Latest / Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence / Stop Processing Your Hardest Play Therapy Sessions Alone

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Stop Processing Your Hardest Play Therapy Sessions Alone · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy, 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.
• 0:49
  Hey there.
• 0:50
  Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:56
  So question, have you ever walked a client, one of your play therapy clients, out to the lobby, their caregiver's out there, you walk back to your playroom, and then you sit down in your playroom or you sit down in your office thinking by yourself, trying to process what just happened in that play therapy session, and there's nobody around that you can call or nobody around that you can talk to that really gets it with play therapy.
• 1:28
  So you're s- left there sitting with kind of that, um, tightness in your chest or the lump in your throat or you're kind of like your nervous system is not quite settled.
• 1:43
  If that's you, I get it.
• 1:45
  I have been there.
• 1:46
  It's not the greatest feeling in the world . And if that is you, then this session, this, this episode's for you.
• 1:56
  So I would love to know who's here for this week.
• 1:59
  Go ahead and post your name in the comments if you're watching the live version of this.
• 2:04
  If you're watching the replay on YouTube or LinkedIn or in my Facebook group, go ahead and post your name in the comments.
• 2:14
  Join the conversation.
• 2:16
  If you're listening on the podcast, then feel free to also join the co- conversation.
• 2:22
  You can email me.
• 2:25
  You can pop over to my Instagram channel at, um,@renewingheartstraining, message me, just get in touch.
• 2:35
  Okay.
• 2:36
  So this week, here's what we're gonna be talking about.
• 2:42
  We're talking about most play therapists think that community, like a membership or a consultation group or a network of peers, think of it more as like emotional support, something that's nice to have, a place to vent.
• 3:00
  It's more of a luxury than a nec- necessity.
• 3:06
  And if that's you, then in this episode I wanna challenge that a little bit because I think it has some pretty significant clinical, um, consequences for lack of a better way of saying it.
• 3:21
  There's, there's clinical impact to that mindset.
• 3:27
  And here's the thing, community is more of a clinical tool rather than just kind of an emotional support luxury.
• 3:37
  It's a clinical support that helps you get deeper healing faster for your client.
• 3:44
  So you make more impact for your clients, which is the reason why we do this, because we wanna make a difference.
• 3:53
  We wanna help children and families heal, and so that's why we do what we do.
• 4:00
  And the thing is with when you're a play therapist, what typically is going on is we're kind of a niche inside of the mental health community.
• 4:12
  You go to graduate school, most universities are focused on adult psychotherapy and most mental health professionals getting into the field focus on learning adult models and working with adults.
• 4:30
  And a lot of times what I find is that therapists, uh, even if they're working with adolescents, they're still using an adult theoretical lens and a, an adult model to work with their adolescents.
• 4:46
  So if you're a play therapist, you're probably the only kid therapist in your agency unless you work for an agency that is geared towards working with kids.
• 5:00
  Most agencies, most private practice Most of those are geared towards adults, so you're probably the only play therapist the- in your building.
• 5:14
  And I've heard that over and over and over and over again.
• 5:18
  And so what ends up happening, and I hear these stories all the time, is that when you're, when you're working as the only play therapist or the only kid therapist in your building, you're not just lonelier, you're having to make all of those clinical decisions, all those hard ones, navigating complex cases, figuring out what just happened, and serving your clients at a fraction of the potential that you can if you have a, a, a community focused on play therapy, s- play therapy specific support around you to kind of help with your clinical thinking.
• 6:06
  So in this episode, I want to talk about why being part of a play therapy specific community if you're a kid therapist isn't just kind of emotional support or it's not a luxury.
• 6:24
  It's more of a clinical necessity so that you can have more impact, more positive impact helping your young clients and their families heal.
• 6:36
  I'm also gonna talk about Play Therapy Elevation Circle,'cause it's open this week, and the reason why I created Elevation Circle to support isolated play therapists,'cause I meet them all the time.
• 6:52
  Um, so in this episode, I'm gonna talk about why community and being part of a play therapy specific community is a clinical tool, not just an emotional luxury, and the specific clinical outcomes that you can accomplish change when you have play therapists around you and you're not working in isolation.
• 7:15
  I'm also gonna talk about what happens to your clinical thinking and your decision-making and your confidence when you can take those hard cases or even cases you're, you know, for you are hard, that you think maybe somebody else would, would do a better job, so you start second-guessing yourself and thinking maybe you should refer them out 'cause you're not the person to help this client.
• 7:42
  If that's you, then I'm, I wanna help shift that thinking a little bit.
• 7:48
  Um- So we're- I'm also gonna show you inside Play Therapy Elevation Circle so you can see what's in there.
• 7:59
  I'll talk about what's in there to see what kind of a support is available to you, and we're gonna look at the real cost of waiting mindset and why growth really is only gonna happen in a, in a community.
• 8:15
  And I see this all the time.
• 8:18
  It is so phenomenal the change that happens and the clinical clarity that happens when we get together in, um, Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 8:30
  I also have another kinda higher, higher, deeper dive is what I call it, community called Play Therapy Academy.
• 8:38
  When we get together and we staff these cases, it's so amazing what, to see what happens.
• 8:46
  And so that's what we're gonna talk about today.
• 8:50
  If you're the on- this episode is for you if you are the only play therapist in your building, um, and you're, maybe you're having to process those hard cases all by yourself and you don't have anybody who truly gets it.
• 9:07
  Maybe you've gone to your colleagues who are supportive and amazing colleagues, and their focus is adults.
• 9:16
  They don't really get play therapy and that play is actually the vehicle, and we use it therapeutically.
• 9:26
  They don't really get that part, so they can offer suggestions, but in my experience, a lot of times it didn't really give you the depth of clinical clarity that you needed in order to help your clients through those really hard stages of play therapy, and didn't really help explain play therapy to parents or caregivers.
• 9:52
  I mean, if they don't really understand play therapy, how are they gonna help you figure out how to explain it to parents and caregivers, right?
• 10:01
  So that's what we are talking about today in this episode.
• 10:07
  The, the title for today's episode is Stop Processing Your Hardest Play Therapy Cases Alone.
• 10:14
  So the first thing that we wanna look at is how I wanna reframe your thinking a little bit and, um, thinking about Most p- play therapists think of being part of a community as, which is like a group or maybe a Facebook group or, uh, or a consultation circle or individual con- consultation or a membership.
• 10:46
  Kind of think of that more as emotional support a lot of times, and maybe it's something nice to have, place to vent, place to feel less alone.
• 10:57
  Maybe you can get some ideas here and there, and those things are good, and those, those things are real.
• 11:03
  I don't want to diminish those things because they are real, but they're, they're only part of it.
• 11:10
  The, the real reason that I built Play Therapy Elevation Circle is because it's a clinical tool.
• 11:22
  So I'm gonna explain what I mean.
• 11:24
  So here's what I mean by that.
• 11:26
  Think about you bring a challenging case to a group of play therapists who speak your language.
• 11:33
  What happens?
• 11:33
  I see this all the time.
• 11:35
  It's so amazing.
• 11:35
  It's my favorite thing, which is why I get really excited talking about this, because I have seen it happen over and over and over.
• 11:44
  I'll be honest, my little, my little psychotherapy nerd gets really super excited as we get in there and dig through what's going on and come up with some solutions, and then I see the burden getting lifted off, basically, before our very eyes.
• 11:59
  It's very exciting.
• 12:01
  So you don't just get emotional validation, you get clinical perspective, and you get questions maybe you hadn't thought to ask, 'cause you can only, you can only think about what you already know, and you only see what you see.
• 12:19
  When other people get involved, they bring a different perspective, they bring different insights.
• 12:26
  So then y- you also get somebody who says, "Ooh, I had something like that happened, and here's what helped." You get a different lens to see your client.
• 12:37
  You get a, you get a broader lens.
• 12:40
  And then when you go back to your play therapy session the next week, you are different because your thinking is different.
• 12:48
  You're sharper in your thinking, your direction is clearer, your interventions are more intentional, and that's the clinical outcome.
• 13:00
  You can help your clients faster Being part of a community than you can on your own because you're, you'll end up getting lost.
• 13:14
  And this way, when you're feeling a little lost or stuck, you have a place to go to get support to help you get unstuck rather than waiting to try and figure it out all on your own.
• 13:27
  And here's what I've seen happen when, um, in my trainings when I provide play therapy trainings and people who are practicing in community, like when I, when I do my play therapy trainings, part of the registration involved getting two months, 60 days included for free in Elevation Circle because I wanted to provide a place to pe- for people who took my trainings to have a place to process it afterwards so that like, you know, a month later when you have a client in your playroom and you're trying to rack your brain, what did they talk about in that training?
• 14:13
  You have a place to go to get that support right away.
• 14:17
  So play therapists who practice in community who have regular access to peer consultation with people who understand play therapy make better clinical decisions, and their clients make more progress.
• 14:34
  They experience less burnout, and here's the other thing.
• 14:39
  I start seeing confidence in your own clinical decision-making, in your own intuition skyrocket.
• 14:48
  Knowing what to pay attention, trusting your clinical gut, and then knowing how to use that information.
• 14:56
  But also knowing, having a place to say, safe place to say, "You know what?
• 15:02
  Here's what I'm thinking, but I can't figure out, is this just me and my own stuff coming up?
• 15:09
  Or is this, am I picking up on something?" Like, you can't do that on your own and do it well.
• 15:16
  Being able to have a place to process that is really important, and doing that with people who understand play therapy and then can help you figure out what that means and then what to do next.
• 15:29
  That's the key.
• 15:30
  I mean, you can go and get some insights, but if you don't have some strategies that you can implement right away in your play therapy sessions, then it's kind of like getting half and not the whole thing.
• 15:44
  It doesn't really get very far All right.
• 15:50
  So for those of you watching, or maybe those of you watching the replay, um, tell me in the comments, who do you currently go to when you're stuck with a challenging case?
• 16:01
  And be honest.
• 16:03
  Is it a colleague?
• 16:05
  Is it Dr. Google?
• 16:07
  Is it a supervisor or nobody?
• 16:10
  Do you just kind of process that on your own and hope that it gets better by itself So th- these are the reasons that I created Elevation Circle, and I wanna, I wanna kinda give you a peek inside what I mean by that.
• 16:29
  And I just realized I forgot, wait, I, I'm gonna have to take my notes.
• 16:34
  I have my little n- notes right here.
• 16:36
  I forgot to include, for those of you that are watching, I actually, um… Let's see.
• 16:48
  Oh, there we go.
• 16:49
  I'm gonna upload, 'cause I took a screenshot of inside of Elevation Circle so you could kinda see what it is, and darn it, it's not gonna let me upload it.
• 17:04
  Rats.
• 17:04
  Okay.
• 17:05
  Maybe I can share my screen.
• 17:07
  Let me see.
• 17:10
  No.
• 17:12
  Anyways, while I'm trying to figure out if I can share my screen and show you inside of, um, the Play Therapy Elevation Circle, I will share with you what is in Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 17:28
  So inside Play Therapy Elevation Circle, we do a, a monthly consultation call.
• 17:34
  This is kind of, this is kind of like the, um, what I would call, like, the heart of Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 17:43
  It's where you, every month, where you bring your cases and your questions and your"I don't know what to do next" thinking, and then we work through 'em together with, uh, with other play therapists.
• 17:58
  We, we work through it together so you don't have to do it alone.
• 18:03
  And so then that's gonna help you know what's going on with your clients and what to do next.
• 18:09
  So it's not just generic.
• 18:11
  It's just not.
• 18:11
  It's structured.
• 18:13
  We use our time wisely.
• 18:15
  We hone in and pinpoint the, the root of the problem.
• 18:20
  We, we look at our Play Therapy model and figure out what stage of Play Therapy they're in, what's worked, what hasn't worked, and then some strategies.
• 18:33
  Not just one strategy, several strategies that you can use right away so that if you go in your Play Therapy session and it doesn't go with, Plan A doesn't seem to land, you have Plan B, C, and, and D that you can use.
• 18:50
  So it's not, you have all that contingency planning so that you're, it's more intentional, and that's the whole point of being in a community where you can get that consultation.
• 19:02
  You get not just my almost 35 years of experience in the child and adolescent mental health field- You get the collective insight, wisdom, and resources of the other people in there, and then we, we strategically kind of look at what's going on, and then how to support you so that when you leave, you feel like you have a plan, and you have some contingency plans as well And then the other thing that we do, because I think, um, it's nice to have a place to bring fresh ideas, to get fresh ideas, play therapy-specific ideas, not only just, like, read them, but have a place to discuss them, to get… kind of work them through and get other ideas and share different perspectives, and then walk away with, "Okay, so what do we do with this information?
• 20:02
  How is this gonna look in the playroom, or my work with parents?" And that's our monthly book club.
• 20:08
  Like, this year, I mean, not this year, this month, um, we discussed play therapy themes.
• 20:15
  This month we read an article.
• 20:17
  Lately we've been reading articles.
• 20:19
  Prior to that we read through a book and talked about how to apply the information every, um, every month we talked about how to apply that information in our play therapy work.
• 20:33
  Last month and next month we'll be reading articles specific on play therapy themes, because play therapy themes are probably, I would say play therapy themes are one of the harder things as a play therapist to master, because they're so… it's complex.
• 20:55
  It's not just, oh, that my client did this so that means this.
• 20:59
  That it's not that simple.
• 21:01
  It's a very complex process that involves a lot of factors.
• 21:06
  So we've been, we've been talking about play therapy themes and how do we recognize play therapy themes?
• 21:13
  What do we do with play therapy themes?
• 21:15
  How can you tell if it's meaningful or not meaningful?
• 21:19
  What do you do with it when you recognize that?
• 21:22
  And so we've been talking about that in our, um, monthly book club.
• 21:28
  So it's also another place where we s- we end up talking about the cases and how would we apply that specific information with our specific clients and the work that we're doing.
• 21:41
  So we're kind of-- We have a place to really digest it, and then once we've digested it, how are we gonna implement it, so that you don't have to figure that out on your own.
• 21:54
  The other thing that we have inside Elevation Circle, Play Therapy Elevation Circle, are weekly tips.
• 22:01
  So every week you get a practical play therapy specific, um, tip that you can use right away, take into your playroom and use it right away, and that kind of helps between our consultation meetings, kinda helps to keep things fresh and gives you ideas And something that we're starting beginning in September, and I'm very excited about it, is, uh, quarterly roundtable discussions.
• 22:33
  So we'll have a panel of play therapy, um, professionals, uh, coming from different theoretical perspectives to look at a play therapy specific topic, look at it from different perspectives, and talk about how to apply that from those different perspectives.
• 22:57
  One of the things that I hear all the time is…'Cause I'm a firm believer you need a play therapy model that you operate out of.
• 23:06
  Even when you're using an integrative model, uh, you still are basing that on theoretical models.
• 23:13
  So what I hear happens all the time is, um, people will go to the play therapy trainings, they get a lot out of the play therapy trainings, they're awesome, but they're different, um, kind of different theoretical perspectives even, and so they're not sure how to integrate those, integrate those into a kind of a cohesive framework.
• 23:38
  Or maybe you haven't figured out which play therapy model you align with.
• 23:44
  Or maybe you have, you have figured it out.
• 23:47
  So one of the things that we do in play therapy ac- uh, elevation circles, I, I wanna support play therapists who are struggling with that and also support those of you who have figured it out and you're applying your model.
• 24:04
  One of the things the roundtable discussion is designed to do is look at a topic.
• 24:10
  So let's, in this month, I'm sorry, next month in September.
• 24:14
  In September we're gonna be looking at a- like anxiety and emotion dysregulation.
• 24:21
  We're gonna use a case study, and then we're gonna have people with different theoretical lenses talk about how they would make sense of, and figure out what's at the root of that problem, how would their play therapy model influence their thinking, and then what would they do?
• 24:38
  How, how would they help that client?
• 24:41
  So that you have, uh, a way of looking at things and using that information to guide your clinical decision making and support that for you so that we're not, in between the consultation calls, we're also looking at play therapy specific Topics and issues and y- and honing those clinical decision-making skills, cloning those, um, using a, a play therapy framework that's gonna guide you through the process and supporting you to do that so you don't have to figure it out alone.
• 25:29
  That's usually when I find people start second-guessing themselves, and their imposter syndrome kicks in, or they start using what I call the spaghetti against the wall method, where they're not sure what to do.
• 25:43
  Nothing seems to be working, so they go try searching for that magic play therapy activity that's gonna move the needle and make all the difference.
• 25:54
  And then they end up kind of trying anything and everything and w- not with any intentional framework and end up getting frustrated, and imposter syndrome usually kicks in.
• 26:07
  So in Play Therapy Elevation Circle, my, my goal was to provide support in a variety of ways to help you hone those skills, but also think alongside with you and give you ideas and strategies so you don't have to do it alone.
• 26:28
  And then in the end, that ends up making a difference in the lives of children and families and communities all across the United States and also all around the world, that we are community by community, each of us.
• 26:47
  How many of you are out there watching, right?
• 26:49
  Each of you in your community are making a difference.
• 26:53
  So for play therapy around the world, we're making a difference, and that is the point of El- Play Therapy Elevation Circle is to support you in your work doing that.
• 27:04
  And then we also have, um, like in between, we have some, uh, chat spaces to get support in between those meetings, so you have access to that.
• 27:16
  There's, there's resources in there.
• 27:21
  There's video in there showing different ideas.
• 27:26
  So there's a lot packed in there.
• 27:28
  And then I did figure out how to share my screen, so I'm gonna do that real quick.
• 27:36
  Okay.
• 27:36
  For those of you watching live, we'll see if this works.
• 27:42
  I'm sharing two monitors.
• 27:43
  Sharing works best on a good monitor.
• 27:46
  Sorry, I'm reading my thing here.
• 27:47
  Well, we'll give it a try.
• 27:49
  Let's do this one.
• 27:51
  See if you can see it See if that works.
• 27:57
  Hopefully you guys can see it.
• 28:01
  Oh, I can't tell, so I'm just gonna stop sharing, sharing my… Anyways, if you can see it, you can see inside we have all these different spaces for monthly circle mastermind.
• 28:17
  We have the monthly book club.
• 28:19
  We have this, um, discussion and sharing space.
• 28:22
  We have the Tuesday tips.
• 28:25
  We have some of those coming up from last week.
• 28:28
  Some of our past episodes are in there.
• 28:32
  You can see all of those from the past weeks.
• 28:36
  We have our monthly book club is coming up in September.
• 28:42
  We have our monthly book clubs that are… I mean, uh, monthly circle masterminds that are coming up.
• 28:49
  So all of these, um, are designed to support you in the work that you're doing.
• 29:00
  So I, I am glad that worked.
• 29:05
  And I want to stop sharing now.
• 29:08
  Okay, so those of you watching, you just got to watch me fumble my way through trying to share my screen.
• 29:16
  I don't share my screen a lot on the streaming platform.
• 29:21
  So anyways, we, we muddled through it.
• 29:24
  So that's, you got a look at what's inside of Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 29:31
  Here's the last thing that I, I wanna say, and I wanna, I wanna talk about this in all honesty for a few minutes, because I know some of you are watching and you're… right now and you're thinking, "Yeah, it sounds good, but maybe I'll wait." And I get it.
• 29:47
  I totally get it, and maybe now is really not a good time.
• 29:52
  I totally get that.
• 29:55
  The other thing that I want to point out, though, is that, um, I wanna maybe think about it, reframe that a little bit, because here's what waiting actually costs And that is it's another week without a, a community to help you process those complex cases.
• 30:22
  It's another week of second-guessing that could have been made with confidence,'cause you coulda had a group around you helping you figure it out super quick.
• 30:31
  Um, so then rather trying to figure it out and taking a few weeks or months, you can get some help right away, and maybe get it figured out in, like, 30 minutes.
• 30:43
  It's another week of carrying all of that by yourself, trying to figure it out, when we are not meant to do this work alone.
• 30:55
  This is hard work that we do, and I don't think we can do it by ourselves.
• 31:01
  I see how much benefit there is when we take… And usually in our consultation meeting, it's like 90 minutes, so we have enough time to process a couple of cases in there, maybe three even.
• 31:16
  What we can accomplish in 30 minutes staffing one case could t- on your own take you weeks.
• 31:23
  I've seen that over, and over, and over.
• 31:26
  I've seen it for myself.
• 31:27
  Sometimes I'm like, "I don't know. My brain is just stuck here. I can't think about it another way because I can't even conceptualize there might be another way to think about this." And then somebody shares their insight, and it's the key that unlocked the stu- So doing it alone is another week of trying to figure it out on your own.
• 31:47
  Um, and I've watched too many play therapists say, "I'll wait, and I'll do it next time." And then all of those things happen, and they could have helped their client faster and made more impact faster with less burnout and less feeling overwhelmed doing it by, by yourself and feeling a little depleted.
• 32:13
  So there's, there's one more thing that I wanna say before we end for today.
• 32:18
  So those of you who are, um, interested, I am going to share the link where you can enroll.
• 32:25
  Enrollment is closing on Saturday, August 29th.
• 32:30
  So when it's closed, it's closed, and you won't be able to get access until the next time it opens up again.
• 32:38
  Um, y- there's no commitment.
• 32:40
  You stay as long as you wanna stay.
• 32:42
  If you, if you decide it's not for you, you, you just leave.
• 32:46
  Or, you know, maybe something comes up, and you're like,"Ah, I have too many things going on," you just leave.
• 32:53
  You stay as long as you wanna stay, and every month we're gonna provide support so that you don't have to do it by yourself.
• 33:04
  And the thing is showing up in the consul- con- consultation call.
• 33:09
  So it's not just joining, it's also about showing up and joining the meetings.
• 33:14
  You show up when you can.
• 33:16
  And when you can show up, that's where the magic happens.
• 33:20
  When you're in those meetings, that's where, that's where the magic happens.
• 33:27
  So if you're done doing this by yourself and trying to figure it out by yourself, there is a community inside of Play Therapy Elevation Circle that would love to welcome you in.
• 33:41
  I love meeting new therapists and working together.
• 33:45
  So you're gonna wanna t- um, register before Saturday though, because on Saturday, August 29th At the end of the
• 33:54
  day, 11: 59 PM Pacific Time, enrollment is closed, and then you won't be able to get in.
• 34:02
  day, 11: So if you're interested, um, pop over to my website at rhplaytherapytraining.com.
• 34:12
  day, 11: That's Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training dot com.
• 34:16
  day, 11: Click on the link at, for Play Therapy Elevation Circle and register.
• 34:22
  day, 11: This is Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 34:25
  day, 11: We're also gonna post some links in the comments.
• 34:29
  day, 11: So if you check out the comments, you'll see those links in there.
• 34:33
  day, 11: If you're having trouble, just reach out, message me.
• 34:36
  day, 11: We're happy to help you get it sorted out, but it's really just a matter of, um, clicking on the link, filling out the information, and then clicking that enroll button.
• 34:53
  day, 11: So I will see you next week, and I hope I see some of you in Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 35:09
  day, 11: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 35:14
  day, 11: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 35:23
  day, 11: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 35:28
  day, 11: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 35:34
  day, 11: Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 35:39
  day, 11: 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 and relationships.
• 35:50
  day, 11: If you have any questions or topic suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
• 35:57
  day, 11: 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.
• 36:10
  day, 11: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 36:13
  day, 11: Until next time, keep playing, learning, and growing.