Latest / Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence / 3 Favorite Play Therapy Activities to Use with Traumatized Children & Teens
Transcript
- 0:02Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
- 0:04A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
- 0:14We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
- 0:23I'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.
- 0:33So 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.
- 0:49Hey there.
- 0:49Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
- 0:56And if you are a child and adolescent therapist or a play therapist, raise your virtual hand if you love learning about new play therapy activities.
- 1:14I feel like if you say, if you're a play therapist, you're like always looking for play therapy activities.
- 1:21We love l like adding things into our toolbox for help so we can help children and adolescence, um, heal.
- 1:34And that's, so I thought, you know what, this week I'll share some of my favorite activities that I like to use with children and adolescents who've experienced trauma.
- 1:48I'll be honest, I've, I've worked with adults as well who've experienced trauma, and I, I have had them do some of these things as well.
- 1:58Because I feel like when you are working with people who've experienced trauma, using more expressive arts types of modalities can really help them access some of that somatic experience of the trauma.
- 2:16So those implicit, um triggers.
- 2:23What do I mean by implicit triggers?
- 2:26What I mean by that is like we, trauma is experienced at a sensory level in the body, and that the, the way that it's experienced is tied to the memories of that traumatic experience.
- 2:45What'll, what'll happen is then something will trigger that sensory aspect of the memory and then you get the whole experience coming flooding in sometimes, which can feel really overwhelming for our clients.
- 3:03Especially children who really don't understand what's going on and adults may not understand what's going on.
- 3:11Um, the adults caregivers of those children because the children aren't able to explain it.
- 3:18I would say also, if you're an adult who's experienced trauma or you have clients, adult clients, they would say the same thing.
- 3:26It feels like it comes outta nowhere.
- 3:28And so that's one of the things that I like about play therapy and using expressive arts, is that you can get at those aspects of trauma in a way that can bypass the cognitive areas of the brain where it can get a little stuck, and then access through some of those more expressive arts modalities.
- 3:53So today I wanna talk about, I'm, I'm gonna share with you some of the activities that I use, but here's the thing that I always like to talk about as well.
- 4:05Like we're play therapists, child and adolescent therapists.
- 4:08We love a good play therapy activity.
- 4:12We are creative people.
- 4:14I love sharing play therapy activities with people because then you guys take it and your creativity kicks in.
- 4:24And then you, you all have like different ways of maybe doing the same kind of thing or another idea that you use, and then it just kind of sparks this flow of creativity and ideas and all kinds of ways of helping children and adolescents who've experienced trauma.
- 4:46The thing is though.
- 4:49If I'm a firm believer that we need to have a framework that's grounded in a theoretical model.
- 4:58It's grounded in some type of theory behind it, and there's some research around that theory that we're applying.
- 5:10Then the, the model that I like to use is really yeah, based on neuroscience and attachment theory and I, there was a model that I learned probably way back in, I'm gonna say 2010, so like 15 years ago.
- 5:31Um, and I loved this model.
- 5:34It was rooted in neuroscience.
- 5:37It also pulled in some of the research around cognitive processing and the cognitive aspects.
- 5:47But the thing that set it apart from some of the other cognitive trauma-based models was that it also took in the sensory aspects.
- 5:59And, um, so now, you know, later we, we have, I'm, I'm sure it's been around before that, but I didn't know about it back then, was the sense, uh, somatic experiencing.
- 6:12And how the body somatically stores and, um, experiences the trauma.
- 6:24And so that's one of the things that I really liked about the model.
- 6:29But here's the thing.
- 6:30So when you're using a model, then it will guide you through each stage of the change process.
- 6:39Now for this specific model that I learned years ago through the National Institute for Trauma and Loss in Children.
- 6:48Because it's got a lot of neuroscience with it.
- 6:51Then, uh, then adding, now we know a lot more about interpersonal neurobiology and we know more about polyvagal theory and how that influences, uh, the, our body and processing and experiencing.
- 7:09We know all, all of these things and having a framework to understand from the beginning of treatment to the end of treatment, and how do we integrate these models to have a cohesive framework to work out of, then we can plug the activities in.
- 7:31But what ends up happening is if there's not a framework that we've learned, a model.
- 7:38Learned how to apply it through every stage of the change process and learned what that looks like with different types of clients and how to help them process through all of the stages of healing and different ways in which trauma will manifest.
- 7:59I mean, there's some certain similar things that are experienced.
- 8:03And trauma is uniquely experienced by clients, so we need to be able to make sure we're meeting the unique needs of each client that we're working with, and what is that actually gonna look like when you're using a model?
- 8:19And how do you do that?
- 8:21Because if you don't have that model or that framework, what ends up happening is what I call throwing spaghetti against the wall and hoping something sticks.
- 8:30We start pulling out activities and think, oh, well there's just this right activity.
- 8:36I'm gonna try this one'cause this one's gonna work.
- 8:40And then maybe it doesn't, right?
- 8:42And then you start thinking, oh, I'm just gonna call, like throw all these activities into the session and hope something works.
- 8:52But then what ends up happening is then you end up feeling like you are not helping your client.
- 8:58You start second guessing yourself, not sure if you're doing the right thing.
- 9:03You start second guessing your abilities to make an impact.
- 9:07And you may even think about, oh, I should probably refer this client out 'cause maybe I'm not a good fit.
- 9:15Right?
- 9:16Well, maybe.
- 9:17Maybe it might be that you're not using a model to guide you through each stage of the change process.
- 9:26So I, so I, I like to make sure I talk about that a little bit.
- 9:30'Cause you know, we all love, I love a good activity.
- 9:34I wanna make sure that you're grounding them and kind of using them in, uh, a theoretical model to make sure that you get the most benefit.
- 9:45For your client.
- 9:47Right.
- 9:48And so one of the things I'm gonna talk about at the end of this live webinar today, I wanna talk a little bit about, I do have a training coming up.
- 9:57It's called Healing Trauma Through Play Therapy, a Neuroscience and Attachment approach.
- 10:03I have, uh, it's gonna happen on May 17th, so I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that because it's a framework that we also talk about how do you recognize themes a little bit.
- 10:15Some tips about working with parents.
- 10:17So I try to pack all the things in there that people struggle with into a one day training, but really gonna focus on getting grounded in neuroscience and attachment theory and using a framework with play therapy that is gonna help you um, know what to do in each stage of the change process, so stick around for that.
- 10:40I'll talk a little bit more about that at the end.
- 10:42Registration is closing soon for that, so I wanted to make sure to let you guys know about that before registration closes.
- 10:51So for today, I wanna talk about three of my favorite activities.
- 10:58So if you are watching live, those of you who maybe are listening on the podcast, you may wanna pop over to my YouTube channel.
- 11:08Which is Cathi Spooner Renewing Hearts Training because I'm gonna, there there's gonna be some visual aspects.
- 11:15Plus you'll get to see I got my Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey jersey on today.
- 11:24Today we're having, uh, wear your favorite team jersey.
- 11:28I am a huge.
- 11:30Hockey fan.
- 11:31I love hockey.
- 11:32Um, and because I live outside Las Vegas, Nevada, I kind of, um, adopted the Vegas Golden Knights as my, my favorite team.
- 11:44Although, full disclosure, I get a little kind of torn because I'm, I'm from the Washington DC area right, in Virginia.
- 11:53So we were hell, huge caps fans, the, um, Washington Capitals.
- 12:01Which was very exciting that OV broke that record.
- 12:05Um.
- 12:07So I get a little torn sometimes, but I'm, I feel like I got my jersey now, so I'm like firmly established as a Las Vegas Golden Knights fan.
- 12:17And, um, so, and, and that's not the main reason you should pop over to my YouTube channel really.
- 12:25It's more because I'm gonna be showing you kind of different act thing, uh, things and books and you might um, you might wanna look on my YouTube channel and find this episode on the video version of it.
- 12:41So I would love to see who's here live today.
- 12:45So if you post your name in the comments where your from, what population do you work with.
- 12:52I'd love to know if you use a specific model.
- 12:56Like how, what kind of model do you use when you're working with traumatized children and teens and their parents?
- 13:05So post that in the comments, and let's get started for today.
- 13:10So today we're talking about what are play therapy activities that you can use to address trauma?
- 13:18The first thing, especially in the first stage.
- 13:23Um, like the beginning stage, at some point in the play therapy process, I'm gonna be working with helping kids to one, we like safety first, right?
- 13:37You, you're not gonna get anywhere unless you establish safety.
- 13:41And so you have to establish really strong therapeutic rapport.
- 13:46And there's a lot of psychoeducation in the beginning about trauma.
- 13:52And also one of the things I think is important to do is kind of make sure kids are beginning to connect with their bodies, to learn how to kinda read what's going on and how they experience different things in their bodies.
- 14:09If you've worked with traumatized adults, this is a big thing too.
- 14:14So I've often used this, the strategies that I'm gonna share with you today.
- 14:21I've often used some of these with the adult clients that I've worked with.
- 14:26These are also really good for family play therapy activities.
- 14:30I have a attachment focused family play therapy model that I use as well.
- 14:35And then I'll, I'll integrate some of these usually in the beginning stages of the process.
- 14:42'cause we're establishing repo rapport and safety.
- 14:45And we don't wanna challenge too much in the beginning 'cause we really need them to feel safe and comfortable in order to, um, risk feeling vulnerable and using you for support through that change process.
- 15:02Okay, so I. I really like using this book.
- 15:08It's called Listening to My Body.
- 15:10You, you can see it.
- 15:12It's called Listening to My Body by Gabby Garcia.
- 15:16I like that it's got these pictures in it that are, that are really kind of helpful, but it also, one of the things that they that she brings up in here.
- 15:28There's some psych psychoeducation around how emotions are experienced in the body.
- 15:37You can say you have these really great pictures.
- 15:39And so what I'll do when I'm using this book and is I, I'll read the book out loud to clients and then I usually do a body scan with them to really help them start connecting with their body.
- 15:57You can get a ton of really good short, I would say don't go longer than five minutes.
- 16:02Like that's a long time, uh, for kids.
- 16:06Sometimes, maybe later on if you're still, you can go a little bit longer.
- 16:11I definitely would not go over 10 minutes for a body scan for a kid, and the younger they are, the shorter it needs to be.
- 16:18Um, or you can just do the body scan meditation with your client.
- 16:24The, the goal is, one, you're doing a little bit of psychoeducation around, Hey, we're connecting with our bodies, which be aware that can trigger some trauma responses.
- 16:38So you have to kind of be careful about this one and make sure you're holding that space and they're feeling comfortable because like we just said, trauma is stored in the body.
- 16:48So that can be scary, asking people to connect with their body.
- 16:55So be aware of that, especially if you've got kids who are a little, or adults or teens can be a little dissociative.
- 17:04You wanna make sure you've established that safety.
- 17:07So I'll read the book Listening to My Body by Gabby Garcia.
- 17:12I'll do the body scan.
- 17:14And this, I consider this activity that I'm gonna share with you, kind of an oldie, but a goodie.
- 17:19I use it all the time.
- 17:22Uh, and you might've heard of this one before.
- 17:25I, I use this one all the time and I share it a lot because I really, really like this one.
- 17:33Anyways, I created this little worksheet.
- 17:36It's got the gingerbread, uh, figure on there.
- 17:40I created a little color key with, um, five check boxes and five lines so that they can kind of create, um, identify colors for feelings.
- 17:54And so you can do it so many different ways.
- 17:56I've used this so many different ways.
- 17:59But what I'll do is if what I typically do to begin with is I'll, let's say I am working with a 10-year-old kid.
- 18:08Who's experienced trauma, and I'll say, what are five feelings 10-year-old kids have?
- 18:13And then I'll list one feeling on each line, and then I'll give it to them and say, okay, for each of these feelings, pick out a color.
- 18:23Create a color key for this, and then make sure you hold onto those colors because you're gonna use them.
- 18:30And then I'll ask them like, where in your body do you experience these emotions?
- 18:37You can also do another variation of that, of how much of these emotions do you experience in your body?
- 18:48You can make it even like today, how much of each of these experience, uh, emotions have you experienced in your body?
- 18:57So lots of different variations.
- 19:00Then, then I, so then I have them do it and however they do it is fine.
- 19:08Like they always think at, you know, at school there's a right and wrong way to do this.
- 19:12There's no right and wrong way to do it.
- 19:14I always tell them, however you do it is exactly the way it needs to be done.
- 19:19I use this a lot with grownups.
- 19:23Because one they've, they don't always, that's been my experience, a lot of grownups don't know what their feelings are and they don't know where they experience them in their body or how to recognize when they're having those emotions.
- 19:37And the more, um, the higher the acuity, meaning the lower functioning, which is usually like family histories of trauma, attachment, addiction.
- 19:50The more traumatic experiences, attachment issues, all all of those generational experiences.
- 20:01High ACEs, right?
- 20:03I hate ACEs, is adverse childhood experiences.
- 20:06The higher the ACE score, the less they're gonna really know how to connect with their body and recognize emotion.
- 20:14So this this one I use all the time.
- 20:17I love this one.
- 20:19Another version is if you are, if you're watching on the video, you'll see I have this big circle is mandalas.
- 20:28So a mandala is basically a circle and you, i, I call it a circle picture.
- 20:35And the way I introduce a mandala, uh, mandala is like if you were to take all of, let's say I have them, um, explore anger.
- 20:48Or, s uh, fear or worry.
- 20:51So then I'll say, if you were to take all of that worry in your body and you were to put it in this circle, what would that look like?
- 21:01It can be any shape, any picture, color, however you wanna do it.
- 21:07It's gonna be exactly the right way.
- 21:09So if you were to take all of that worry and you were to put it in the circle picture, what would that look like?
- 21:17And then I have them use that man create a mandala for that emotion.
- 21:25And for those of you who are watching on the video, you'll see that I have this eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper.
- 21:32I just went on a Word document.
- 21:33You know how you can go in word.
- 21:36Microsoft Word and there's shapes in there.
- 21:38You can create a document and put a circle shape in there and just make it as big as you want.
- 21:44The other thing you can do is get like an eight, uh, like 11 by 17 piece of paper.
- 21:50This is my favorite way to do it actually.
- 21:51I get a big piece of paper.
- 21:53I take like an, I have like, um, a nine inch metal pie pan pie pan, and then I'll kind of put that down and I use that for my circle.
- 22:04Or I also have like a plastic dinner plate that I use.
- 22:09It's probably like 10 inches or maybe 11 inches, and I'll put that down on the paper and I'll use that as my guide for making this the circle so it's nice and round.
- 22:22Um, so that's a, that's another way that you can explore emotions.
- 22:28I have found, I get so many different ideas from that one.
- 22:34People on the kids will do it so many different ways.
- 22:37It's always interesting to see how they do that.
- 22:41And then the, the another way, another idea for this, um, connecting with body and exploring emotions is, and this'll get a full body experience, is have them name five emotions.
- 22:55Um, you can even use a gingerbread guy or write it down on a board somewhere if you have a whiteboard.
- 23:01And then you each act out using your full acting skills, that emotion, so that engages their whole body and uses, um, provides an opportunity to explore emotions and what, what emotions might look like for kids who've experienced trauma.
- 23:24So the, the next, um, set of activities.
- 23:30It's really about exploring anger.
- 23:32So in my experience, over almost 35 years now, I have yet to work with a client who's experienced trauma that didn't have anger.
- 23:45And I feel like helping clients to identify their anger and process and explore that so that sometimes that they'll get to that early.
- 23:57Sometimes it takes them a while to be able to get in touch with their anger.
- 24:02At some point in time, I really feel like if you're working with kids and teens and adults who've experienced trauma, they really need to process through anger and a lot of times along with anger comes why.
- 24:21Right?
- 24:21The, that, that's a question that can never be answered.
- 24:25There's no good enough reason and there's lots of reasons why they ask, why.
- 24:31Um, that usually or things that, that's usually something that has to be processed and explored.
- 24:41In the, in the healing process.
- 24:44So some, one of my favorite, one of my favorite activities, and it's more like an expressive arts activity, is exploring anger, is to use the metaphor of volcano.
- 24:59And so when I'm presenting the activity to, to my client, I'll usually talk about volcano.
- 25:07And volcano has different, um, different states.
- 25:13For a volcano, you can have a dormant volcano and a dormant volcano is still a volcano.
- 25:19It's just, it's not erupting.
- 25:21You don't see any smoke, but it's there.
- 25:24And then you might have a smoking um, volcano where it's not erupting, but it may be, it might be a little rumy and you might get some smoke, a little bit of smoke, a medium amount of smoke or a whole bunch of smoke that you, you're, that gives you a little more indication that, oh yeah, it is a volcano.
- 25:46There's something going on there.
- 25:48And then.
- 25:49Then there's the full on erupting volcano where there's lava and fire and destruction everywhere.
- 25:59Spewing out of that volcano can be just a little bit, a lot or just full on, full on, um, eruption of the volcano.
- 26:11And so I used that metaphor to talk about anger.
- 26:15Like sometimes we might be a little bit angry or maybe irritated or just something's not sitting right and we're a little unsettled about it, but we're going about our day and nobody really is aware that we're having this, you know, having these, this emotion of anger and maybe we might not even be aware of it.
- 26:39And then we have like anger that's beginning to show signs, like maybe there's a little smoke or a little rumbly, and that might look like maybe you're a little more cranky than usual, or you know, maybe kind of in a bad mood and you're just kind of out of sorts, so to speak, and maybe snap a little bit more than you normally would, and you feel bad about it later and you're like, I don't know why I am just feeling this way.
- 27:09And then all the way to eruption.
- 27:12Right now.
- 27:13People know you're mad, you're screaming, you're yelling.
- 27:17Maybe you are like throwing something, or uh, maybe even hitting somebody.
- 27:25So then that's more like, and then you think about like the impact of that.
- 27:30Then you get in trouble.
- 27:32Or now your friend might be mad at you or maybe, uh, you and your sister both have to go, you know, you lose privileges for TV for a couple of hours.
- 27:46Or you just feel really bad about what you did, or maybe you kind of broke your favorite toy and now you don't have your favorite toy anymore.
- 27:57So that's the impact of it.
- 27:58So, and then I use that metaphor and that kind of explanation.
- 28:03And then I, I, um, introduce the concept of volcano.
- 28:09And so I tell them I'm gonna give them different steps.
- 28:12I only give one step at a time'cause then they get confused.
- 28:15So I'll give them a big piece of paper and I'll say, draw a volcano.
- 28:20You wanna draw kind of big, you can.
- 28:23You can draw any kind of volcano you want.
- 28:26Can be any color, any shape, any, and you can add anything else to your volcano picture that you want to add to it.
- 28:34So then I'm let them draw their volcano.
- 28:38Excuse me.
- 28:39And then I will, um, when they're done with their volcano, I'll say, okay, so what are all the things you are angry about?
- 28:50Write those on the volcano.
- 28:52I, I may have them write it.
- 28:53Uh, the other thing that I've done is I, I created these, those of you who are watching the video.
- 28:59You'll see I'm holding up these little shapes.
- 29:02They're like the little Starburst.
- 29:04I, I put a bunch of them on a Word document and then I kind of cut them out.
- 29:09So they're just individual starbursts.
- 29:12So I might do that.
- 29:13And again, I got these little starburst shapes.
- 29:16I went into Microsoft Word and went into the shapes, and then I put a bunch of them on a Word document.
- 29:24I printed it out, saved it, I printed it out, and then I, then I cut them out so they each, there's just a bunch of 'em.
- 29:32So you could do that or just have them write on the picture all the things they're mad about, especially what are they mad about with what happened to them, the bad thing that happened.
- 29:44And then they'll write one on each piece of paper and then, or write it on the volcano.
- 29:50And then we'll, we'll go through and just kind of explore that.
- 29:54Uh, they share what it is that they're mad about.
- 29:57We may kind of explore that, but give a little space to normalize.
- 30:04Yeah, we're angry about this and, and what happened to them and give them an opportunity to talk about that and feel heard and seen about that experience.
- 30:20One of the big things about the model that I learned 15 years ago was the healing aspect of being witness with them.
- 30:33So that, and what I mean by witness is, having them experience someone who hears and sees and sits with them in that experience.
- 30:50And I would add in there as a co-regulation as, um, somebody who allows them to express what happened to them in a way that feels safe.
- 31:06And part of that is exploring that, that anger as well.
- 31:11Another, another way, and I I love doing that.
- 31:15I used to do this all the time, so I would have, we would do paper and mache volcanoes and so I would, we, I would get this little cardboard little structure.
- 31:28Usually like flexible cardboard, and then we would create, uh, the, the mold for the volcano.
- 31:36I would leave a little bit at the top, so you know how you can get those little condiment cups we can at the grocery store or the par those party store.
- 31:45You can get 'em there.
- 31:45They're like little tiny condiment cups, little plastic condiment cups, you wanna leave an opening large enough at the top, so you can put that in there and kind of tape that on there.
- 31:57And then paper mache it.
- 31:59And then once the, this one takes, uh, at least a couple of sessions, probably three.
- 32:03This is like a three session, uh, project.
- 32:07And then so, they do the paper mache and get, and then they, then you let the paper mache dry, and then the next time they come back, they're painting their volcano.
- 32:17And then you can have them write on the volcano, like you can use a Sharpie, write the things they're angry about.
- 32:26I mean, if you want to, you can also probably use these little starburst things, have 'em write it on that, and then kind of glue those on the paper mache, or just write it.
- 32:36I always just had 'em write it on there.
- 32:39And then once that's done, then you're gonna use a sealant.
- 32:42You wanna make it waterproof, so you're gonna seal it.
- 32:46And get that, now you're gonna let that dry.
- 32:48So now we're onto the third session.
- 32:50So at the third session, you're gonna put the volcano in like a shallow pan that's got sides to it because you're gonna be using liquid.
- 33:02Um, and so some of you may know where I'm going with this.
- 33:06So if you're, you have it in the shallow pan, I would, I would used to get like giant boxes of baking soda and giant, giant plastic jugs of white distilled vinegar.
- 33:21Then, so what you're gonna do is you're gonna have the client put some baking soda in that little condiment cup at the top and then let them pour the vinegar on the, um, baking soda.
- 33:35And you get this like bubbly eruption.
- 33:37That's why you wanna have it in the shallow pan 'cause it's kind of messy.
- 33:41Um, oh my gosh, it is so much fun.
- 33:45I'm laughing just thinking about it 'cause that used to be my favorite thing to do.
- 33:50So that, that, um, exploring anger and then another, um, another thing that the model that I use is we're gonna explore some cognitive distortions or what are the beliefs that they formed around the meaning of the, of the traumatic experience, the meaning of what happened to them.
- 34:16This is also where that question of why often comes up.
- 34:20I discovered this new, this book, it's called The Hug Who Got Stuck.
- 34:28It's by Andrew Newman.
- 34:30I recently discovered this book and it is one of my new favorites.
- 34:36Um, I love this book.
- 34:38So the book is really about a hug.
- 34:44It's got these beautiful pictures.
- 34:46It's um, it's about this hug factory where hugs, hugs are being created.
- 34:54And they go out.
- 34:57Each hug is specific for, um, someone.
- 35:02It's designed specifically for them and it's set like the Hug factory, made the most warm, cozy, cuddly hugs.
- 35:13And then you have this beautiful picture of the Hug Factory.
- 35:18And then I'll just read a little bit.
- 35:20So.
- 35:21Each hug was freshly made and specially encoded with just the right amount of love and care to delight the heart that it was made for.
- 35:34Being a hug wasn't always easy.
- 35:37Sometimes a lonely thought or bad feeling would trap a hug in a sticky web.
- 35:46You can kind of see that sticky web.
- 35:48And on the Sticky WA web it says, horrible.
- 35:51Who cares, anxious, mean, scared, sad.
- 35:57And so, um, so to help hugs deliver their love and care, there was a big sign on the factory wall.
- 36:07Reminders to being a great hug.
- 36:11Breathe in love and glow brightly.
- 36:14Focus entirely on the heart the love is for.
- 36:20Don't pay too much attention to this web of sticky thoughts.
- 36:26And then it goes on about how one hug got stuck because it paid attention.
- 36:32It got stuck in the web of sticky thoughts.
- 36:36And then what happened is because it got stuck there, it created this backlog of hugs.
- 36:44Trying to get out of the sticky, uh, out of the hug factory and hugs, trying to get into this, into the heart factory.
- 36:53And then, um, soon the factory stopped making new hugs.
- 36:59There was only one stuck hug in the center of the ordinary heart, but all around the world, hugs lost a little of their glow.
- 37:11So it talks a little bit about kind of when we get stuck in that web of sticky thoughts, what happens and we stop kind of glowing and it, it impacts other people, but then eventually the hug remembers to focus on the heart that it's meant for and it gets out of the web of sticky thoughts and goes on to deliver its hug to the, to the heart that it was meant for.
- 37:41And so I, I used that book as a way to focus on cognitive distortions or negative beliefs.
- 37:49And I, I went and I, I went on Canva.
- 37:52Any of you are familiar with Canva.
- 37:54And I, I, created a worksheet where I had all these different hearts and then I, I cut them out.
- 38:02So there's different hearts here.
- 38:03And then I, I cut out the individual hearts.
- 38:06So I give the, i, I mean, individual webs.
- 38:10So I give the webs stack of webs to the client, and one by one they will write on like, what are some of their negative beliefs about themselves, about the world, about others and then we go one by one.
- 38:25If they're, if they're young and they don't really.
- 38:28write then you could write it for them or they could draw a picture.
- 38:33So then they do that and we go one by one and kind of explore those, figure out what the truth is.
- 38:41So we're gonna challenge some of those distortions and talk a little bit about what's the truth and then kind of have them focus on when they, when they focus on the truth, then they feel better about themselves.
- 38:57They interact differently with other people.
- 39:01When they focus on the sticky thoughts, then they feel bad about themselves.
- 39:07And so.
- 39:09And then they don't end up doing well in their relationships or school.
- 39:14They might not be doing well.
- 39:16And so the other thing is when they focus on the truth, it's like they send a, a hug to their own heart, the way they believe about themselves.
- 39:26We're getting a little self-care in there, but also it sends a hug to the, the people in their lives that they do love because they show up differently that relationship.
- 39:40So those are some of my favorite activities that I love doing.
- 39:46And again, I just discovered this book.
- 39:48There's a whole series of these books.
- 39:51Um, the hug books, they're phenomenally awesome.
- 39:55So you may wanna check those out.
- 39:57So that is it for the activities that I, uh, love using when I'm working with kids that and adults who've experienced traumatic experiences.
- 40:10If you're interested in the training, it is called Healing Trauma using Healing Trauma through Play Therapy, a neuroscience and attachment approach, you can hop over to my website.
- 40:26Registration is closing soon though, so the training is on May 17th.
- 40:31It's a full day training.
- 40:32There are CEs available.
- 40:36Um, you can attend in person in Southern Utah and St. George, Utah, or you can attend virtually.
- 40:43Registration is closing May 15th though, and it's a hard close.
- 40:47So if you don't register by May 15th, then you won't be able to access it until I do it again.
- 40:54I'm probably not gonna do it again, um, for a while.
- 40:58So if you're interested, so it's a full day training.
- 41:01I'm gonna go over the neuroscience and attachment, um, and how trauma is experienced and the impact of trauma.
- 41:11We're using that as a way to conceptualize the impact of trauma and what's going on and how it's experienced with your specific clients.
- 41:22And then I'm gonna walk you through a little bit about like, play themes and how trauma may show up in the playroom.
- 41:30'cause that's always a, a big one.
- 41:32How trauma is ex, what you might wanna look for for trauma.
- 41:35And then I'm gonna walk you through a model that's using neuroscience and attachment as a framework accessing the therapeutic powers of play, how to show up and use that model.
- 41:49What, like in each stage, what activities can you use?
- 41:54We'll do experiential activities.
- 41:57Um, what, what each stage of the change process looks like and what you can do and what you're focusing on in each stage and why you're focusing on it.
- 42:08I'll also talk a little bit about some tips for working with parents of traumatized kids.
- 42:15It's not uncommon the parents have been traumatized as well, or the caregivers if they're not living with parents.
- 42:22So it's a full day of really helping you have a solid foundation, a solid framework that you can use to help your clients who've experienced trauma to heal using play therapy.
- 42:39We'll do lots of experiential activities, so register soon before it closes.
- 42:45You can pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
- 42:51That's renewing hearts play therapy training.com.
- 42:55You wanna click on the courses page and, uh, the um, training is called Healing Trauma Through Play Therapy A Neuroscience and Attachment Approach.
- 43:09And I will see you there.
- 43:10Bye for now.
- 43:15Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
- 43:20I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
- 43:29If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
- 43:35Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
- 43:41Remember.
- 43:42Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
- 43:45Whether 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.
- 43:57If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
- 44:04Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
- 44:16Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
- 44:20Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.