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How to Use Attachment-Based Sand Tray Therapy with Teens · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  We'll explore all things play therapy.
• 0:17
  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.
• 0:47
  Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:51
  What do you do in play therapy when we're, when you're working with your adolescent clients, you've figured out what is at the root of the problem.
• 1:01
  You've figured out what's going on with their academic struggles, their emotional withdrawal, and how they're managing what's going on with their parents, who have a high conflict divorce relationship, maybe some, an estrangement from one parent.
• 1:22
  What do you do when you finished with figuring out what is going on with your client, developing your working hypothesis, also known as your case conceptualization.
• 1:36
  And then how do you take your case conceptualization, use it for your clinical decision making about working with your adolescent client using play therapy.
• 1:49
  So that is what we are talking about today in this week's episode, we are, we are kind of breaking down, how do you, how does your play therapy theoretical model influence your decision making about how you're gonna help your adolescent client.
• 2:10
  Last in last week's episode, we looked at case conceptualization using the case study of Ethan, who's a 16-year-old client who is coming to your office and he's pretty shut down and he's struggling.
• 2:26
  So in last week's episode, we walked through that case formulation process, that case conceptualization.
• 2:35
  Also known as your working hypothesis, because that's your starting point.
• 2:41
  We also looked at how your, how your play therapy theoretical model influences your conceptualization of what's going on.
• 2:51
  So if you missed last week's episode, I would definitely recommend going back and watch, uh, watching last week's episode.
• 3:00
  If you're watching on the live stream or you're watching the replays.
• 3:04
  Um, if you're listening to the podcast, I would recommend going back and listen, listening to that episode and then, um, coming back and listening to this episode.
• 3:17
  For those of you who are here today, I would love to hear from you.
• 3:22
  Post in the comments where you're from, what population you work with, and if you find this information useful, feel free to share it across your social media platforms.
• 3:34
  In today's episode, we're looking at, now you've got your case conceptualization.
• 3:40
  What do you do with that information to help Ethan?
• 3:44
  So the, we're kind of using a case study, Hey, Carla.
• 3:50
  How are you?
• 3:51
  Um, Centro Groin.
• 3:54
  Nice to see you again for sure.
• 3:56
  Mexico.
• 3:57
  Awesome.
• 3:59
  Um, and, um, how are you using that information?
• 4:05
  So we looked at a case study with our therapist Jane and her client Ethan, who's a 16-year-old adolescent, and so how it, we kinda walk through how Jane would do that case formulation and using different theoretical lens.
• 4:24
  In this week we are gonna take that process and help Jane figure out what to do in the play therapy process to help to help her client.
• 4:37
  Ethan, we're kinda, and then we're gonna, um, talk a little bit about how, through your theoretical lens, how does that also influence how you're identifying progress.
• 4:50
  And then I'm gonna give you just some, so based on our treatment planning, what we've decided we're focusing, focusing on, and then the implementation of that treatment plan.
• 5:01
  I'll give you a couple of ideas what that might look like using sand tray activities.
• 5:09
  So let's get started for today, if you're watching on LinkedIn or YouTube, you're going to see my case study slides.
• 5:17
  If you are, if you're watching on Instagram, you will not see my case study slides, but you can always go over and watch on YouTube if you want to see the slides.
• 5:29
  Um, so I've added the slides also, for those of you listening to the podcast, you might wanna pop over to YouTube and watch the watch the video version of the podcast.
• 5:43
  All right, so we have our case study, Ethan, and um, we kind of looked at Jane, who was our therapist, and then we walked through what was going on with Ethan his presenting symptoms being that he's a 16-year-old referred to therapy because he was struggling in school.
• 6:09
  He had a lot of emotional withdrawal over the past semester he failed two classes and was at risk of losing eligibility for ex extracurricular activities.
• 6:25
  Teachers described him as disengaged, minimally participatory in class and frequently kind of staring off into space and assignments were either incomplete or missing.
• 6:39
  So in last week, we kind of looked at, you know, how are you using that to formulate your case presentation then, um, we talked a little bit more about some other symptoms that'll help to figure out your case formulation and what what we learned.
• 6:57
  Additionally, at home, parents reported that Ethan spends most of his time isolated in his bedroom.
• 7:05
  He has low motivation, difficulty concentrating, disrupted sleep, and always kind of reporting that he's tired.
• 7:15
  His affect in sessions when he comes to meet with Jane is kind of flat.
• 7:21
  His eye contact is pretty limited, and his responses are very brief and kinda one word or short phrases, I don't know, doesn't matter anyway, my other favorite is, I don't remember.
• 7:39
  And then he, um, denies any active suicide ideation, but he does report that he feels numb.
• 7:47
  So we're u we use those to kind of figure out what was going on, even a little deeper.
• 7:54
  And then as we get more information, what we also learn is his parents are, went through, uh, divorce three years ago.
• 8:01
  They have a really conflictual co-parenting relationship, a lot of high conflict conflict between them and, and Ethan has minimal contact and he's kind of estranged from his dad.
• 8:17
  And the communication between parents is, um, very negative.
• 8:23
  They talk negatively about each other.
• 8:26
  At whichever home Ethan's at he'll, they'll talk negatively about the other parent at at the house.
• 8:34
  He kind of avoids discussing anything with them.
• 8:38
  He reports feeling sad, and he described an and a sense of emptiness and detachment from his peers, school, and any future goals.
• 8:49
  So those were the symptoms that we were looking at for Jane's client, Ethan, and we went through the whole case conceptualization process.
• 8:59
  So this week we are going to look at treatment planning.
• 9:06
  Treatment planning is essentially, now that you have done your case formulation, now you're figuring out what are you gonna do?
• 9:15
  So how is Jane gonna help Ethan?
• 9:20
  And Jane uses an attachment and neuroscience lens, so she's gonna conceptualize what treatment is gonna look like using that theoretical lens.
• 9:33
  And so, um, just kind of a overview of what I'm talking about here.
• 9:41
  When you are doing your treatment planning, it's going to be influenced by your play therapy theoretical lens.
• 9:48
  So for example, if, if you're using Adlerian play therapy, you are gonna conceptualize treatment based on how Adlerian play therapy defines what needs to happen in each stage of the play therapy process to help Ethan progress.
• 10:10
  If you're using Prescriptive play therapy, it means you've identified what's going on with Ethan, and what treatment approach best matches with how to help Ethan.
• 10:27
  So if you've decided he's got depression, then you might look at using cognitive behavioral therapy with Ethan.
• 10:36
  If you've decided that he's got some trauma, then you might prescribe using EMDR or maybe if you're EMDR and um, internal family Systems trained, you might use those models.
• 10:57
  So prescriptive play therapy means you're, you are trained in a play therapy model and you, you have, you determined that this specific model is going to be the most effective with Ethan based on what's going on with him.
• 11:16
  If you're using an integrative approach, you're still looking at what theory models are you using that you're integrating together because your theory model's going to influence what are you doing in the play therapy sessions and how are you making sense of what is causing the problems or contributing to the problems that Ethan is experiencing.
• 11:46
  So what we decided is Jane, Jane likes using, uh, uh, a neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 11:56
  So for Jane, her integrative model for play therapy is going to include using interpersonal neurobiology, and she's polyvagal informed.
• 12:06
  That's going to influence how she conceptualizes what is going on with Ethan.
• 12:14
  Maybe she's gonna use some EMDR later in treatment.
• 12:18
  Maybe she's also trained in somatic experiencing, so she might integrate some of that in there.
• 12:25
  She might also have some internal family systems or parts, parts informed treatment approach.
• 12:32
  So.
• 12:34
  All of those are gonna influence how are you making sense of the problem?
• 12:39
  And then also, now what are you gonna do about it?
• 12:43
  Because you, you can't answer the question of how do I help my client until you first figure out what is going on with your client.
• 12:51
  We talk about that all the time in Play Therapy Academy.
• 12:56
  Um, and I'll talk a little bit more about that at the end if you're interested.
• 13:00
  We also talk about this in my, um, my other online play therapy membership, which is more community-based support, so that you don't have to feel like you're doing play therapy alone.
• 13:14
  You have a supportive community of play therapists.
• 13:17
  So one of the things that we talk about when we're doing the case formulation, or sorry, when we're talking about how to help your client, we're first figuring out what's going on with your client because you can't, you can, I was gonna finish my sentence, but then I was like, oh, that's not really true.
• 13:37
  Um, you can go ahead and get started right away and just start using, um, activities and different things.
• 13:48
  But what's usually happens, this is what I've observed after doing consultation and supervision for like the last 15 plus years.
• 13:58
  At some point in time, you're gonna get lost because you haven't grounded it in anything.
• 14:02
  You haven't grounded it in a theoretical model.
• 14:05
  And so you start feeling confused, overwhelmed, not sure what to do.
• 14:10
  Your imposter syndrome kicks in.
• 14:13
  And so if we're using the, um, really developing those skills for case formulation, then that's also gonna help you with your treatment planning.
• 14:26
  So here's what we've decided.
• 14:28
  Jane has, um, she's using a neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 14:34
  She's in her treatment planning and she is, kind of considering also what's the developmental, what, what developmental stage is Ethan in.
• 14:46
  So she's looking at what are, what's his cognitive development, what's his social emotional co um, development.
• 14:56
  Some you can be 16, but socially, emotionally you can be much younger.
• 15:00
  So you wanna assess those and figure out how that's gonna influence your, what you're gonna do in session.
• 15:08
  Um, there, um, I was just looking at Centro Groan was saying, this is really important case formulation, how to help is not the first question.
• 15:21
  It's what's going on with him or.
• 15:23
  Or will I add with the whole system.
• 15:28
  Exactly, yes.
• 15:30
  So the other thing you're assessing, are there any neurodiversity issues?
• 15:36
  Are there any cultural things I need to consider here?
• 15:40
  And then how are you going to be integrating parents?
• 15:44
  We talked about the importance of that last week.
• 15:47
  So you're thinking about all of these things when you're doing your treatment planning.
• 15:54
  Based on your case conceptualization.
• 15:57
  And so then essentially, um, there, I kind of did a kind of your basic play therapy structure just for the sake of doing this case study.
• 16:12
  And when you're looking at using a neuroscience and attachment lens, just kind of that basic general framework that we're thinking about, theoretically.
• 16:24
  Because there are lots of different models with that, which means they're all gonna have different um, they're gonna define each stage differently.
• 16:33
  But if we look at this for the sake of discussion for this case study that Jane, um, is working on with her client, Ethan, then there's three basic stages, which is the initial, the middle, and the end.
• 16:49
  So if we're looking at phase one, for Ethan, and we're using that neuroscience and attachment lens, and that's influencing how we're conceptualizing what needs to happen first, because now we're looking at what are at the roots of his issues.
• 17:06
  Then what we, what we determine then is that in stage one, Jane needs to strengthen that therapeutic relationship.
• 17:16
  That's key.
• 17:17
  Establishing a sense of safety and security.
• 17:21
  Because you're not gonna get anywhere unless you've, you've got that.
• 17:25
  And that may, that may take different amounts of time with different clients.
• 17:31
  Ethan is pretty shut down and withdrawn.
• 17:34
  Possibly we're looking at his, you know, we don't, he's got an estranged relationship with dad.
• 17:40
  We're not real sure what his relationship is with mom.
• 17:43
  What we do know is that they're talking badly about each other in front of Ethan.
• 17:48
  So it might take him a minute to develop a sense of safety with Jane.
• 17:56
  But the other thing, you have to conceptualize when you're holding clients in these type of family systems is a lot of the um, um, loyalty divides or also especially teenagers, you're wondering if parents are still in court and kind of battling things out in court.
• 18:19
  Then you're wondering, Ethan might be wondering, is what I'm telling you gonna, are you gonna tell my mom?
• 18:24
  Are you gonna tell my dad?
• 18:25
  And then is this gonna end up in court?
• 18:28
  And that's gonna go really badly for me.
• 18:30
  These are all things Ethan is probably thinking.
• 18:33
  So you're gonna have to overcome that in the therapeutic relationship and you have to figure out how you're gonna do that.
• 18:38
  And then you're also in this stage, really starting to help maybe Ethan be a little more emotionally aware, recognizing his emotions.
• 18:48
  Where does he feel those in his body?
• 18:50
  What's going on with that?
• 18:52
  Helping him really do, you might do some psychoeducation about the nervous system and what that looks like in the shutdown mode and how to teach him some coping and calming skills and really starting to work on reducing that sense of shame.
• 19:12
  And in the second phase, once you've kind of established that and Ethan's gotten more comfortable, you're starting to get some traction with that.
• 19:22
  Then in the second phase, when he is feeling a little more safe to be vulnerable in the session, you might do a little kind of grief work with him, attachment processing, exploring what's going on with his estrangement with dad, because we're conceptualizing that as an attachment RUP rupture and it, and we, we know if we're conceptualizing attachment, we're conceptualizing how important this relationship is and the influence that that has on Ethan's, um, identity formation, the beliefs he has about himself, the beliefs he has about relationships and others.
• 20:10
  All of these are gonna influence those beliefs, which are what you're kind of targeting.
• 20:17
  'cause his beliefs, his cognition, so to speak, are heavily tied with his emotions.
• 20:26
  And how is that influencing his daily functioning that's contributing to these symptoms, which is the reason he came in.
• 20:36
  So you're looking at all of those things and maybe looking at processing and identifying some of those emotions of anger and sadness that are down deep in there.
• 20:50
  So you, this is where you're thinking about what theoretical models.
• 20:55
  So maybe you are IFS trained or maybe you do some parts work.
• 21:00
  You might look at part of, you might feel really angry about this.
• 21:05
  You know, there's a part of you that might, the shutdown part.
• 21:10
  What would that, what's going on with that shutdown part?
• 21:14
  So we might kind of do it that way.
• 21:15
  We might take an EMDR approach because it might have been really traumatic to go through.
• 21:20
  We don't know what happened around the time of the, um, of the divorce where there's some tra traumatic things, was there domestic violence before that?
• 21:33
  Why doesn't he have a relationship with dad?
• 21:35
  Did something traumatic happen?
• 21:37
  So you, if you're using EMDR, you might be thinking about readiness and doing some skill building and some resourcing to get 'em ready to do some of that deeper level work.
• 21:52
  And then in the third phase, this is where you're really working on some of that integration and helping him go way down deep to those roots and develop um, shift some of those negative co cognitions and beliefs about himself, others, and relationships.
• 22:15
  Um, figuring out some of that identity formation of who am I, what does that mean, um, about me?
• 22:24
  How am I going to show up in a relationship?
• 22:27
  How am I gonna show up in my life?
• 22:29
  So these are all things with Ethan that Jane is gonna be exploring.
• 22:36
  And, um, maybe how Ethan can show up differently in his life and how that would help him accomplish some of those goals that he might start believing can be possible.
• 22:53
  So these essentially, and then this is also working towards that termination.
• 22:59
  We go help him get to those deeper levels, which requires some vulnerability and trust in the relationship.
• 23:07
  So you're always monitoring that level of trust in the relationship, repairing any ruptures that might happen in that relationship'cause they might.
• 23:19
  So that's kind of the basic structure, um, that you might be looking at and some of the work using a neuroscience and at attachment lens of things you're gonna be looking at.
• 23:32
  Um, and to me, I'll be honest, a lot of times I find because doing this work is really heavy and it's really hard, um, and we kind of hold all of that uh, emotionally and we kind of hold it in our nervous system can be feeling a little heavy and draining sometimes, especially session after session, after session.
• 23:58
  I find I find this in Play Therapy Academy.
• 24:01
  I find this in Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 24:05
  That it helps to have a community of supportive people where you can talk some of this through or you can get some support, or you can let go of some of the heaviness and feel like you're, you're not the only one doing this.
• 24:24
  Like you're not doing it alone.
• 24:26
  Um.
• 24:28
  And I, I think to me, that's one of the things like, I would definitely want hope that Jane, our, our case study therapist, Jane, would be getting some support because these are hard cases, especially the high conflict divorce cases.
• 24:47
  And so, that's also gonna, when you have support and a place to get feedback, it'll help you stay on track as well.
• 24:57
  Like when you get a little lost in some of these cases, 'cause they're hard and there's a lot of layers going on in these types of cases, especially, then it kind of helps to have that community of support where you are getting some feedback and helping figure out some strategies where you're stuck letting go of things and measuring progress.
• 25:21
  So your play therapy model is going to influence how are you identifying progress?
• 25:28
  One of the things I get asked all the time that comes up where plea therapists struggle is how do I know if my client is, is getting better.
• 25:39
  And a key part of that is, well, what's your case formulation?
• 25:45
  You know, your case conceptualization, how has that shifted over time?
• 25:50
  What play therapy model are you using and what stage are they in and how do you know what stage they're in?
• 25:59
  And so a lot of times what we'll do in Play Therapy Academy, which is where Play Therapy Academy is the online, it's kind of like a. Um, a more in depth membership where we take deep dives, developing skills, so it's really focused on developing core competency skills.
• 26:23
  And that one's got limited space.
• 26:25
  I'll talk a little bit more about that at the end if you're interested.
• 26:27
  The other membership I have is Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 26:31
  This one is a little newer because I realized there were a lot of play therapists who didn't necessarily need Play Therapy Academy, or maybe they weren't quite ready for Play Therapy Academy, but they were the only play therapists in there agency or in their community.
• 26:49
  And so they were feeling like they were having to do it alone, and so in Elevation Circle, we will do case consultation.
• 26:59
  We do little mini trainings and we'll do, we're doing a book, book club in there, and so it's a way to kind of help figure out that question, is my client making progress.
• 27:12
  And so your play therapy model, your theoretical model, is going to greatly influence how do you know if they're making progress?
• 27:21
  What stage are they in?
• 27:22
  How do you know if they're in that stage?
• 27:24
  So if we're using a neuroscience and attachment lens versus maybe a cognitive behavioral lens, which is what we compared and contrasted in in the previous episode, in last week's episode, we looked at those two different things.
• 27:41
  So maybe instead of looking at behavior and looking at behavioral markers for progress, like instead of Jane asking, is Ethan doing his homework now, which would be more behavioral, instead, she's asking the questions to determine progress.
• 28:04
  She's asking is Ethan tolerating his emotions longer, his emotional stress a little longer because previously shut down pretty quick.
• 28:14
  Is Ethan less rigid, um, in his loyalty conflicts like his, how are things going with he and dad?
• 28:24
  How are things going with he and mom?
• 28:26
  How is he dealing with, is he speaking up, to his parents about, Hey, stop talking badly about mom and or saying to dad, which he doesn't really see, but maybe he started seeing dad and maybe dad's, um, oh, I got that backwards.
• 28:43
  He's saying to mom, don't talk badly about dad.
• 28:48
  And maybe he started me, you know, hanging out with dad a little bit more, but maybe dad's getting little jabs in there about Mom.
• 28:57
  And so maybe he's telling dad, Hey, don't, don't say that in front of me.
• 29:01
  So is he speaking up more?
• 29:03
  Um, is he, is he thinking about himself in a more coherent way?
• 29:11
  Meaning is he beginning to see himself as um, somebody who is lovable?
• 29:21
  When you, when you feel the rejection or when you cut off from one of your parents, there's, um, there's the, it because of the attachment relationship, the impact of that is going to influence your beliefs even of like, uh, maybe if there was domestic violence in the relationship, and maybe that's why they got divorced.
• 29:47
  Um, and they still don't get along.
• 29:49
  Maybe the, am I gonna be like my dad?
• 29:52
  Right.
• 29:52
  That's the question.
• 29:54
  How is he developing a mo a more coherent sense of who he is and how does that influence how Ethan is showing up in his relationships?
• 30:07
  Is he, is he engaging more in interactions with others and he's not as emotion, emotionally withdrawn.
• 30:19
  So we're looking at all of those as indicators of progress if we're using that neuroscience and attachment lens.
• 30:30
  And so, um, some, some if I'm used, so my case conceptualization influences my treatment planning, my treatment planning influences, how do I measure progress based on my theoretical model of my play therapy, uh, treatment plan, uh, treatment approach.
• 30:52
  And then what am I gonna do in sessions?
• 30:54
  When am I gonna do it?
• 30:56
  So what am I gonna do in stage one?
• 30:58
  What am I gonna do in stage two?
• 31:00
  What am I gonna do in stage three?
• 31:03
  And so some ideas as I'm conceptualizing, how am I going to use some expressive arts activities with Ethan, then I might go to the sand tray.
• 31:15
  I love using the sand tray.
• 31:18
  Uh, and I have a sand tray training coming up as well, if you're interested in that.
• 31:23
  I also have a trauma training coming up as well.
• 31:26
  I'll talk a little bit more about those at the end as well.
• 31:29
  Um, but let's say I, I've decided I, I'm gonna help Ethan explore some things, and I wanna use the sand tray, so I might give him the prompt, create a sand tray that shows what it feels like in each parent's world.
• 31:49
  So now I'm having him kind of create what he think.
• 31:53
  Now, again, this is his perception of that parent.
• 31:59
  And this, we're trying to help him use, uh, go through some, a little bit of individuation where he's kind of looking at himself and helping him to see that his parents are separate people, and then kind of how is he gonna navigate these two households and these two people in his life.
• 32:24
  And so the purpose of this is really to externalize those lo loyalty conflicts.
• 32:30
  Um, really kind of look at those attachment representations.
• 32:38
  Look at any of the unspoken rules that he might not be able to articulate, but he can put 'em in the sand tray and then they're right there for, for him to figure out what he wants to do about those.
• 32:52
  And then, um, also kind of looking at his stress level.
• 32:56
  What's it like to navigate between these two households?
• 33:00
  Some of the processing that you can do with him, is, and again, we're using curiosity.
• 33:08
  There's a whole way to do processing, which is not the focus of today's episode.
• 33:14
  That is something we cover in the sand tray training that I do.
• 33:18
  We also talk about these things in Play Therapy Academy and Elevation Circle, but some of the things you may consider using some curiosity is where does a, um, like which household maybe does he feel more comfortable in?
• 33:36
  What's it like in each of these household?
• 33:40
  What's it like in dad's household?
• 33:42
  What's it like in mom's household?
• 33:45
  Um.
• 33:46
  And then that'll give you a sense of, do you get a sense, is he kind of maybe aligning with one parent more than the other and maybe a little protective?
• 33:56
  You don't necessarily have to share that, but you can store it away in your brain.
• 34:02
  Um, what are, what are his emotions processing?
• 34:08
  What that's like being in there emotionally?
• 34:11
  Where does he feel that in his body?
• 34:15
  And then what happens if parents were able to work more collaboratively?
• 34:22
  What would that be like?
• 34:24
  Are there any fears he has about things getting worse and what would that be like?
• 34:28
  Maybe that's part of his shutdown.
• 34:30
  You don't necessarily have to say all of these things.
• 34:35
  You might be able to see that in there.
• 34:37
  For example, if, if Ethan is staying pretty shut down and you're still just getting one word answers, you don't wanna pry and kind of feel him, feel like you're, have him feel like he's forced or on the spot, you're, you're gonna be accepting.
• 34:54
  But you can be thinking about some of these things based on what you're seeing.
• 35:00
  And then another idea is the protected self prompt.
• 35:06
  The prompt would be create a sand tray that shows the part of you that shuts down.
• 35:12
  So maybe you're doing a little parts work here.
• 35:15
  The purpose of this would be really kind of respecting the, um, the purpose of the shutting down to, I mean, that's a self-protective process.
• 35:30
  It's his way of coping with this really stressful situation.
• 35:35
  So let's look at that and let's see you know how that part is really trying to help Ethan out.
• 35:42
  We might look at any shame that might be in there.
• 35:47
  We can explore some of that and maybe help decrease some of that sense of shame engaging in um, protective defenses.
• 35:57
  Like is there another way to feel protected without having to shut down, which is influencing grades and performance at school, and that's gonna probably impact his future and his ability to think about a positive future and also kind of opening up access to some of that grief that he's most likely got stored away in there, behind the wall, so to speak, that he's not quite ready.
• 36:29
  'cause it's a little too overwhelming.
• 36:31
  And so some of the processing focus here can be, um, what, what part, what is this part protecting you from?
• 36:44
  Um, when did it show up?
• 36:47
  This part?
• 36:48
  What do you think?
• 36:49
  It needs to relax.
• 36:51
  You can use curiosity and explore some of those things.
• 36:57
  So, so that is it for today's, um, episode.
• 37:05
  Just kind of a recap.
• 37:07
  It basically your case conceptual informs how do you make sense of what's going on and what are the factors contributing to it?
• 37:16
  Your theoretical lens is going to influence how you make sense of what is going on with your client.
• 37:25
  It's also going to influence your treatment planning based on what you've conceptualized is going on, you are going to use that for your clinical decision making about what to do in each stage of your treatment model.
• 37:40
  So your play therapy model is gonna influence what you do, how you do it, and when you do it, what you say, what you don't say, how you say it.
• 37:50
  Your play therapy model is going to influence all of those things.
• 37:55
  So, um, and having, having that structure does not mean the therapeutic relationship is not important.
• 38:08
  That is the glue.
• 38:09
  Without a strong therapeutic relationship, you're not gonna get anywhere.
• 38:15
  And for those times when you're not sure what to do, your play the, your theoretical, sorry, my mouth's not working.
• 38:23
  Your therapeutic relationship, you can always lean heavily into that because just being present and helping clients feel seen, heard, understood, and held is healing.
• 38:38
  And if we're using an interpersonal neurobiology lens, we know that that's also going to be helping to rewire some of those neural pathways.
• 38:49
  And so, we, we want a strategic approach, but the thing that makes it work is your therapeutic relationship.
• 39:00
  But if you don't have the structure, then the likelihood you're gonna get lost and start using random activities is very high.
• 39:10
  And um, it might even slow things down the other thing that I see, especially with Sant Tray, when you don't have it grounded in the theoretical model, what ends up happening is a lot of times um, therapists get a little too probing, maybe not knowing how to hold that process, and maybe we don't have to say everything we're thinking.
• 39:37
  We don't have to do interpretation for everything.
• 39:40
  Again, all of that's gonna be influenced by your theoretical model.
• 39:45
  And so, and the, and the final thing is having access to a therapeutic community or a play therapy community is really, really beneficial.
• 39:57
  You don't have to do it alone.
• 39:59
  It's very heavy work, and doing it alone can sometimes feel draining, you can feel overwhelmed, a little burned out, feeling lost and overwhelmed.
• 40:10
  Not sure what to do.
• 40:12
  Maybe your imposter syndrome kicks in.
• 40:14
  So having a play therapy community where you have access to support can make a huge difference.
• 40:24
  So that is it for today.
• 40:27
  And I, um, I wanna just mention a couple of things.
• 40:33
  If you're interested in taking a deep dive deep into learning the core competencies of play therapy, then I would, uh, and you're interested in Play Therapy Academy that's where we're looking at the core competencies in developing those skills I do have some openings for that.
• 40:55
  So if you're interested in Play Therapy Academy, then you can schedule a 30 minute video call with me to see if it's a good fit for you.
• 41:04
  Maybe you don't need that deep dive, but you really would like support and not have access to some consultation and some ideas and maybe a little bit of mini trainings about play therapy.
• 41:17
  That would be Play Therapy elevation Circle.
• 41:20
  It's not open right now, um, but you can get on the wait list to get on the wait list.
• 41:27
  You'll wanna go or to find out more about Play Therapy Academy, you'll wanna pop over to my wait list, I mean my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 41:39
  That's RH play therapy training.com, renewing hearts, play therapy training.
• 41:45
  I also have a couple of.
• 41:48
  Play therapy training's coming up.
• 41:50
  I have a sand a two day in, it's in-person only sand tray'cause training called sand tray in play therapy with a children and adolescents.
• 42:01
  I have, uh, maybe one or two spots left in that one before we're full.
• 42:06
  That one we do two days of sand tray making sand tray processing.
• 42:12
  It's a very small group, kind of, I always.
• 42:15
  Think of it as like kind of a retreat light experience.
• 42:19
  The other training that I have coming up is both in person or you can attend virtually.
• 42:25
  That one is called Healing Trauma through Play Therapy, a neuroscience and attachment approach.
• 42:32
  That one is in June, and registration for that one is still open.
• 42:37
  The early bird price is still available for both of those trainings.
• 42:42
  So if you're interested in, either of the trainings, sand tray in play therapy with children and adolescents, or healing trauma through play therapy, a neuroscience and attachment approach, then pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 43:02
  That's renewing hearts play therapy training, and I will see you next week.
• 43:11
  Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 43:15
  I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 43:25
  If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 43:30
  Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 43:36
  Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 43:41
  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.
• 43:52
  If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes.
• 43:57
  I'd love to hear from you.
• 43:59
  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.
• 44:12
  Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 44:15
  Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.