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Explosive Emotions in Kids: A Brain-Based Approach for Play Therapists · 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.
• 0:46
  Hey there.
• 0:48
  Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy, where we talk about all things play therapy.
• 0:55
  And today's topic is one that comes up a lot, especially during supervision.
• 1:03
  It definitely comes up during some of the trainings that I do, and definitely comes up in consultation a lot in Play Therapy Elevation Circle, which is my online membership, and also my more, um, kind of higher level, I don't know if that's the right word, um, more in-depth, shall I say, membership, which is Play Therapy Academy, for those people learn- wanting to learn play therapy competency and especially if they're pursuing the RPT credential.
• 1:40
  But in, in Play Therapy Elevation Circle, one of the things that we talk about a lot as, as well is this whole idea of, um, what do I do with meltdowns?
• 1:53
  How do I respond to parents when they're looking at me and tell me all the things that have gone wrong with my client who's having meltdowns, and the meltdowns are getting worse, or nothing seems to be working, or in the playroom, they're not transitioning into the playroom, or they're having a meltdown in the playroom.
• 2:16
  These can be really overwhelming and scary for the adults trying to help these kids.
• 2:24
  And so that's why I thought today's topic, in fact, in September, one of the things that I wanna focus on is a little bit more about understanding neuroscience and attachment, the theories, and how we apply those in our clinical work with children and adolescents.
• 2:47
  And so if that's of interest to you, then stay tuned for today.
• 2:53
  I would love to know who's here.
• 2:56
  So if you're attending live today, I would love to know where you're from, your name, what population you work with.
• 3:05
  If you use a specific play therapy model, put that in the chat.
• 3:10
  For those of you watching the replay on LinkedIn or Instagram, I mean, not Instagram, um, YouTube, I would love to, um- Hear that information as well.
• 3:26
  So post in the comments, continue the conversation, and for those of you listening to the podcast, feel free to pop over to YouTube and watch it there and post some comments, or follow me on my Instagram channel, which is @renewingheartstraining.
• 3:44
  Send me a message or an email.
• 3:47
  And let's get started for today.
• 3:49
  So if you're a child, an adolescent therapist, and you're working with clients who f- who have, like, explosive emotions, or what we could also call little tiny tornadoes of emotion, then, um, those kind of simple take a deep breath, or, oh, let's regulate your nervous system, all of those are good things, but in the moment, those, those are not gonna work very well, most likely because the child is kind of having an internal emotional storm.
• 4:26
  And so today what I wanna talk about is let's figure out what's going on with that because in my mind, your c- clinical case conceptualization is what is gonna help you figure out what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.
• 4:43
  So case conceptualization is essentially you figuring out what are at the roots of the problem, what's, what's going down that's activating this, and what are the patterns that are sustaining it?
• 4:58
  And so in my mind, if we want to look for that, then we need to look at the neuroscience, and we need to look at attachment aspects and what's going on with that because then that'll give us some information what to do on our play therapy sessions, who to involve in the play therapy sessions, and how you help parents learn how to support their child more effectively because essentially these kids that you're working with, you're… If you're a play therapist, the likelihood you're seeing that child once a week for 45 minutes, maybe 60, depending on, um, what you bill it for, then all the other time they're with their parents or caregivers.
• 5:49
  And so I'm a firm believer in having a way of conceptualizing the role of parents and how are they gonna be involved in the play therapy process.
• 6:04
  And so if you've followed me or watched any of my previous episodes, you'll know I talk about that a lot.
• 6:12
  If you're interested in any of these topics, you can look, um, I would say hop over to my YouTube channel, Cathi Spooner Renewing Hearts, because if you look in the live tab, you'll see all the live stream replays in there, or my podcast, Next, Next Level Podcast, all the previous episodes are there if you want, if you want some more information.
• 6:36
  So in today's episode, we're gonna talk about some de- developmental expectations, why a child's developing neurocircuitry in, um, matters for self-regulation.
• 6:50
  This whole idea that, um, came out of the work of Lisa Feldman Barrett, which is what she calls the theory of constructed emotions.
• 7:02
  Um, and so if we, if we use that theoretical lens and we're looking at, well, where did these emotions come from?
• 7:11
  And that's… She takes a different approach than Jaak Panksepp, who had more of a biological, you're everyone's born with these neurocircuits.
• 7:22
  So she takes a little different approach than that theoretical model.
• 7:27
  And then we're also looking at attachment as a bioregulatory system, and that I discovered, um, a researcher on attachment, he does a lot of neuroscience and attachment, over on Substack.
• 7:44
  Actually, he was recommended to me by a affective and cognitive neuroscientist that I consult with.
• 7:52
  And so I discovered him on Substack, and he's got a website as well.
• 7:57
  And, um, it's really fascinating what he is proposing.
• 8:04
  And so in the description, I have put the citations or references for these two, um, articles that I'm kind of basing today's live stream on.
• 8:19
  So if you're interested, you can, you can look these up for yourself.
• 8:24
  We're also gonna be talking about, I mean, how do you apply this p- for play therapy, and how do you help parents really understand their role as co-regulators?
• 8:36
  So let's get started.
• 8:37
  Today's topic is Explosive Emotions in Kids: A Brain-Based Approach for Play Therapists.
• 8:45
  And the first thing that we wanna talk about is… Um, and as I'm going along, you guys feel free to join in the conversation, post in the comments.
• 8:57
  And, um, let's get started.
• 8:59
  So if we're looking at, um, not if, but I, uh, if w- if we're working with children, we're understanding that children are developing.
• 9:10
  They are a work in progress.
• 9:12
  It's not like an adult whose nervous system and, um, so to speak, have, has developed.
• 9:23
  I mean, I, I think our nervous system is always changing anyway, so has it really ever fully developed?
• 9:29
  Think you could make the case one way or the other.
• 9:32
  Definitely for children though, because their neurocircuitry is m- end brain development are very much in process, under construction, so, so to speak.
• 9:45
  So we're understanding that for children, their neurocircuitry is also developing, and depending on the age of the child, your, their, their ability to process and make sense of that sensory information coming in and how they're making meaning of it is gonna be influenced by their experiences.
• 10:09
  So like a two-year-old is not gonna have as many experiences as a 10-year-old, and yet they're gonna be receiving sensory information, but depending on their brain developit- development and neurocircuitry and the meaning they've made out of it, it's, um, it's gonna be Probably a little different because it's developing.
• 10:32
  And so if we're looking at using that theory of constructed emotions by Lisa Feldman Barrett, then we conceptualize that emotions are constructed experiences based on how the brain has made sense of that interoception data, so the heart rate, the breathing, all of that sensory information coming in, within the context of what is happening in that specific moment, so what's going on in that environment, and, and she includes cultural experiences and how culture shapes responses and meaning, which I find that fascinating as well.
• 11:14
  And then the brain will also use past experiences to make sense of what's going on, because the brain is a predictive machine.
• 11:25
  Um, and so it's using that information to figure out where to allocate energy resources, and some of that is gonna be based on the meaning we've made out of past experiences.
• 11:38
  So you can see, like, with kids, like a two-year-old, their experiences in life are different than a seven-year-old or an eight-year-old or a 16-year-old or a 19-year-old.
• 11:51
  They're… All of these are gonna influence the development.
• 11:57
  So what does that mean for how emotions are constructed when we're talking about children and emotional development in children?
• 12:09
  And how do… And they're always having new experiences, and the younger they are, the newer the experiences are, right?
• 12:16
  And so that's where I found that, this article by Hohmann-Zuif and Feldman Barrett, which I, um, put in the, the description for today's episode, and the title of it is Emotion Words, Emotion Concepts, and Emotional Development in Children.
• 12:36
  And kind of in a nutshell, it's a very, um, extensive article, but in a nutshell, for the purposes o- of today's live stream episode or podcast episode, whichever one you're listening to, then what they propose- In a nutshell, is that children's brain development begins with developing emotion concepts based on their internal experiences and their observations of others' use of emotion words and responding to those things going on, including cultural nuances learned in those experiences, which is really kind of fascinating.
• 13:21
  Um, she talks about emotion categories as well.
• 13:25
  And so this whole idea of developing emotion words and emotion concepts, we look at that as beginning early in a child's life and what are they observing.
• 13:37
  And so to me, that brings me to the work that's being done by Dr. Pascal Verti- Vertica.
• 13:45
  I don't know if I pronounced his last name correctly.
• 13:49
  Um, I like pronouncing people's names correctly, so I'm hoping I did pronounce it correctly.
• 13:56
  Anyways, he has this idea, this concept that he's developed based on his research of neuroscience and how that attachment system works.
• 14:07
  He, um, he came up with a theory that he calls the bi- uh, attachment as a bioregulatory system, which to me kind of goes to the idea of what Allan Schore, um, conceptualized decades ago, which is that attachment is basically… He kind of reframed attachment theory as regulation theory And I was recently in a, um, legacy and, uh, watching, uh, they're called legacy interviews, but so it's kind of more of an interview than a training, but it's also kind of training.
• 14:47
  So we talk… It was t- he and his other colleagues, including his wife, were talking about regulation theory.
• 14:55
  Um, so it was really fascinating.
• 14:57
  So it got me to thinking how if we're looking at emotion regulation, and we're looking at emotion regulation as, um, this, this kind of constructed experiences and how our brain makes sense of that and the meaning that it makes from it, and this theory of constructed emotions, and we're looking at how development, emotional development happens in children based on this theory of constructed emotion, then we're looking at others, and what are they observing from others, and the cultural nuances and the environmental context of that.
• 15:38
  And that, to me, brings us to this idea of attachment.
• 15:43
  And so this whole idea of, uh, attachment as a bioregulatory system or what Allan Schore and his colleagues call regulation theory And what does that mean?
• 15:55
  So if we're looking at the bioregulatory system, then we're looking at the brain, and this kind of also ties into this theory of constructed emotions.
• 16:07
  We're looking at the brain as a predictive meaning-making machine.
• 16:10
  So an inference-making machine using that innos- interoception, like what's going on internally, that sensory data, to predict, and the meaning made of that information past- based on past experiences, but also based on what we're observing in the environment, that the brain is using that information to predict where to allocate resources and what needs to happen.
• 16:41
  How are we refon- responding?
• 16:44
  So think fight, flight, or freeze here.
• 16:47
  Um, and so essentially, we're looking at the brain as a prediction ma- machine, kind of betting on what's gonna happen next.
• 16:59
  So it's predicting, oh, based on this information and the meaning that I've made out of it from past experiences, plus what's going on environmentally in the context and what do I see other people doing, then it's gonna determine what do we do… what do I do next.
• 17:17
  And so Dr. Vartyka hypothesizes, and I find this interesting, and if you love attachment theory and think a lot about co-regulation, I think you're gonna be excited about this as well, 'cause I know my little nerdy parts get so excited about this.
• 17:37
  Um, and so we're looki- he par- hypothesizes resilience is when there's flexibility and e- efficiency in the way the brain facilitates homeostasis reactions to return the body to, um, stable functioning.
• 17:58
  So we're looking at, um, allostasis and homeostasis here.
• 18:04
  Es- essentially in a nutshell, think about the r- the ho- h- think about homeostasis as a rubber band.
• 18:09
  You stretch it, you let go, it returns to its former state.
• 18:14
  And think about allostasis the way that I think about it, is juggling.
• 18:18
  You're keeping all the balls in the air, and you're adjusting to keep them all in the air.
• 18:25
  And so homeostasis is the body's, um, experiences something and then makes adjustments to return back to where it was.
• 18:37
  Allostasis is the body, um, kind of managing and regulating all, a, a bunch of different Um, things going on inside the body and, and the brain, and it has to predict based what to do.
• 18:53
  Like, oh, I predict this is gonna happen.
• 18:56
  Like in juggling, oh, I see the ball going over there.
• 18:59
  I know what that means 'cause I made meaning of it in the past when I've dropped the ball.
• 19:03
  Then I know I need to move my arm over here.
• 19:05
  So I'm predicting, and then I'm predicting where I have to move my arm.
• 19:10
  And so that's, that's kind of the way I think about homeostasis and allostasis when we're talking about internally regulating and what that means for our external responses.
• 19:23
  And so if we think about the brain as a predictive machine, meaning making, then we're, we're understanding that the brain is always looking to see what needs to happen and where to allocate those resources.
• 19:38
  So that, so think, uh, rest and digest or fight, flight, or freeze, and the body responding and putting resources where they need to go in order to respond.
• 19:54
  And think about, uh, the way that, and, uh, the way that, um, from this bioregulatory system theory, then what he f- he looks at things socially, Dr. Fert-, Fertuck, in looking at as social beings, we know that we can count on… We've learned that my set of social people around me, if I'm in this social group or this attachment relationship, then I know I can count on these others to help manage whatever life throws my way, and then I'm gonna get my needs met.
• 20:33
  So think about that from an attachment relationship.
• 20:37
  The, uh, attachment influences the brain's predictive assessment of others and their availability for co-regulation and getting needs met.
• 20:50
  And here's a quote from a article.
• 20:52
  He, he writes articles on Sub- Substack that I read all the time.
• 20:57
  So if you're on Substack, which is kind of my new passion, um, I would definitely check him out So what he says is, "Our brain identifies others as safety signals.
• 21:11
  The prediction fundamentally alters our perception of the world." And then he goes on to state, "Because our brain predicts that social resources are available for load sharing," that, you know, keeping all the balls in the air, and that returning to baseline,"it decreases the activation of costly neural computations associ- associated with effortful self-regulation and future needs anticipation." So essentially what he's talking about is, can I- my brain is going to make meaning of this caregiver person.
• 21:49
  Does this person meet my needs more often than not?
• 21:52
  That's attachment, right?
• 21:53
  That's co-regulation.
• 21:55
  Can I count on my caregiver to help me manage and make sense of what's going on and get my needs met, and help me to manage all of this information coming in to my body and making sense of that?
• 22:17
  And so Alan Schore reframed, um… He, he was- he did a lot of research early on, especially back in the early, uh, late '80s, and I think one of his most cited papers was written in 1991.
• 22:36
  Um, no, I think that's Fonagy.
• 22:38
  Anyway . Um, anyway, so he, he wrote a lot in the n- in the '90s about attachment theory and the role of the right brain and right brain processing for attachment, and secure attachment, and the other types of attachment.
• 22:57
  He focused on that whole, the role of the right brain for attachment mechanisms and co-regulation.
• 23:07
  And so due… And because of the role of attachment and its critical role for children developing the capacity for regulating their emotions and developing that window of distress tolerance.
• 23:23
  So now we kind of have the theoretical lens here.
• 23:26
  We- we're looking at these big emotional meltdowns, and the idea is we're thinking about, now we're conceptualizing, um, we're conceptualizing what just activated this behavior.
• 23:44
  And if I'm looking at it that way, then I'm looking at, huh, what's going on with this?
• 23:50
  What, what threat circuits got activated?
• 23:54
  Something happened internally and the meaning made of this that activated this response.
• 24:02
  And so that gives us, um, if we're… And then the attachment as a fundamental bioregulatory system also leads us to trying to make sense of, and conceptualizing, I mean, conceptualizing the role of co-regulation.
• 24:22
  The role of co-regulation for you as a play therapist or a mental health professional, and the role of parents for co-regulation.
• 24:33
  And understanding if we're looking at that emotional development, that theory of constructed emotion, then part of what the, these re- th- Lisa Feldman Barrett and her colleagues are proposing is that children are observing how others, how the other adults, how the other people around them are responding, and making meaning of that.
• 24:59
  So then that, that helps us to think about what's going on mo- in more depth.
• 25:08
  And here's, to me, this is why it's important.
• 25:12
  So there, I've been talking a lot a little bit lately about this whole idea of nervous system and how that's become very, very popular on social media.
• 25:24
  We hear it all over.
• 25:24
  I use the term, so I'm not saying it's bad.
• 25:27
  I'm not saying that at all.
• 25:28
  What I'm saying is we, it's, it's not, it's not so simple.
• 25:34
  And so if we're talking about nervous system, we're talking about a whole array of neural circuitry and understanding what is going on with that.
• 25:48
  And when we're talking about emotions, we're also i- like what's going on with that nervous system?
• 25:54
  But really more what is that predictive machine, that predictive coding?
• 26:01
  What is going on with that?
• 26:02
  What is the meaning the child has made of these emotions, and are they able to use the adults in their life to help them make meaning and regulate that?
• 26:16
  We, so we don't wanna just stop at naming emotions, right?
• 26:22
  So that's the other thing that I've been talking a lot about lately is what is the reason we are teaching children lang- uh, emotion words?
• 26:33
  Why are we doing that?
• 26:34
  We- I do it, and in play therapy that's, that's one of the… If you're using a, a play therapy model that you are, um, doing directive activities, then probably one of the things that you're doing is teaching emotion vocabulary, teaching emotion words, and helping kids to figure out where are they experiencing those emotions.
• 26:58
  Well, why do we do that?
• 27:00
  So that they, we can validate their emotions and job done?
• 27:04
  So that they think that everything that matters in their lives is just how I feel is factual to what is actually going on, and everybody has to adjust to my emotions?
• 27:16
  That, to me, is not going to lead to a successful, resilient life, because it misses the other half of what's important.
• 27:28
  So yes, we want to help them understand where they're experiencing their emotions, and be able to label their emotions, and understand their emotions.
• 27:38
  That's what Feldman Barrett and her f- colleagues call emotional granularity, and in their ver- research they have found that adults with higher emotional granularity have less mental health problems.
• 27:52
  That's, that's what they have found in their research.
• 27:56
  So what does that mean?
• 27:57
  If I can label my emotions, then all my problems go away?
• 28:01
  We all know that's not true.
• 28:04
  So what, so why does it matter?
• 28:07
  Um, h- here's why it matters.
• 28:09
  Because emotions are connected to the meaning that we've made of those experiences, or what we've observed, and we've formulated belief systems around those.
• 28:24
  And so now, we ha- we're experiencing these emotions, they're connected to the meaning that we've made of it, and our brain is gonna use that information to predict How to respond, what to do next.
• 28:40
  And this is where I think a lot of the cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy have gotten really good results, um, as, as far as like what the, what the research has shown us, um, because it's connecting what are all of the thoughts and beliefs and where are you experiencing those depending on your, your theory model.
• 29:06
  And EMDR does the same thing.
• 29:08
  We're looking where are you experiencing the emotions?
• 29:10
  What are the emotions?
• 29:11
  And what are the beliefs going with that?
• 29:14
  And that's connected to how we've made meaning out of those traumatic experiences.
• 29:19
  If you're working with a child who, um, has a lot of emotion dysregulation and they've got attuned parents who are able to co-regulate effectively but this child's emotions are so strong, then I typically tend to start looking at are there some sensory processing things that are going on that is overwhelming this child's ability to tolerate it or something.
• 29:51
  I'm gonna start looking for what is going on with that And, um, so, so that would be… And so if we're looking at examples, like a child who's overloaded by that sensory information, um, and receives and they assess threat, what are they gonna do?
• 30:15
  They're gonna have an emotional meltdown, and because of in- the sensory information coming in is, like, too much, it's overloading them, and overwhelms their capacity to make sense of what that is.
• 30:31
  All they know is that they are completely overloaded in that moment, and it doesn't feel safe.
• 30:41
  They're assessing danger because their capacity is completely overwhelmed, and they don't have the ability to make sense of it in the moment.
• 30:53
  And then the grown-ups are looking at them, not understanding what's going on, so if we go back to that bioregulatory system theory, then are they able to use the adults to help them, um, regulate or get their needs met?
• 31:10
  And for… So the, these are the things that we're, we're thinking about.
• 31:14
  Or let's say you have a child who comes from a home with highly anxious parents, loving parents, and they're very anxious.
• 31:26
  So, um, maybe a, a, the pa- the child is gonna observe, uh, an anxious response.
• 31:36
  I would say this would be my home.
• 31:38
  I- My mother was so anxious, oh my gosh.
• 31:42
  She was constantly… Uh, like I stopped driving with her after a while.
• 31:46
  My mom, uh, God bless her, um, like she would just have a threat response to everything.
• 31:53
  And so what am I doing?
• 31:54
  I'm like thinking there's danger everywhere, right?
• 31:57
  And like anxious.
• 31:58
  And she was constantly predicting things in the future to go bad and, um, because she grew up in an anxious environment.
• 32:08
  And so what, like, not that she meant to pass this along, she did not.
• 32:14
  Not that I meant to pass it on to my kids.
• 32:18
  Um, I tried to do better and like regulate that better, and still, like I get anxious about things.
• 32:26
  It's a, it's a struggle and I'm constantly having to tell my brain, "Okay, what's the truth? Let me check the facts." Checking with my DBT skills.
• 32:35
  And like that's something we want to think about when we're working with kids.
• 32:41
  What is, is there an anxious environment that's going on?
• 32:46
  Are there parents who worry about everything that they can't control?
• 32:50
  Are there parents who have specific phobias and their children now kind of see those and are making meaning of how the grownups are responding to things, right?
• 33:03
  That meaning making for that, um, c- theory of constructed emotions, and then how are we making meaning of that?
• 33:12
  Um, or the parent who struggles with OCD or anger, right?
• 33:19
  If they, if they don't regulate their emotions well and they're constantly angry, or there's trauma or domestic violence.
• 33:26
  So all of the, all of these things.
• 33:29
  So As play therapists, what we're gonna do is we're also thinking about this whole idea of co-regulation.
• 33:39
  Co-regulation for me as the play therapist in the, in the session, and also co-regulation for teaching parents about co-regulation.
• 33:52
  So as a play therapist, then I'm also aware I need to tune in and be very self-aware so that if something, um, gets activated, I can f- I can kind of figure out what that is and then figure out what do I need to do.
• 34:10
  'Cause as play therapists, one of the things that we want to do is develop this concept of co- co, um, congruence.
• 34:18
  Like, my internal state needs to match my external behaviors or my external response.
• 34:27
  So if I want to create a safe and secure environment, then I, I need to co-regulate well through all of the different aspects of what's going on in the playroom, and I need to be congruent with unconditional positive regard and empathy.
• 34:46
  So I'm maintaining that through the process.
• 34:50
  I set limits where I need to, so I'm not talking about no limit setting And, um, that so, so I'm, I'm co-regulating in the session, and also I'm teaching parents and caregivers about co-regulation.
• 35:10
  So I'm teaching parents about the, the importance of their regulated state.
• 35:16
  It's not calm, it's regulated.
• 35:18
  Can I stay in that window of distress tolerance enough to get… help my child get in, get their state into more regulated state?
• 35:30
  As I stay in my window, I wanna help get them back into a more regulated state.
• 35:37
  So they need to use my… I always tell parents, it's kind of like they n- I need, um, parents need to… It's kind of like their kids need to borrow their regulated state until they learn how to do that efficiently.
• 35:56
  I think we all need, I don't think we ever grow out of this concept of using others for co-regulation.
• 36:04
  We're social beings, and so we- we're always using others for support.
• 36:11
  For children, the reason that it matters a lot is because their neurocircuitry is developing, their meaning-making is developing.
• 36:21
  And so as we help parents learn how to do that, then that's gonna help their child outside of the playroom.
• 36:29
  We support parents to support their kids, and the goal is not perfection.
• 36:35
  The c- the goal is good enough parenting more often than not, helping their kids to get into a regulated state.
• 36:44
  Now, for kids who have really, um, sp- like strong, big, reactive, kind of explosive emotions, that can be really exhausting for parents.
• 36:56
  So we're also talking to parents about self-care, using support, and looking at patterns going on, trying to figure out are there any resources that child needs?
• 37:08
  What is going on with those big emotions?
• 37:11
  Um, and so we're, we're doing those kinds of things.
• 37:15
  And I think that's our role as play therapists is to support parents.
• 37:20
  And depending on your play therapy model, how are you Um, how are you integrating parents in the play therapy process?
• 37:30
  How are you talking to them?
• 37:31
  How are you supporting them?
• 37:33
  Are you bringing them into the playroom?
• 37:35
  Are you not bringing them into the playroom?
• 37:37
  Why are you bringing in them into the playroom?
• 37:40
  Have you prepared them for bringing them into the playroom?
• 37:43
  In October, I'm gonna talk a lot more about that.
• 37:47
  And in, in Play Therapy Elevation Circle, we've started this new thing called quarterly roundtable discussions.
• 37:56
  And so this weekend we're doing our first roundtable discussion on emotion regulation, and what we're gonna do is we're gonna look at the, a case study of a, a, a fake client and what, like, what Adlerian play therapy, how Adlerian play therapy would explain it, how Gestalt play therapy would explain it, family play therapy.
• 38:21
  So how are we conceptualizing emotion regulation and anxiety problems through our theoretical lens?
• 38:28
  And then how does that model work?
• 38:31
  Like, what are some things you would do with a child like this, and how are you gonna measure progress?
• 38:38
  And so in Elevation Circle, one of the things that we're doing is trying to… Like, we have book club in there.
• 38:46
  We're reading on an article and discussing an article this month on play themes.
• 38:52
  Um, we're having a discussion about emotion regulation from different theoretical lenses.
• 38:58
  And then when we do our consultation meetings, monthly consultation meetings, then w- one of the things that comes up a lot is emotion regulation, but also how to include parents.
• 39:08
  So Um, these are like how do you take the theory and apply it?
• 39:14
  And to my- in my mind, that's best done in a community.
• 39:18
  Like, this is hard to do on your own.
• 39:21
  In Elevation Circle, we had one person staffing a case if any of you have had this happen, you can relate, where you have a, a client who wrecks the room.
• 39:33
  Like, that comes up a lot in consultation.
• 39:36
  What do I do when this child wrecks my playroom several times?
• 39:40
  So we're looking at emotion dysregulation, right?
• 39:42
  We're looking at what is going on with that, and then your play therapy model is gonna help you figure out what do you do, when you do it, and how are you gonna do it.
• 39:50
  And this is true also for these big kind of explosive emotions in a playroom, and what do we do with that?
• 39:58
  In my mind, that's the benefit of having a support system, your play therapy community.
• 40:05
  But that's true for parents also.
• 40:07
  They need support as well.
• 40:09
  You're their support, and who- what other support do they have?
• 40:14
  Um, 'cause we also wanna help parents learn new strategies.
• 40:19
  And so just to kinda round up for today, there are different activities.
• 40:25
  What are some… If you're using a play therapy model, we're kind of like now we've conceptualized what it is, how is this applicable in play therapy, and now so look at some practical ideas are I use a lot of bibliotherapy to kinda teach about emotions and where we're feeling it, and then doing some directive activities.
• 40:47
  So we're looking at some bibliotherapy using books about emotions to help develop w- emotion words.
• 40:56
  And then we wanna help… And then also some activities for teaching them how to tune into their bodies and make sense of what's going on.
• 41:08
  What is the meaning that they've made of those experiences?
• 41:12
  So now they can label the emotions, they understand where they're experiencing the emotions, how do I recognize these emotions, but then we're also wanting to help them figure out, like, what are the beliefs connected with those emotions?
• 41:29
  Um, and one of the things that we're also kind of doing depending, like, if it's trauma or s- anxiety, we're taking kind of a titrated approach to exposure to those triggers or whatever it is it's activating.
• 41:46
  So we're, we're like what slowly exposing to whatever that brain has determined and predicted is a threat.
• 41:57
  One of the things that we're doing is helping to make meaning of it, and maybe the negative beliefs are not accurate, and we need them to think of more true beliefs, so to speak.
• 42:15
  Or how would they like to believe differently about themselves?
• 42:18
  I'm not a bad kid And what is the role of parents?
• 42:24
  How are we teaching parents to, um, do that co-regulation?
• 42:29
  And so maybe that means, like, sometimes we do some family play therapy.
• 42:34
  Don't just bring parents in without preparing them though and using a, a model, 'cause that i- doesn't usually go well.
• 42:44
  That's a whole other episode.
• 42:45
  I have talked about that in previous episodes, so you may wanna go back and listen to some of those.
• 42:52
  So, um, anyway, so that is it for today.
• 42:58
  We covered a lot of topics today.
• 43:02
  Um, if you're interested in learning more about some of these things, feel free to go back and listen to some of my previous episodes.
• 43:12
  Um, uh, and, um, if you're interested in Play Therapy Elevation Circle, Play Therapy Elevation Circle is my online play therapy membership for play therapists who are tired of working alone, try to figure… tired of trying to figure it out alone, and want support from other people who speak their language of play, and can get real, meaningful play therapy-specific support and ideas, somebody to think alongside with you and help you figure all of these things out so you don't have to do it by yourself.
• 43:52
  That is Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 43:55
  It's closed right now, but if you're interested, then get on the wait list.
• 43:59
  We will, um, post the link for the wait list in the comments, or pop over to my website at rhplaytherapytraining.com.
• 44:12
  That's rhplaytherapytraining.com, Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training.
• 44:17
  So pop over there.
• 44:18
  Go over onto the consultation page.
• 44:21
  Get on the wait list.
• 44:23
  Every month we have… Um, I, I do a weekly Tuesday Tips where I share different tips, like 15, anywhere from 15 to 20.
• 44:33
  Although sometimes it's 30 minutes.
• 44:35
  I try to give them short so that you can use them right away, 'cause, you know, people are busy.
• 44:40
  They, they need some strategies.
• 44:42
  And then we do a monthly consultation in there.
• 44:45
  We do a monthly book club in there.
• 44:48
  We're doing a quarterly round table discussion.
• 44:51
  The idea is to help you feel like you have a community of support around you, learning and growing together, and making sure that the clients that we are serving are getting the best possible support.
• 45:09
  that we can give them.
• 45:10
  And I think that's best done when you have a supportive community of play therapists around you so that you, you don't have to do it alone, right?
• 45:20
  That's that whole bioregulatory system where you know you can depend on others to help you figure out these hard cases sometimes.
• 45:30
  And that is it for today, and I will see you next week.
• 45:40
  Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 45:45
  I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 45:54
  If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 45:59
  Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 46:05
  Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 46:10
  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.
• 46:21
  If you have any questions or topic suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
• 46:28
  Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 46:41
  Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 46:44
  Until next time, keep playing, learning, and growing.