We always do that first.
• 11:44
  We're always checking in first.
• 11:46
  All right, let me see what's going on for me.
• 11:48
  So in this one, check in with yourself.
• 11:51
  What are your expectations?
• 11:54
  Are, are you, are you going too fast?
• 11:58
  Like, have you established a good sense of safety and security in the session with your client, where they, they feel like this is a safe place and they, they're comfortable with you.
• 12:14
  They're comfortable with their environment because we know they're not gonna really fully engage in play therapy.
• 12:22
  They can't engage their social engagement circuits, which is what is required in order to engage their play circuits, which is what is required to really access those therapeutic powers of play, right?
• 12:38
  That's the thing that sets play therapy apart from other play therapy modalities are those therapeutic powers of play.
• 12:48
  Your play therapy model is going to influence how your client accesses those therapeutic powers of play.
• 12:57
  And they're not gonna be able to do that until you've established that sense of safety for them in the playroom.
• 13:07
  So first, have you established that?
• 13:10
  Are, are you expecting them to your client to go faster than they're ready to go?
• 13:18
  What are your expectation for parents or caregivers?
• 13:22
  How are you connecting with parents or caregivers?
• 13:25
  How are you creating a space for them in the play therapy process so that you can help them support their child and know what to do to support their child outside of the play therapy sessions.
• 13:42
  Are you expecting parents to know how to do it?
• 13:46
  Are, are you expecting parents to know how this therapy process works?
• 13:53
  Are your expectations around that realistic, right?
• 13:57
  We, I think we often think parents should know more then they do, because we forget we do this every day.
• 14:05
  This is, you know, we went to graduate school to do this.
• 14:07
  We got training to do this.
• 14:10
  I think we often forget that we're, we are support people for parents.
• 14:18
  Helping them to know that actually they need to be the therapeutic agents of change for their child instead of relying on you to, to fix everything they have, you really helped them understand their role in the change process.
• 14:39
  And are, are you expecting children to be able to explain to you things to you that maybe they're not able to do.
• 14:48
  I would include adolescents with this.
• 14:51
  Are you expecting them to be able to articulate and communicate things that maybe they're not able to.
• 14:57
  So um, or maybe they're not ready to.
• 15:02
  All of these things are, um, part of creating that environment for safety because we know clients aren't really going to make the changes that they need to make until they feel safe in the process.
• 15:24
  And part of that ability to feel safe is they get to go at their pace.
• 15:31
  Some clients are gonna move faster through the process than others.
• 15:36
  The higher acuity family systems are going to take longer because they typically have generational histories of trauma, addiction, attachment issues, maybe poverty.
• 15:55
  All all of these things which add layers of complexity to making progress and I'll use a DBT term here.
• 16:07
  Dialectical behavior therapy, living life on life's terms, right?
• 16:11
  Like how are we helping them become their best version of themselves?
• 16:16
  And part of that is dependent upon a variety of factors.
• 16:22
  Are the expectations that you have for your client based on their developmental abilities?
• 16:31
  Are they realistic?
• 16:33
  And is it more about you want it to go faster than the client is ready to go or, or have you built that relationship with parents to provide a safe space for them?
• 16:46
  So step one is go back, revisit your case conceptualization, which includes kind of revisiting your, excuse me, your, your play therapy model, even when you're using an integrative model.
• 17:03
  Step two is check in with yourself.
• 17:06
  What are my expectations?
• 17:09
  What am I getting frustrated about?
• 17:11
  Let me kind of figure out what's going on with me and my expectations and see where I, I may need to make some shifts.
• 17:20
  I would say if you're feeling lost, either of those two things will get you re reoriented.
• 17:30
  Usually step one is gonna get you reoriented and that if you're still feeling a little lost, you probably wanna check in with yourself.
• 17:41
  The third thing is ask for feedback.
• 17:45
  Right?
• 17:45
  Simple.
• 17:46
  If you are, if you're using child-centered play therapy, then you can, you can ask for feedback and check in with parents.
• 17:56
  If you are meeting with them regularly, like I would say at least once a month, then you will have some dedicated time to check in with them and see how things are going.
• 18:07
  Ask for feedback about, you know, what do they see is going well, where they see things are still struggling.
• 18:15
  Um, if, depending on your play therapy model, you can check in with your clients.
• 18:25
  Um, if you're not using child-centric play therapy, if you're using any of the other ones, then you can check in.
• 18:31
  There's a way to check in with Child-centered play therapy.
• 18:36
  Um, I usually kind of, you have to be real careful with what I'm about to say because you can't, and child-centered play therapy want to you wanna follow you, you don't wanna lead.
• 18:49
  But there are times when I am sensing something in the playroom and I kind of wanna check out my hypothesis about what's going on.
• 18:57
  So I may, I, I may, I may track what I think is going on, and if it's not, they always tell me and then I can respond, oh, I got that wrong.
• 19:08
  Oh, you wanna let me know that I got that wrong?
• 19:10
  I mean, how cool for a kid to have grownups say they were wrong and, and kind of, uh, do that with them.
• 19:19
  The other ones, you can check in with your clients.
• 19:22
  Like, how are things going?
• 19:23
  How are you feeling right now?
• 19:25
  What's going on right now with you?
• 19:27
  You can do different activities to check in with them.
• 19:31
  You can get a sense from them of where they are and what they might be struggling with.
• 19:40
  And if they seem to be not making progress, like maybe, they're doing the same thing over and over and over and over for like four or five sessions.
• 19:53
  And maybe you're using an integrative play therapy model with your 10-year-old and you can check in and say, Hey, I noticed this, that and the other, and I'm, I'm wondering, you know, what's going on?
• 20:08
  Or how are you feeling?
• 20:09
  Or what's, you know, what's going on right now?
• 20:12
  How are things going at home?
• 20:13
  How are things going at school?
• 20:15
  So you can check in with your clients.
• 20:18
  You'd be surprised.
• 20:20
  I can't tell you how many times I have thought it was one thing, and then I check in with my client during a play therapy session and I find out it's a whole different thing.
• 20:34
  So I've just learned along the way.
• 20:37
  Just to kind of, you know, hold the possibilities and trust the process and to check in and, uh, not to make assumptions.
• 20:50
  Then the third, I mean the, the fourth things.
• 20:53
  So if you've, if you've done all those things or maybe you're just really feeling stuck or you're not sure what's going on.
• 21:03
  Your imposter syndrome starting to kick in.
• 21:06
  Like you second guess yourself.
• 21:09
  You think you don't know what to do.
• 21:12
  You, you, you say to yourself, is this really what I'm supposed to do?
• 21:19
  Maybe I'm not a good play therapist.
• 21:23
  Maybe I'm just terrible at this.
• 21:26
  Maybe you start worrying that parents are gonna figure out that you're a big giant fraud any moment now, and they're gonna pull their kid from play therapy treatment and it'll mean you failed and it's all your fault and you're just a horrible, horrible therapist.
• 21:48
  There's a good likelihood that is not true.
• 21:51
  Um, it might just be you need some help.
• 21:55
  Nobody can do this job alone.
• 21:57
  We all need help.
• 21:59
  Even I need help.
• 22:01
  Even I get stuck.
• 22:04
  I, um, I'll go through these steps that I'm talking about now when I'm getting stuck.
• 22:12
  Sometimes you just need more help.
• 22:14
  And so I think.
• 22:17
  We are in a profession where asking, asking for help is a positive thing to do, and so I think the key is being able to know where to get the support and who to ask.
• 22:33
  Do you have other play therapist who you can go to to get ideas?
• 22:41
  Because I, I think that's one of the things that I found, especially talking to people on these, um, free video calls that I do when people are calling and checking in to see if Play Therapy Academy is a good fit for them.
• 22:59
  One of the things that I find a lot is there are a lot of people who are, a lot of play therapists who are in settings where you don't have support.
• 23:10
  Not play therapy support.
• 23:11
  You probably have, you know, a supervisor who's maybe good in other things and maybe well-meaning, but they don't know how to do play therapy and they don't know how to work with kids.
• 23:23
  So in that regard, you kind of feel like you're alone.
• 23:27
  And then you go back to all your trainings.
• 23:29
  You go online, look at, you know, probably watch my videos and I'm hoping they were helpful.
• 23:35
  Uh, maybe listen to other podcasts.
• 23:39
  Or go back through the internet and check in with Dr. Google, see what Dr. Google says, or chat GPT.
• 23:49
  Using those as kind of a resource.
• 23:51
  Go check out Pinterest for ideas or Etsy and see what you can get on Etsy or Amazon.
• 23:58
  The problem is it doesn't all come together and it's kind of like this mishmash of things that just kind of feel like they're all one big jumble and you don't really have any direction.
• 24:10
  You don't really have a good sense of, is play therapy working?
• 24:16
  Is what you are doing, is it working?
• 24:19
  And when that's the case, I would say find a community of play therapists that you trust and that you can get support with.
• 24:29
  And I think that's one of the biggest benefits of being part of a play therapy community is being able to talk with people who, who get it and understand and have probably even experienced the same thing that you have so that you know that you're not alone.
• 24:51
  You're not all by yourself and you're, the likelihood you're doing a terrible job is not very high.
• 24:59
  And so, to be honest, that's one of the reasons I started Play Therapy Academy.
• 25:05
  So I'll talk a little bit more about that.
• 25:08
  Let me do a quick recap.
• 25:11
  So what we're talking about today is how to make progress in play therapy when you're not sure what to do, when you're not sure if play therapy is working.
• 25:22
  When you're feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, and lost in the process, and just feeling like you're in this endless loop of going nowhere fast.
• 25:32
  The first thing you want to do is go back and revisit your case cons, conceptualization.
• 25:41
  What is that working hypothesis that you formulated once you gathered all that initial information in the psychosocial assessment.
• 25:52
  Getting all the details to really understand what's going on with your client and formulate your working hypothesis.
• 26:00
  And then as you go through session to session to session, you're meeting with clients, you're meeting with their parents or caregivers, you're gathering more information and kind of, um, adding that to your case formulation, also known as working hypothesis to see how that adjusts over time 'cause it's assessment is ongoing.
• 26:24
  And you're looking at that through the lens of your play therapy model.
• 26:29
  So what does your play therapy model say is why the problem is happening and then what are you gonna do using that play therapy model?
• 26:40
  And I. What do you do in the different stages of play therapy?
• 26:45
  How do you know what stage of play therapy you are in?
• 26:50
  Well, that's gonna be dependent upon your play therapy model.
• 26:55
  And then next thing you're gonna do is check your expectations, right?
• 26:59
  So you get yourself grounded, get oriented.
• 27:03
  Think those things through, if you're still a little off track or not sure what to do, check your expectations.
• 27:10
  Like, am I expecting too much?
• 27:12
  What am I expecting?
• 27:14
  What's going on that I'm frustrated?
• 27:17
  What's going on um, in terms of have I created that safe space for clients to feel safe and comfortable?
• 27:31
  Have I made the connections with parents?
• 27:33
  Have I checked into it?
• 27:34
  Have I established rapport in a good working relationship with parents?
• 27:41
  Like where are we in the change process with parents and am I, am I expecting too much?
• 27:52
  Am I expecting them to go faster than they're able to go?
• 27:58
  Am I expecting them to know things that I know because I am a therapist?
• 28:06
  But they might not know because they're not a therapist?
• 28:08
  And to be completely honest, I feel like online and TikTok.
• 28:14
  As, and you know, as in some ways has created overwhelm for parents.
• 28:21
  Like they get all these different messages about what they're supposed to do, and a good parent does this.
• 28:28
  If you don't do this, you're not a good parent.
• 28:30
  Like back in my day when my kids were little, we didn't really have a lot going on, on the internet.
• 28:37
  Um, then we did have more going on on the internet, but we didn't have TikTok and we didn't have all these things, but, but we sure did have a lot of parenting books and I probably read most of 'em so overwhelming.
• 28:50
  And I found parents do that too.
• 28:52
  Like they read all the books and they get conflicting information and one person tells 'em this thing and another person tells 'em this thing and family members are saying this and friends are saying this.
• 29:04
  It's overwhelming.
• 29:05
  And so are we expecting too much from parents?
• 29:09
  Do we sometimes need to help them get oriented and settled and have a place where they can feel supported as a parent to know what to do to help their child?
• 29:20
  So have we have, do we have realistic expectations and.
• 29:27
  Um, are we expecting things to happen that maybe are too soon or too much?
• 29:35
  Then the third thing I would say, if you checked into your, uh, your case conceptualization and your play therapy model.
• 29:44
  You've checked in with yourself, still struggling, still not sure.
• 29:49
  Check in with your clients.
• 29:50
  Check in with parents.
• 29:52
  When you have those monthly meetings with parents, check in with them.
• 29:55
  How are things going?
• 29:56
  What's going well?
• 29:58
  You know, have you seen any progress?
• 30:01
  Think about frequency, intensity, and duration in terms of progress.
• 30:06
  Maybe where they might still be struggling, where are parents struggling?
• 30:10
  Also, you can ask the child.
• 30:13
  If you're using child-centered play therapy, then it's child-led, so you're not gonna ask directly.
• 30:19
  There are some ways I can check in through tracking.
• 30:23
  You have to be real careful about that.
• 30:25
  But you can still check in.
• 30:26
  If you get it wrong, they'll tell you.
• 30:29
  Or if, if you're using another model where you can use some directive interventions, then I check in with them.
• 30:38
  I'll ask, you know, how are you doing?
• 30:40
  How are things going?
• 30:41
  I noticed that this seems to, you know, that this seems to be, um, a struggle.
• 30:48
  I notice you've been doing this for the last several sessions and I'm just kind of wondering how things are going so you can check in.
• 30:57
  You'd be surprised what they tell you, sometimes they don't, and I don't push it.
• 31:02
  I just let them continue to build trust because if they've, they've gotten trust with me, they're, they're gonna tell me eventually.
• 31:12
  But how they might tell me can make a difference.
• 31:16
  And then the, the fourth thing is if you've tried all those things and you're maybe still feeling lost and unsure, then I would say, get consultation, get with a, uh, group, uh, play therapists who get it, who understand play therapy, play therapists that you trust where you can get feedback, get ideas, people that you trust that will give you constructive feedback, right?
• 31:44
  You just don't wanna hear, oh, you're doing a good job and everything's fine.
• 31:49
  What you want is some constructive feedback that's gonna help you really make progress.
• 31:56
  And help your client, right?
• 31:59
  So that they, they can get better.
• 32:01
  That's why we get into this profession.
• 32:04
  We want to help children.
• 32:06
  We want to help families heal.
• 32:08
  So we have to be open to constructive feedback.
• 32:11
  And if you're with the community of play therapist that you trust, then that's part of the support that you give each other.
• 32:23
  So that is it for today.
• 32:26
  Hopefully you can, um, have found this information useful.
• 32:32
  If you're feeling stuck, feel free to pass on the information to colleagues who might be interested.
• 32:41
  If you're interested in Play Therapy Academy, I have, I have definitely one opening and play Therapy Academy now.
• 32:50
  I, I may have some more openings coming up.
• 32:54
  Um, so if you're interested, maybe you feel like you are isolated and alone and you don't have a community of supportive play therapists who are gonna help you grow where you feel like you can ask the questions in a safe environment where you know you're not gonna get judged.
• 33:15
  Where you have other play therapists who get it, that can help you identify themes in play therapy sessions, help you apply your play therapy model where different types of children, excuse me, and families and.
• 33:36
  know what to do in sessions.
• 33:39
  Know how to integrate parents and get them to partner with you, even the complex and challenging ones.
• 33:48
  So if you feel like you need more support and you need a community of play therapists that are gonna help you build your skills and take you from second guessing yourself to feeling like a confident play therapy expert.
• 34:07
  Then I would say check out Play Therapy Academy.
• 34:10
  If you're interested in Play Therapy Academy and maybe you wanna find out more about it, just schedule a free video call with me.
• 34:19
  It's 30 minutes.
• 34:20
  You can, um, you can schedule online.
• 34:25
  We're gonna, you can pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 34:32
  That's RH play therapy training.com.
• 34:36
  Renewing hearts Play therapy training.
• 34:39
  Then you'll wanna pop on the consultation page and look for Play Therapy Academy.
• 34:46
  So I play Therapy Academy and I have my new membership play Therapy Elevation Circle, which is, um, not open right now.
• 34:56
  It's gonna be open soon, but.
• 34:58
  It's closed right now.
• 35:00
  If Play Therapy Academy isn't a good fit, then I might be able to suggest maybe something else, maybe Play Therapy.
• 35:06
  Elevation Circle is a better fit for, for getting a community of support.
• 35:11
  But what, that's what we can talk about.
• 35:13
  We'll figure it out.
• 35:14
  But if you're finding that maybe Play Therapy Academy can help you take your skills to the next level so you can stop, stop second guessing your every decision in, um, in your sessions.
• 35:31
  You can stop feeling intimidated by parents thinking that any day now they're gonna figure out that you're a terrible therapist and pull their child from play therapy, then schedule, schedule a 30 minute video call.
• 35:47
  We'll see if play Therapy Academy is a good fit for you.
• 35:52
  In Play Therapy Academy, we meet twice a month and we do the consultation.
• 35:57
  So we get into the nitty gritty.
• 36:00
  We do case consultations, we give feedback.
• 36:03
  Um, there are also courses in there, online courses to build your skills.
• 36:10
  And then we also have a group chat where you can get additional support in between our twice a month consultation calls.
• 36:20
  There's some other benefits as well.
• 36:22
  So Play Therapy Academy is really designed to provide like, uh uh, I always say it's like a VIP experience where you get like tons of support, know that you're not alone, that you don't have to do it alone, and that there are others to support you along the way.
• 36:44
  So if that's you, then schedule your video call today.
• 36:49
  And next week just as an FYI.
• 36:53
  So next week I am actually heading out to Florida.
• 36:57
  Um.
• 36:59
  Broward County, I am doing a training for, uh, an amazing child advocacy center program in Broward County.
• 37:08
  I'm leaving Saturday.
• 37:09
  I get back next week.
• 37:11
  We're doing a two day tra uh, training using play therapy and sand tray therapy to help children who've experienced trauma.
• 37:19
  So I, I fly back on Wednesday.
• 37:22
  So I go live every Wednesday, which means next Wednesday I won't be able to go live and because it'll.
• 37:28
  Um, I'm adjusting for a little, uh, jet lag on Thursday.
• 37:34
  I'm gonna go live on Friday next week instead of my usual time on Wednesday.
• 37:41
  So next week will be Friday, June, I think.
• 37:47
  Yeah, June 27th.
• 37:49
  So I will see you next week and bye for now.
• 37:59
  Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 38:03
  I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 38:12
  If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 38:18
  Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 38:24
  Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 38:28
  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.
• 38:40
  If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes.
• 38:45
  I'd love to hear from you.
• 38:47
  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.
• 38:59
  Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 39:03
  Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.