Latest / Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence / If Being a Play Therapist Feels Lonely, This Is for You

Transcript

If Being a Play Therapist Feels Lonely, This Is for You · 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: Happy New Year.
• 0:48
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome.
• 0:49
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to 2026.
• 0:53
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:56
  Cathi Spooner: This week's episode is gonna be talking about why you don't need to do it alone as a play therapist.
• 1:05
  Cathi Spooner: And, uh, so when I was thinking about topics for the livestream episode, and this is kind of my first week back from taking a two work, two week break just to kinda stand back and rejuvenate, refresh, connect with my people, my family.
• 1:27
  Cathi Spooner: I was thinking about what would be helpful in 2026.
• 1:32
  Cathi Spooner: And I'm not a big person to think about goals and you know, the same old, same old kind of to me feels tired.
• 1:43
  Cathi Spooner: I thought, well, what's really gonna help to start the year out and set the tone if we use it intension about 2026.
• 1:58
  Cathi Spooner: And the way as play therapists, we want to show up in 2026, what the heck would that look like?
• 2:06
  Cathi Spooner: And so I thought about the power of community.
• 2:12
  Cathi Spooner: And what I hear over and over and over and over and over and over and over is so many play therapists feel isolated and alone in their practice, in their agency.
• 2:32
  Cathi Spooner: And I thought, you know what?
• 2:34
  Cathi Spooner: One of the things that I have learned through doing Play Therapy Academy which is my online consultation program and which was the catalyst for launching my, my new membership program for those people that didn't need Play Therapy Academy is the idea of community.
• 2:58
  Cathi Spooner: And let's not feel burned out, overwhelmed, stressed out, and have our imposter syndrome kicking in and ruling the day on more days than we would like it to.
• 3:12
  Cathi Spooner: And so that to me is the reason for choosing this topic for this month.
• 3:20
  Cathi Spooner: I'm also gonna be opening up enrollment for Play Therapy Elevation Circle, so I'll talk a little bit more about that if you're interested in that.
• 3:30
  Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy Academy has openings, so I will talk a little bit about that if you're interested in that.
• 3:38
  Cathi Spooner: The, the core foundation in my mind about these two memberships gets at the heart of a problem that I see going on in the play therapy space.
• 3:54
  Cathi Spooner: So I think you could make the case that this is probably something a lot of mental health professionals struggle, struggle with feeling isolated, alone, uh, burned out and overwhelmed.
• 4:08
  Cathi Spooner: I think in the play therapy C Community, we experience it even more because we're kind of like a little niche.
• 4:16
  Cathi Spooner: Inside the mental health community, and there are not a lot of play therapy, uh, play therapists compared to the, the number of, I'll say adult mental health professionals, mental health people that focus on working with adults.
• 4:39
  Cathi Spooner: And so what do we do about that?
• 4:41
  Cathi Spooner: And what are we gonna do about that in 2026?
• 4:44
  Cathi Spooner: And that's, that's what I wanted to talk about.
• 4:47
  Cathi Spooner: So if you have ever felt like you are alone on an island by yourself providing play therapy, you have nobody to talk to who gets it about what play therapy is.
• 5:02
  Cathi Spooner: Nobody to bounce ideas off of from a play therapy perspective, uh, or expressive arts, or you have a tough case or you've had a tough day and you're trying to figure out what just happened in your play therapy session, who do you go to?
• 5:25
  Cathi Spooner: What do you do about that?
• 5:27
  Cathi Spooner: And to me, that brings up the larger, uh, issue of burnout and feeling overwhelmed and getting the support that we need.
• 5:37
  Cathi Spooner: And so if that's you and you have been struggling with that, then this is the episode for you and this is what we're gonna talk about today for play therapists, feeling isolated and alone.
• 5:53
  Cathi Spooner: And for many play therapists, you're practicing in, uh, maybe your own private practice or you are in private practice.
• 6:05
  Cathi Spooner: Maybe you are in an agency where you're by yourself and you're the only kid therapist.
• 6:14
  Cathi Spooner: I remember years ago, so, so if you've listened to any of my previous, you might've heard this story, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell it Dan again 'cause I, I, I think it's really relevant to the conversation that we're having today.
• 6:29
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, sorry, I, I got so distracted by that person with their comments that, let me get myself focused again.
• 6:40
  Cathi Spooner: So what I wanted to say is, hello to you guys on Instagram and YouTube, uh, and LinkedIn.
• 6:50
  Cathi Spooner: I would, I would love to know who's watching as long as you're, that YouTube person is not being appropriate.
• 6:57
  Cathi Spooner: Oh Lord.
• 6:59
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 7:01
  Cathi Spooner: Anyways, I'm just gonna ignore 'em.
• 7:04
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're on YouTube, just don't watch, look at the comments until, until I can get all those deleted.
• 7:11
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but join the conversation.
• 7:13
  Cathi Spooner: If you're a play therapist and you're, uh, joining us appropriately.
• 7:18
  Cathi Spooner: If you're a child and adolescent therapist, what are your experiences as a play therapist in the community?
• 7:26
  Cathi Spooner: How do you get support?
• 7:29
  Cathi Spooner: Um, what are some of the struggles that you are experiencing?
• 7:32
  Cathi Spooner: Because I know you're not alone, and I know that because I talk to people all the time.
• 7:39
  Cathi Spooner: But I would love to know who's here, posting the comments appropriately, and let's get started for today.
• 7:48
  Cathi Spooner: Also, sorry, one more thing.
• 7:50
  Cathi Spooner: If you find the information useful, please feel free to share it across your social media platforms, and if you're following on YouTube as long as you're appropriate, then hit that subscribe button and notification so you don't miss any episodes.
• 8:08
  Cathi Spooner: All right.
• 8:09
  Cathi Spooner: First thing that I wanted to talk about today is feeling isolated and not having support.
• 8:18
  Cathi Spooner: And I remember years ago, this is back in 1992, I had graduated fresh outta graduate school, get excited about my brand new job.
• 8:31
  Cathi Spooner: Excited to get started.
• 8:33
  Cathi Spooner: I was gonna start the journey to fulfill my dream of working with children, adolescents, and families, and helping them to heal.
• 8:44
  Cathi Spooner: And I was being welcomed in as the child and adolescent therapist, and they had a play therapy room.
• 8:52
  Cathi Spooner: They had a playroom.
• 8:54
  Cathi Spooner: I was so excited.
• 8:56
  Cathi Spooner: And then nobody knew how to use it.
• 8:59
  Cathi Spooner: My, my amazing supervisors, I had some excellent supervisors.
• 9:03
  Cathi Spooner: It was an awesome program.
• 9:05
  Cathi Spooner: I learned so much there and I am grateful that for that experience, and at the same time, there wasn't anybody who knew how to use play therapy.
• 9:17
  Cathi Spooner: They had a playroom, they had the things.
• 9:20
  Cathi Spooner: But there was nobody who knew how to use play therapy.
• 9:25
  Cathi Spooner: And I, um, was struggling.
• 9:30
  Cathi Spooner: I didn't know what to do, so.
• 9:32
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, to the best of their abilities.
• 9:35
  Cathi Spooner: My supervisors would just say, you're doing a good job.
• 9:39
  Cathi Spooner: You know they're kids.
• 9:40
  Cathi Spooner: You'll figure it out.
• 9:42
  Cathi Spooner: Here's a worksheet.
• 9:43
  Cathi Spooner: Have you tried some worksheets?
• 9:45
  Cathi Spooner: And worksheets don't resonate with me.
• 9:47
  Cathi Spooner: To be completely honest, I hate worksheets.
• 9:50
  Cathi Spooner: I, I would rather engage in play because that's the language of children.
• 9:55
  Cathi Spooner: And so I kind of muddled along feeling, um, like an imposter sometimes doing the best that I can.
• 10:03
  Cathi Spooner: Learning skills, growing, still feeling useful and helpful.
• 10:07
  Cathi Spooner: And then long story short, went into private practice.
• 10:11
  Cathi Spooner: Got into an agency.
• 10:13
  Cathi Spooner: It was a great experience.
• 10:15
  Cathi Spooner: They had a playroom.
• 10:16
  Cathi Spooner: Nobody there knew how to do it either.
• 10:18
  Cathi Spooner: And so I was muddling along.
• 10:21
  Cathi Spooner: I even joined a consultation group, uh, when I went out on my own.
• 10:28
  Cathi Spooner: And because I know being a play therapist and a mental health professional, we need each other.
• 10:36
  Cathi Spooner: We get ideas from each other, we get support from each other.
• 10:40
  Cathi Spooner: We grow with each other.
• 10:42
  Cathi Spooner: I'm, I've always been a firm believer in that.
• 10:45
  Cathi Spooner: And so I have this amazing group of, of therapists who are.
• 10:53
  Cathi Spooner: Um, in this consultation group, which I loved and adored and did not want to miss, but they did not know how to work with kids.
• 11:01
  Cathi Spooner: Some of 'em worked with kids and gave me ideas like, oh, you know, just pull out a game and here's a worksheet you can use, which again, doesn't resonate with me.
• 11:10
  Cathi Spooner: So here's the thing.
• 11:11
  Cathi Spooner: That was, that was over 30 years ago and play therapy has grown since then.
• 11:21
  Cathi Spooner: We that the Association for Play Therapy here in the United States has grown and done a phenomenal job of establishing state branches all over and state branches work on influencing the mental health community about play therapy and bringing awareness and also training and consultation opportunities where you can network and find people to do that.
• 11:53
  Cathi Spooner: We've come a long way, and yet I still hear people saying to me when I talk to them and I talk to them about, you know, they'll schedule a 30 minute video call with me to find out about Play Therapy Academy, or now we're scheduling 30 minute video calls to see if Play Therapy Academy is a good fit and if not, maybe Elevation Circle is a good fit.
• 12:18
  Cathi Spooner: And I hear the same thing over and over.
• 12:23
  Cathi Spooner: And so I know it's still going on.
• 12:26
  Cathi Spooner: I know a lot of you are feeling like you are the only play therapist in the building that you don't have access to consistent consultation, consistent to supports mentoring or just somebody who gets play therapy, and you just need somebody to say, Hey, I don't know what happened in this session.
• 12:51
  Cathi Spooner: You know, I think it's this, but you know, can I get your thoughts on that to make sure that I'm on the right track and hey, do you have any ideas or resources for this?
• 13:03
  Cathi Spooner: And so having a community of play therapists who understand what play therapy is that?
• 13:12
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is using a theoretical model to access the therapeutic powers of play within the context of a strong therapeutic relationship.
• 13:22
  Cathi Spooner: A, a community where you have a sounding board, you can get different perspectives and emotional support.
• 13:29
  Cathi Spooner: I can't tell you how many times in Play Therapy Academy over the last several years, um, you know, somebody has come to one of our meetings where we have a, a private group chat as well, and somebody might, post in there.
• 13:45
  Cathi Spooner: Hey, this just happened to me.
• 13:48
  Cathi Spooner: I'm feeling a little deflated right now.
• 13:51
  Cathi Spooner: Or, my imposter syndrome is in full swing.
• 13:54
  Cathi Spooner: And then we, you know, we, we give some support and we get it.
• 13:59
  Cathi Spooner: Like they don't have to explain what play therapy is.
• 14:02
  Cathi Spooner: They don't have to explain, why they're doing what they're doing in terms of like a play therapy model.
• 14:09
  Cathi Spooner: And it's not just about pulling out a game or a worksheet, um, that it's about how to access the therapeutic powers of play.
• 14:18
  Cathi Spooner: When you are in a community of play therapists we already get it, which is why I went to the Association for Play Therapy Conference last October.
• 14:29
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 14:30
  Cathi Spooner: And I had gone a couple years before that as well.
• 14:34
  Cathi Spooner: And one of the things that, that I think about going to play therapy training or con play therapy conferences is you find your people.
• 14:43
  Cathi Spooner: Like the energy at the Association for Play Therapy Conferences is, amazing.
• 14:51
  Cathi Spooner: Part of it is because we're with our people.
• 14:53
  Cathi Spooner: We get it.
• 14:54
  Cathi Spooner: We don't have to explain things.
• 14:56
  Cathi Spooner: We get ideas.
• 14:57
  Cathi Spooner: We're in trainings, focused on play therapy.
• 15:01
  Cathi Spooner: We're getting ideas about play therapy.
• 15:04
  Cathi Spooner: We're feeling rejuvenated.
• 15:07
  Cathi Spooner: We have a place where we can go and get ideas and give different perspectives about what might be going on.
• 15:17
  Cathi Spooner: A play therapy community is where you can get support.
• 15:20
  Cathi Spooner: Hey, am I on track?
• 15:22
  Cathi Spooner: Iden, was this like, I think it's this theme.
• 15:25
  Cathi Spooner: Here's why I think it's this theme.
• 15:28
  Cathi Spooner: Does that make sense?
• 15:29
  Cathi Spooner: Do you think it's me?
• 15:30
  Cathi Spooner: Is my stuff coming through?
• 15:33
  Cathi Spooner: Or I just had a conversation with somebody yesterday about, you know, trying to figure out, is it me.
• 15:40
  Cathi Spooner: I know I am a little prone to being reactive with this, so is it me or am I picking up on something?
• 15:49
  Cathi Spooner: We all need help doing that.
• 15:51
  Cathi Spooner: And a play therapy community where you feel safe to do that and respected and we get it, can provide so much support.
• 16:02
  Cathi Spooner: But here's the other thing.
• 16:05
  Cathi Spooner: It also helps you to avoid burnout, which is another point that we're gonna get to.
• 16:10
  Cathi Spooner: I'll just go ahead and get to it now.
• 16:12
  Cathi Spooner: So it helps to avoid burnout, um, and feeling overwhelmed, um, and mental fatigue.
• 16:22
  Cathi Spooner: Day after day after day, you sit with clients, clients after clients, after clients, after client.
• 16:31
  Cathi Spooner: We hold hard things.
• 16:34
  Cathi Spooner: These are hard stories.
• 16:36
  Cathi Spooner: Being a play therapist is fun though, so we can hold hard stories in a fun way.
• 16:42
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but it's still a lot of work that we're holding and it's still hard to hear the stories.
• 16:49
  Cathi Spooner: We meet with parents.
• 16:50
  Cathi Spooner: We support parents or caregivers.
• 16:54
  Cathi Spooner: We hear their struggles, we hear their frustrations sometimes with us 'cause they don't think it's going well and they want us to fix it.
• 17:02
  Cathi Spooner: Right?
• 17:03
  Cathi Spooner: We have to hold that and see if we can help to shift that, and that's mentally draining.
• 17:10
  Cathi Spooner: We show up with the therapeutic use of self in our sessions.
• 17:16
  Cathi Spooner: So if I'm gonna use a little neuroscience, interpersonal neurobiology here, I'm gonna talk about our resident circuits.
• 17:23
  Cathi Spooner: Our resident circuits are us connecting neurobiology to neurobiology.
• 17:30
  Cathi Spooner: We are experiencing it with our clients when we are fully present in the moment, being that container for our clients and their parents and their families.
• 17:46
  Cathi Spooner: I do family play therapy, so I am holding family systems.
• 17:51
  Cathi Spooner: That's how I look at it, and that can be exhausting, especially when maybe your child has been up all night before with nightmares or maybe your whole family has got the flu running through from kid to kid or parent to parent, and you're doing all the things right, or maybe you are having some, um, maybe you're having some of your own personal stressors that are going on.
• 18:33
  Cathi Spooner: These are, these are the things we still have life going on.
• 18:38
  Cathi Spooner: It's not like my husband would always remind me, it's not like you're a robot.
• 18:43
  Cathi Spooner: Of course you're gonna have feelings, which always made me laugh 'cause I was like, leave it to the non-mental health person to speak the, the voice of reason.
• 18:54
  Cathi Spooner: When I am second guessing myself and I am like all over in my head overthinking things.
• 19:03
  Cathi Spooner: Right.
• 19:04
  Cathi Spooner: Leave it to the, leave it to the non-mental health person to speak the voice of truth into my brain and instantly get me to go, oh yeah, it's true.
• 19:16
  Cathi Spooner: That always makes me laugh when I think about it.
• 19:19
  Cathi Spooner: Um, anyways, it's true though, right where we, we carry burdens in our neuro system day after day.
• 19:29
  Cathi Spooner: We have fun doing it sometimes that thinking of that made me laugh so hard.
• 19:33
  Cathi Spooner: My eyes are watering a little bit.
• 19:35
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 19:37
  Cathi Spooner: Plus I'm a little ti tired getting started again this morning.
• 19:41
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but, and in between sessions, how much time do we have to let go of that?
• 19:49
  Cathi Spooner: Right.
• 19:49
  Cathi Spooner: We move from session to session.
• 19:51
  Cathi Spooner: We, we, we invest all of ourselves in this play therapy session.
• 19:56
  Cathi Spooner: Maybe we have this ro robust, uh, battle, right.
• 20:01
  Cathi Spooner: With swords or, or maybe where I. We're playing in the restaurant and we're, we're focused on being a good customer, or we're eating the delicious pretend meal that was just made for us, or we're processing trauma.
• 20:22
  Cathi Spooner: All these things, so in one session, and then we have to shift gears and go to the next session, and maybe they've got something completely different that we're working on there.
• 20:33
  Cathi Spooner: That's a lot of shifting and we're holding that.
• 20:38
  Cathi Spooner: That can be really exhausting day after day when you are doing it on your own and feel like you are the only play therapist.
• 20:51
  Cathi Spooner: And this is where community helps, and I see this all the time in Play Therapy Academy.
• 20:58
  Cathi Spooner: And now with my new membership as we're getting into full swing and we are having our, our mastermind meetings, our circle meetings co also known as consultation, where it's the group group support where we have a place to you know, like, am I overthinking this?
• 21:18
  Cathi Spooner: Or you know, is it me?
• 21:21
  Cathi Spooner: Am I picking up on something and my resonance circuits are actually working and now, oh, okay, yeah, I can use that information.
• 21:29
  Cathi Spooner: Now we have a community of support to run that by.
• 21:33
  Cathi Spooner: To get some feedback, to check out our biases, to get ideas and resources, to get a pat on the back to say, you know what?
• 21:43
  Cathi Spooner: You're doing a good job.
• 21:44
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe a little bit of compassionate challenging, like, Hey, you know, you may wanna think about that a different way or you know, this might be another way to think about that in a safe space where you feel like you don't have to pretend.
• 22:00
  Cathi Spooner: You can be who you are and get support to do the job that you need to do, and then you can go back to being the play therapist being the support, being the, as I say, the wise Yoda showing up to guide my young padawans through the process and become amazing Jedi warriors, right to, to navigate the world, providing support to parents so they can help their kids navigate the worlds.
• 22:34
  Cathi Spooner: So being part of a community allows that to happen and being part of a play therapy community specific to play therapy allows you to be part of a community where you don't have to constantly explain and try to get them to understand what you're talking about or silently say in your head, yeah, I'm not using a worksheet or, yeah, I playing games all day long, just doesn't seem to be moving the needle.
• 23:06
  Cathi Spooner: And I need, I need something with a little more depth understanding how the heck we access these therapeutic powers of play and what the heck does that even look like with this client or with that client, right?
• 23:23
  Cathi Spooner: These, this is where community can make a different difference.
• 23:28
  Cathi Spooner: And the other thing is that I find is there is absolutely no way for us to stay current on every little thing going on in the play therapy community.
• 23:43
  Cathi Spooner: Theoretically, the new thing that's going on, the, the strategy strategy de jour as I would call them, or the new diagnosis de jour, how do I figure out which one's actually accurate so I get a better sense of what are the roots at this problem my client is experiencing.
• 24:08
  Cathi Spooner: There's no way to be an expert on everything.
• 24:11
  Cathi Spooner: It's just not possible.
• 24:14
  Cathi Spooner: And I say that after being in the mental health field for almost coming up on 35 years and being the person in the beginning who wanted to know all the things, it felt like I had to stay up.
• 24:29
  Cathi Spooner: I had to read all the research.
• 24:30
  Cathi Spooner: I had to read all the theories.
• 24:32
  Cathi Spooner: I had to learn this theory or that theory, and I had to be, know what resources were around.
• 24:38
  Cathi Spooner: It was exhausting.
• 24:39
  Cathi Spooner: It's not even possible.
• 24:41
  Cathi Spooner: Here's what I did learn though.
• 24:42
  Cathi Spooner: Here's the shortcut.
• 24:45
  Cathi Spooner: Your community.
• 24:47
  Cathi Spooner: If you access their resources and their knowledge and their expertise, then you can tap into that and use that information to help you kind of fill in the gaps and, um, lean on their strengths to help you grow in those areas.
• 25:12
  Cathi Spooner: My philosophy is work harder.
• 25:15
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, look, I got that backwards.
• 25:17
  Cathi Spooner: Work smarter, not harder.
• 25:19
  Cathi Spooner: Like is there, uh, uh, easier, faster way to get to this goal that where I'm still gonna get the same benefit, but I don't have to take all this time, energy, and financial resources.
• 25:37
  Cathi Spooner: Right.
• 25:39
  Cathi Spooner: Cannot in a, in a, I see this all the time in play therapy community.
• 25:43
  Cathi Spooner: I see this, this was just at our, um, Elevation Circle meeting last month where we, there were, we had different people with different expertise and we were helping somebody kind of think about things a different way and maybe figure out what we're what was at the root of the problem, and we could use these different expertise and this different knowledge base to figure it out.
• 26:13
  Cathi Spooner: And that way you have that kind of synergy of knowledge and wisdom and that collective wisdom to get, I would say more well-rounded support for you, and that's gonna benefit your clients because you're gonna take that into the playroom.
• 26:38
  Cathi Spooner: You're gonna take that into your parent counseling sessions.
• 26:43
  Cathi Spooner: What parent family counseling.
• 26:45
  Cathi Spooner: Parent consultation, family counseling without client, present sessions, whatever name you're gonna use for it.
• 26:53
  Cathi Spooner: You can take that knowledge and.
• 26:57
  Cathi Spooner: Um, wisdom to help you be a more effective guide for your clients and their parents.
• 27:08
  Cathi Spooner: And so to me, that's the power of community.
• 27:12
  Cathi Spooner: We, we can work smarter, not harder.
• 27:16
  Cathi Spooner: We can have less burnout.
• 27:19
  Cathi Spooner: We can be more effective guides, more knowledgeable guides.
• 27:28
  Cathi Spooner: We can be more present with our own families because we have a place to take all this stuff that we're experiencing as play therapists that come up day after day after day after day.
• 27:44
  Cathi Spooner: We have a place to take that where we can leave it.
• 27:48
  Cathi Spooner: Then now have space for our own family systems.
• 27:52
  Cathi Spooner: We can, we can feel less guilty knowing we're not the only ones who feel like, you know what?
• 28:01
  Cathi Spooner: I feel like I'm giving more time and attention to my clients, and I do my own kids, right?
• 28:08
  Cathi Spooner: We're not little robots, as my husband would remind me.
• 28:12
  Cathi Spooner: And so this is the power of community.
• 28:15
  Cathi Spooner: This is the power of being part of a play therapy community.
• 28:21
  Cathi Spooner: Where you don't have to do it alone.
• 28:25
  Cathi Spooner: So if you are tired of doing it alone, if you want consistent support without feeling overwhelmed and burned out, just one more thing that you have to do and be able to get a place where you can have ideas to get more clarity, to build more confidence to have less burnout, then a play therapy community or play therapy support is, is gonna fill that need.
• 29:03
  Cathi Spooner: And that's why I am, um, happy to announce if you're interested.
• 29:10
  Cathi Spooner: I do have, I have two options.
• 29:13
  Cathi Spooner: One is Play Therapy Academy and the other one is.
• 29:18
  Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy, Elevation Circle, they're a little bit different and they're kind of similar.
• 29:24
  Cathi Spooner: So I do have openings in Play Therapy Academy.
• 29:29
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, um, right now, so Play Therapy Academy, if you're interested in getting, if 2026 is the year that you decide, yep, I wanna get my registered play therapy credential and I want support so that I don't have to do this journey alone and I wanna access some more information along this, um, path of becoming a registered play therapy, a registered play therapist, then Play Therapy Academy is probably a good fit.
• 30:05
  Cathi Spooner: We meet twice a month, very structured.
• 30:10
  Cathi Spooner: Um, consultation meetings in order to maximize our time and get the most benefit for you when, but also you not only get my almost 35 years of experience in child and adolescent mental health, you get the collective wisdom and experience of the other Play Therapy Academy of members and Play Therapy Academy is a very small group, so that one's much smaller.
• 30:38
  Cathi Spooner: There's courses in there, tons of support.
• 30:42
  Cathi Spooner: Um, if you're interested in Play Therapy Academy, then you're gonna want to go over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 30:54
  Cathi Spooner: Go over to the supervision page and you'll see Play Therapy Academy gives you more information.
• 31:00
  Cathi Spooner: But schedule a 30 minute video call with me and we're gonna see if it's a good fit.
• 31:06
  Cathi Spooner: If it's not a good fit, maybe Elevation Circle is a better fit, or maybe neither is the right time.
• 31:13
  Cathi Spooner: Well, we won't know that unless you schedule the video call and we can have that conversation about whether or not it's a good fit.
• 31:20
  Cathi Spooner: This month I'm also excited to, um, to let you know that Elevation Circle, Play Therapy, elevation Circle.
• 31:30
  Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna open up enrollment for a short period of time at the end of the month.
• 31:36
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and I'm only letting in a limited number of people because we're still kind of building the community and I wanna make sure that we really have time to connect and have people feel supported in Elevation Circle.
• 31:53
  Cathi Spooner: Um, this one is not, if you're interested in the RPT credential, elevation Circle is not the one you want.
• 32:00
  Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy Academy.
• 32:03
  Cathi Spooner: Elevation Circle came about because as I was talking to people about Play Therapy Academy, what I realized was there were a lot of people that didn't need Play Therapy Academy or they weren't quite ready for Play Therapy Academy, but they still wanted support because they were feeling isolated and alone and they didn't have a community where they could go to to get the help that they needed to be the play therapist that they wanted to be to help their, their clients have that deeper level of healing.
• 32:34
  Cathi Spooner: So Elevation Circle is more community based.
• 32:39
  Cathi Spooner: And what I mean by that is that we, we meet once a month for consultation.
• 32:46
  Cathi Spooner: I call those masterminds'cause we put all our brilliant minds together and provide support, talk about different play therapy topics, um, get ideas, help provide support.
• 32:59
  Cathi Spooner: And then we also have a monthly book club in there.
• 33:03
  Cathi Spooner: So we meet once a month for a book club.
• 33:06
  Cathi Spooner: And the book club discussion is focused on how do we take that information we're learning from this book and apply it in play therapy.
• 33:14
  Cathi Spooner: And so the book that we're reading is, I think it's.
• 33:18
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I don't know if it's an oldie, to me, it doesn't feel like it's an oldie, but it was published in 2008, so maybe, um, but I think it is pure gold every page I love.
• 33:33
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and if you take nothing else away, then reading, being a Brainwise Therapist by Bonnie Badnock, then I would definitely get that book.
• 33:43
  Cathi Spooner: But that's the book we're reading and then we're um, seeing how are we applying that in the play therapy sessions and our, the work that we're doing.
• 33:54
  Cathi Spooner: There's some other things in there as well.
• 33:56
  Cathi Spooner: There's some other things in Play Therapy Academy.
• 33:58
  Cathi Spooner: You can go over to my website and kind of read more about that.
• 34:02
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested in Play therapy Elevation Circle.
• 34:07
  Cathi Spooner: And that Play Therapy Elevation Circle, I, uh, that one's kind of global.
• 34:13
  Cathi Spooner: People from all over the world can join that one.
• 34:16
  Cathi Spooner: Um, so if you're interested in those, then go over to my website at RH Play Therapy Training.
• 34:26
  Cathi Spooner: Com.
• 34:26
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested in Elevation Circle, I would highly recommend getting on the wait list so you can find out when it's gonna be opening up and some other things going on with Play Therapy Elevation Circle, because it's only gonna be open for a short period of time, and I am only letting in a small group of people for this next round of enrollment in Elevation Circle.
• 34:54
  Cathi Spooner: So, um, if you're interested in those, we're also gonna post comment, uh, post the links in the comments, but definitely head over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 35:11
  Cathi Spooner: See what's going on over there.
• 35:12
  Cathi Spooner: There's other resources.
• 35:14
  Cathi Spooner: I have some trainings coming up, so there's some other things over there as well.
• 35:19
  Cathi Spooner: And I just wanna end by saying how much I appreciate our play therapy community, how much I appreciate you.
• 35:28
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 35:30
  Cathi Spooner: And the work that you're doing, and I say, let's let 2026 be the year that you don't do it alone anymore.
• 35:37
  Cathi Spooner: Like even if you don't do Play Therapy Academy or Elevation Circle, connect with somebody, connect with other play therapists so that you're not feeling alone.
• 35:48
  Cathi Spooner: All right.
• 35:49
  Cathi Spooner: And I will see you next week.
• 35:52
  Cathi Spooner: That is all for today.
• 35:54
  Cathi Spooner: Bye for now.
• 35:58
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 36:03
  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.
• 36:12
  Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 36:18
  Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 36:23
  Cathi Spooner: Remember.
• 36:25
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 36:28
  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.
• 36:39
  Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episode.
• 36:44
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear from you.
• 36:46
  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.
• 36:59
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 37:02
  Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.