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Best Strategies to Use Play Therapy with Teens · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  Cathi Spooner: A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  Cathi Spooner: We'll explore all things play therapy.
• 0:17
  Cathi Spooner: To elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  Cathi Spooner: I'll discuss practical tips and ideas so you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives.
• 0:33
  Cathi Spooner: So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
• 0:46
  Cathi Spooner: Hey there.
• 0:47
  Cathi Spooner: Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy, where we talk about all things play therapy.
• 0:54
  Cathi Spooner: And today we're gonna be talking about using play therapy with adolescents.
• 0:59
  Cathi Spooner: And so there's 10, there's this misbelief out there that play therapy is only for adolescents and it makes sense because it's got the word play in it, right?
• 1:11
  Cathi Spooner: You and traditionally play therapy was developed for children, a way to help children heal any of their social, emotional, mental health issues.
• 1:26
  Cathi Spooner: But is play therapy helpful for teens?
• 1:30
  Cathi Spooner: Can you use play therapy effectively with teens and I, I find, play the therapy to be really helpful with teens.
• 1:40
  Cathi Spooner: I use it all the time and have really, really good results using play therapy with my adolescent clients and teaching others how to use play therapy with adolescent clients.
• 1:56
  Cathi Spooner: So maybe it, the question isn't can play therapy be useful for adolescents?
• 2:06
  Cathi Spooner: I think the question needs to be reframed as how is play therapy useful with your adolescent clients?
• 2:16
  Cathi Spooner: So if you have, if you have adolescent clients that you are having a hard time getting them to open up and maybe they seem like, you know, your thoughts are, oh, they're resistant, or my favorite, not really, which is they're not ready for therapy.
• 2:37
  Cathi Spooner: Maybe that's true.
• 2:40
  Cathi Spooner: I haven't found it to be true as often as I hear it, which is pretty regular.
• 2:46
  Cathi Spooner: 'Cause think about it, adolescents aren't we're using traditional talk therapy with adolescents who aren't adults.
• 2:55
  Cathi Spooner: TRA traditional talk therapy was developed for adults and we're using a model designed for adults with adolescents.
• 3:03
  Cathi Spooner: And adolescents developmentally are not quite adults, right?
• 3:08
  Cathi Spooner: Their frontal prefrontal cortex is still in progress.
• 3:12
  Cathi Spooner: They're still working on all those neural connections together.
• 3:16
  Cathi Spooner: We also know that adolescence is a time of tremendous neural growth.
• 3:23
  Cathi Spooner: There's so many changes going on during adolescence, and that can be really overwhelming, which means they're not necessarily gonna have access to those higher cognitive levels and yet we're expecting them to talk about things.
• 3:40
  Cathi Spooner: And if you have a pretty high functioning adolescent, it'll work.
• 3:44
  Cathi Spooner: I talk with my adolescent clients.
• 3:47
  Cathi Spooner: I don't necessarily start there though.
• 3:50
  Cathi Spooner: Um, when we're trying to work through difficult issues, that's where they tend to get stuck.
• 3:57
  Cathi Spooner: So if you have clients who you're having a hard time getting them to go to that deeper level, or to be able to work around some of those high intense emotion topics, then I find play therapy to be a really useful way to go about helping them work through that.
• 4:27
  Cathi Spooner: And so that's what we're gonna talk about today.
• 4:30
  Cathi Spooner: How, what are the some, what are some how, when my mouth works, I'll be able to get this out.
• 4:37
  Cathi Spooner: How can play therapy be effective adolescents.
• 4:43
  Cathi Spooner: So we're gonna be talking about how do you introduce play therapy to adolescents?
• 4:49
  Cathi Spooner: How are you choosing activities for adolescents?
• 4:54
  Cathi Spooner: How are you holding that therapeutic space for adolescents so they don't feel like they're being treated like little kids?
• 5:03
  Cathi Spooner: And how do you make sure play therapy is effective for your adolescent clients?
• 5:09
  Cathi Spooner: So if that sounds like it's something that would be useful for you, then stay tuned because that is what we were going to be talking about today.
• 5:20
  Cathi Spooner: So I'm Cathi Spooner.
• 5:22
  Cathi Spooner: I'm a licensed clinical social worker and a registered.
• 5:26
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapist.
• 5:27
  Cathi Spooner: If you haven't been following any of my podcast episodes or livestream episodes, then I'll just kind of introduce myself if you're new to any of my episodes.
• 5:41
  Cathi Spooner: And I wanna invite you, if you're a play therapist or you're a mental health professional and you're working with adolescents.
• 5:49
  Cathi Spooner: And I want, or maybe you want to be able to work with adolescents, I wanna invite you, if you're watching the live stream, I wanna invite you to introduce yourself.
• 6:01
  Cathi Spooner: What population do you work with?
• 6:04
  Cathi Spooner: Are you working with adolescents?
• 6:06
  Cathi Spooner: How are you working with adolescents?
• 6:08
  Cathi Spooner: Are you using play therapy with adolescents?
• 6:11
  Cathi Spooner: What are your questions about that?
• 6:13
  Cathi Spooner: So if you, if you are.
• 6:17
  Cathi Spooner: Um, watching and I live stream on YouTube, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• 6:25
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching I and you're working with adolescents, then post that in the comments.
• 6:31
  Cathi Spooner: If you're watching the replay on LinkedIn or YouTube or Instagram, feel free to join the conversation or message me.
• 6:40
  Cathi Spooner: I would love to hear your feedback and your questions or your, or your thoughts about this topic.
• 6:46
  Cathi Spooner: What works for you and how are you making a difference using play therapy with your adolescent clients?
• 6:54
  Cathi Spooner: So, let's get started for today.
• 6:57
  Cathi Spooner: So the, the topic that we are discussing today is, um, what are the best strategies to use play therapy with adolescents?
• 7:10
  Cathi Spooner: The first thing you wanna think about is how are you setting the stage with your adolescent clients?
• 7:17
  Cathi Spooner: How are you introducing play therapy to your adolescent clients in a way that doesn't make them feel like you're treating them like a baby, or you're treating them like a little kid, uh, which will make you feel awkward and they all probably feel awkward and that it'll feel really awkward and not so, not so fabulous.
• 7:41
  Cathi Spooner: The, the way to think about introducing play therapy with adolescents is really don't say we're gonna play, or, um, because your, your language really matters.
• 7:54
  Cathi Spooner: So the way that I typically introduce play therapy to my adolescent clients, typically, I, um, some of them I will try to talk with first 'cause they, they really kind of need to talk to you.
• 8:10
  Cathi Spooner: Other ones, if they're shut down from the beginning and they do not wanna be there, or they've had bad experiences in therapy with previous therapists, then I'll just use like play therapy to get 'em started.
• 8:27
  Cathi Spooner: I try to make it fun because we know that if they don't feel comfortable, they're not gonna engage.
• 8:35
  Cathi Spooner: And if they're not feeling comfortable, it means that it doesn't really feel safe.
• 8:39
  Cathi Spooner: So the first order of business is how do I create a sense of safety in the session?
• 8:45
  Cathi Spooner: For some, some adolescent clients that's gonna be talking to them a little bit.
• 8:50
  Cathi Spooner: And for some clients it means maybe doing some experiential things.
• 8:56
  Cathi Spooner: And so I like to say that I use expressive arts with my adolescent clients.
• 9:04
  Cathi Spooner: Um, and so what I'm gonna be doing is I'm thinking about how to help my clients access the therapeutic powers of play, because that's what sets play therapy, um, apart from other expressive arts modalities.
• 9:23
  Cathi Spooner: So how are we helping them access those therapeutic powers of play using a theoretical model within the context of a strong therapeutic relationship.
• 9:34
  Cathi Spooner: And we can use expressive arts to help them access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 9:44
  Cathi Spooner: So, um, the way that I'll introduce it is maybe we're talking about something and I'll say, Hey, I have this idea, let's try something different.
• 9:58
  Cathi Spooner: Uh, we're gonna use art or let's use the sand tray, or let's use music and let's see, let's try this and use art or music or sand tray, let's see what happens.
• 10:13
  Cathi Spooner: Or I may say something like, one of the things that I found useful, I'm working with my adolescent clients is to use some expressive arts activities because we can, we can kind of explore different things using art or music or sometimes I'll say, you know, sometimes if I feel like they're getting stuck and they're not, um, they're kind of shutting down or they're getting a little frustrated, or you're feeling like they're not really, um, engaging.
• 10:51
  Cathi Spooner: And that's when I usually pull out the expressive arts activities and I'll say, you know, let's try something different.
• 10:58
  Cathi Spooner: Sometimes it's a little easier to use the sand tray and see what happens.
• 11:04
  Cathi Spooner: And then that's, that's typically how I'll introduce it because here's the thing that we're going for.
• 11:12
  Cathi Spooner: If we're using play therapy with adolescents, then we're making a FA foundational shift in our way of thinking, and that shift is away from traditional talk therapy that's gonna require your adolescent clients to really get into those cognitive areas to gain insight.
• 11:35
  Cathi Spooner: And maybe they're not quite there.
• 11:37
  Cathi Spooner: So it's so we're kind of moving from focus on talking and accessing tech those cognitive areas for insight and problem solving through talking is the only way to get healing to using expressive modalities to help them work through some of those shifts.
• 12:01
  Cathi Spooner: And if we're using these expressive modalities like art or music or clay or sand tray, and we can help them access those therapeutic powers of play for self-expression, problem solving.
• 12:19
  Cathi Spooner: Maybe you're doing some slow exposure work to a challenging topic, or maybe you want them to explore some of their decision making.
• 12:31
  Cathi Spooner: You can use these symbolic forms to accomplish that using expressive modalities, and then that's gonna help to access those implicit experiences that they don't quite have words for.
• 12:50
  Cathi Spooner: If you've worked with at adolescents, maybe you've worked with adults I have.
• 12:55
  Cathi Spooner: And adults.
• 12:56
  Cathi Spooner: If you ask them, how are you feeling about that?
• 13:00
  Cathi Spooner: A lot of adults they don't know.
• 13:03
  Cathi Spooner: They have no idea how they feel about it.
• 13:06
  Cathi Spooner: And so we're asking, sometimes we're asking adults to access explicit experiences.
• 13:15
  Cathi Spooner: Those we have conscious awareness for when it's actually stored away in implicit experiences.
• 13:23
  Cathi Spooner: And so if we use these symbolic forms of expression, first and foremost talking later expression first, then we can, we can bypass some of those areas where they get stuck.
• 13:41
  Cathi Spooner: And so that's, to me, when I think about it that way, that's that foundational shift in my way of thinking about how to help my clients.
• 13:51
  Cathi Spooner: Talk therapy is not the end all be all, especially when you're dealing with adolescents and especially pre-adolescence, like maybe those like pre-teens or maybe early teens, like middle school age that are even less developed prefrontal cortex areas.
• 14:13
  Cathi Spooner: And um, so when I think about it that way, then it makes it a little easier for me to know how to introduce it.
• 14:20
  Cathi Spooner: And that the, so the second thing is how are you gonna choose the activities?
• 14:27
  Cathi Spooner: So when you're thinking about the activities because now we, now we know we're gonna help them use expression first before talking.
• 14:35
  Cathi Spooner: We wanna help them symbolically represent what's going on.
• 14:40
  Cathi Spooner: Then now we wanna think about how to go about doing that what activities are gonna be the most beneficial?
• 14:48
  Cathi Spooner: And so I would say that really depends on the interests of your clients.
• 14:53
  Cathi Spooner: This is where getting to know your clients is gonna make a big difference.
• 14:58
  Cathi Spooner: So if you, I mean, most teenagers like music, most teenagers like, um, using art to express themselves.
• 15:07
  Cathi Spooner: But a lot of times what you have to overcome is the idea of art has to be a certain way, and we're not grading art.
• 15:18
  Cathi Spooner: We're not grading music.
• 15:19
  Cathi Spooner: There's no grade here, and it's however you you want it to be.
• 15:23
  Cathi Spooner: There's, there's no wrong way to do it.
• 15:27
  Cathi Spooner: So when I'm kind of introducing it that way, there's no wrong way to do this.
• 15:31
  Cathi Spooner: However you do it, it'll be just fine.
• 15:34
  Cathi Spooner: Um, you know, we may be, if I know they, like, I usually start with music like, what's your favorite artist?
• 15:44
  Cathi Spooner: And so we may talk about their favorite artists.
• 15:47
  Cathi Spooner: We may even go on YouTube.
• 15:49
  Cathi Spooner: I may have them um, tell me one of their favorite songs.
• 15:54
  Cathi Spooner: We may pull that up if it's got explicit language.
• 15:59
  Cathi Spooner: I, I might consider their parents and how their parents feel about that.
• 16:04
  Cathi Spooner: So if I feel like their parent or maybe, you know, maybe you are not somebody who really likes the explicit language.
• 16:13
  Cathi Spooner: Because we're, we, we have to rely on that therapeutic relationship.
• 16:17
  Cathi Spooner: So if you hearing all the bad words is gonna create some incongruence for you and some internal distress, then ask them to, uh, look up the, the, um, the clean version of the song.
• 16:33
  Cathi Spooner: 'Cause YouTube will ha, will have clean versions.
• 16:36
  Cathi Spooner: So listen to the song together.
• 16:39
  Cathi Spooner: Ask them what they like about the song, what's meaningful about the song, kind of open up exploration that way.
• 16:48
  Cathi Spooner: Then you can use music for different activities like um, you can even on YouTube or probably on Google, find the lyrics to the song and then you can have them pick out the lyrics in the song that is most meaningful to them.
• 17:06
  Cathi Spooner: And then now you've got the beginnings of a brand new song lyric, or what I also would say poetry.
• 17:14
  Cathi Spooner: 'Cause I kind of look at song lyrics as poetry.
• 17:17
  Cathi Spooner: So.
• 17:19
  Cathi Spooner: Now you can begin there or you can pick out those lyrics and have them create a sand tray that represents those lyrics.
• 17:28
  Cathi Spooner: Using as few or as many of the sand tray miniatures as makes the most sense.
• 17:36
  Cathi Spooner: You can tell them it doesn't always make sense why you feel drawn to specific miniatures.
• 17:43
  Cathi Spooner: Just go with it.
• 17:45
  Cathi Spooner: I promise you it'll, there's no wrong way to do this.
• 17:48
  Cathi Spooner: However it ends up being is exactly how it ends up being.
• 17:52
  Cathi Spooner: That's kind of how you get them out of that little stuck space about using expressive arts.
• 17:58
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but also kind of helps them know, you know, in here we're not grading.
• 18:03
  Cathi Spooner: This is not school.
• 18:05
  Cathi Spooner: We're not grading art, we're not being judgmental.
• 18:08
  Cathi Spooner: I say this is a no judgment.
• 18:09
  Cathi Spooner: So Joan, um, my mouth's not working today.
• 18:13
  Cathi Spooner: This is a no judgment zone and in here we're not judging ourselves.
• 18:19
  Cathi Spooner: And I'm not judging.
• 18:21
  Cathi Spooner: You can have them take that song lyric and use clay to represent like what, what would that, if you were to give that song lyric or that part of the song, if you were to create a symbol to best represent it, what would that symbol look like?
• 18:41
  Cathi Spooner: You can have them use clay to do that or draw it.
• 18:46
  Cathi Spooner: A lot of times I'll give my clients a choice between drawing and and using clay or using the sand tray.
• 18:55
  Cathi Spooner: So these are, these are, you're choosing the activities based on what their interests are, and then you're kind of starting there.
• 19:05
  Cathi Spooner: And from there it tends to go pretty easy after that, once they get used to doing that in session.
• 19:12
  Cathi Spooner: And then the next thing is now that we have figured out how to introduce.
• 19:17
  Cathi Spooner: We have that fundamental shift in our way of thinking about how therapy works, meaning it doesn't have to be talk therapy.
• 19:27
  Cathi Spooner: We can use expressive modalities to access those therapeutic powers of play within the context of a strong therapeutic relationship using a theoretical model.
• 19:38
  Cathi Spooner: And so now we're thinking about how are we holding that therapeutic space?
• 19:48
  Cathi Spooner: The thing to think about when we're using symbolic representation or expressive modalities, we want to make space for permission to be expressive, which is why I do a lot of in here.
• 20:03
  Cathi Spooner: It's a no judgment zone.
• 20:05
  Cathi Spooner: However you do it is exactly the right way.
• 20:09
  Cathi Spooner: There's no wrong or right way to do it.
• 20:13
  Cathi Spooner: And so where we want to establish that sense of permissiveness in the session with your clients, especially in the beginning, because we know that they're not gonna engage unless they feel safe.
• 20:29
  Cathi Spooner: We need to create that safe therapeutic space.
• 20:33
  Cathi Spooner: So we are not going to rush them.
• 20:36
  Cathi Spooner: I can't tell you how many adolescent clients that I have had who are I've had not so great experiences with therapy, or maybe they're court involved and their, um, probation officer said they had to and they don't want to.
• 20:56
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe they're torn because they know their parents aren't happy about having them go to therapy.
• 21:03
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe they're a little worried about parents finding out and then parents getting mad.
• 21:10
  Cathi Spooner: That they've talked about the family issues outside of the family.
• 21:14
  Cathi Spooner: Like they're, they're telling the family secrets, so they, they're a little guarded about what's going on.
• 21:21
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe they've had bad experiences in therapy in the past, or maybe they're slow to warm up.
• 21:28
  Cathi Spooner: These are all the things we are holding therapeutic space for all the possibility of these things.
• 21:37
  Cathi Spooner: And we want to make sure that teens feel like it's gonna go at their pace, that we're gonna be respectful of their needs.
• 21:49
  Cathi Spooner: This is where I like using a neuroscience and attachment lens when I'm working with clients, including adolescent clients, and I'm using play therapy to help them access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 22:06
  Cathi Spooner: I'm using more of an integrative model and probably the core I would say of that therapeutic model is looking at this through a neuroscience and attachment lens to help me understand what is going on with my client and what they need.
• 22:25
  Cathi Spooner: And if I, so I'm picking up on their cues, I'm tapping into my resident circuits to figure out um, really what's going on as well as how am I pacing this?
• 22:40
  Cathi Spooner: Am I allowing my clients to go at a pace that's comfortable to them and are they, are they feeling comfortable to just create?
• 22:52
  Cathi Spooner: And that's how are, that's, that takes time sometimes for some clients.
• 22:58
  Cathi Spooner: So sometimes we need to just sit with them and we need to be comfortable with them not doing much and, and checking you out really to see if you're gonna be one of those adults, right, who judges them, looks down on them, thinks they're a bad kid and says they're resistant or reluctant, they're going to pick up on your nervous system.
• 23:30
  Cathi Spooner: So you have to be comfortable with just being.
• 23:35
  Cathi Spooner: Which is one of the reasons, so I, I, um, I use an integrative model with adolescent clients, so once they start getting like age nine and 10, I'm usually shifting from child-centered play therapy to more of an integrative model.
• 23:55
  Cathi Spooner: One of the things that I love about child-centered play therapy is you have to learn how to just be.
• 24:04
  Cathi Spooner: Because you are allowing clients to lead and you are following, and you have to be really comfortable with being fully present in the moment.
• 24:16
  Cathi Spooner: Attuned, congruent with unconditional positive regard, and then, um, seeing how the session unfolds as you follow.
• 24:28
  Cathi Spooner: That's one of the things I find really useful about child-centered play therapy, and it also comes in handy with working with adolescents when you're using, um, an integrative model.
• 24:41
  Cathi Spooner: So when I was thinking about work with adolescents and I was thinking about if I'm using an integrative model, then I need some kind of framework to help me know how to pull all of this together, which is what, and so I, I created a, it's kind of an acronym, BB five.
• 25:04
  Cathi Spooner: There are five ways of being in the session to create that strong therapeutic space.
• 25:11
  Cathi Spooner: So I do have, um, I do have a training coming up and I'll talk a little bit about that, where we kind of take all of this, um, way of being, how are we using a therapeutic framework, what therapeutic framework are we using to help ground the work that we're doing?
• 25:31
  Cathi Spooner: Because your therapeutic model is gonna influence how you create that therapeutic space.
• 25:37
  Cathi Spooner: It's gonna influence what you say in session.
• 25:42
  Cathi Spooner: How are you in session?
• 25:44
  Cathi Spooner: What are you focusing on in the session?
• 25:48
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, what does that look like from beginning to end.
• 25:54
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested, I do have a, a training coming up, play therapy with adolescents using expressive arts.
• 26:03
  Cathi Spooner: I'll talk a little bit more about that at the end.
• 26:07
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, so now we, we know how to use this therapeutic space.
• 26:15
  Cathi Spooner: We know how to introduce and then how are we making sense of what happens in play therapy sessions?
• 26:25
  Cathi Spooner: And to me, this is probably where most play therapists struggle.
• 26:32
  Cathi Spooner: I know it's where I struggled in the beginning.
• 26:36
  Cathi Spooner: This is where, to me, consultation comes in really, really handy.
• 26:41
  Cathi Spooner: Honestly, even if you're a seasoned play therapist, I think being part of a community of support that's gonna help you make sure you're on the right track with your clients.
• 26:56
  Cathi Spooner: As you're also looking at themes in the play therapy session.
• 27:00
  Cathi Spooner: You have support to do that, and kind of making sure that your understanding is on target and then what are you doing next?
• 27:12
  Cathi Spooner: How are you using your clinical decision making for the next steps throughout the play therapy process?
• 27:19
  Cathi Spooner: So that's why what I've decided in 2026 when I do any of my play therapy trainings, 'cause I, I'm a firm believer in training.
• 27:28
  Cathi Spooner: I go to trainings, I love trainings.
• 27:29
  Cathi Spooner: I'm doing a whole training now, uh, myself for my own skill development.
• 27:35
  Cathi Spooner: 'Cause we're all lifelong learners, right?
• 27:37
  Cathi Spooner: So.
• 27:38
  Cathi Spooner: Um, but one, uh, so training is important and here's what I've found.
• 27:45
  Cathi Spooner: Like how many times have you thought to yourself, like a month or two after the training ended, you're sitting in front of your clients, maybe you've got an adolescent client, and you're thinking to yourself, oh gosh, what did they, what was one of those activities we talked about or what?
• 28:03
  Cathi Spooner: What was it that they talked about in that training?
• 28:07
  Cathi Spooner: What does that look like here?
• 28:08
  Cathi Spooner: I'm feeling really stuck.
• 28:10
  Cathi Spooner: I mean, that happens all the time.
• 28:12
  Cathi Spooner: So one of the things that I decided that I'm gonna do is anyone who takes any of my trainings are, they're gonna get two 60 days for new members.
• 28:22
  Cathi Spooner: If you're not already in Play Therapy Elevation Circle and you take a training from me than, um, any of the live trainings that I have coming up.
• 28:35
  Cathi Spooner: Then you're gonna have access to 60 days of support from like-minded play therapists where we're meeting once a month and we're staffing cases and masterminding cases, giving feedback, giving support, so you don't have to do it alone.
• 28:53
  Cathi Spooner: It's hard work.
• 28:54
  Cathi Spooner: I mean, I hear all the time about how people these days play therapists, mental health, pe, just people in general.
• 29:03
  Cathi Spooner: Life feels heavy for a lot of people right now, and this work is hard.
• 29:10
  Cathi Spooner: I'm doing a training right now for some amazing therapists in Australia where, um, um, we're doing attachment focused family play therapy, so I'm doing that work and we're talking about some of their cases and it just reminds me how hard these cases are.
• 29:28
  Cathi Spooner: I just had Play Therapy Academy meetings.
• 29:31
  Cathi Spooner: We had our consultation meeting last weekend.
• 29:35
  Cathi Spooner: And talking about really hard cases.
• 29:39
  Cathi Spooner: We have Elevation Circle Mastermind meeting coming up next week, and there's somebody that is gonna be presenting a case.
• 29:50
  Cathi Spooner: It's a hard case.
• 29:52
  Cathi Spooner: So to me, if we're, if we're learning all these things and we're providing these services, then having access to support, I think makes all the difference, which is why I decided, um, to make sure to include at least 60 days for any, um, new members to Elevation Circle.
• 30:14
  Cathi Spooner: You'll have access to support.
• 30:16
  Cathi Spooner: You can keep and stay in there if you want.
• 30:19
  Cathi Spooner: Um, that's another option, but at least it gives you some support while you are applying what you are learning in the training, because when you're trying to make sense of what happens in the sessions, what you're doing is you're learning how your clients are using symbolic representation to communicate what's going on.
• 30:44
  Cathi Spooner: And a lot of times what I love about expressive arts is that you are, the expressive arts is a way to access those implicit experiences, so those implicit experiences that we don't have conscious access to at this point.
• 31:06
  Cathi Spooner: So when, when they say they don't know, maybe they don't know because it's stored away or behind those protected walls where they can't really make sense of it yet, and they need a way to express that non-verbally.
• 31:24
  Cathi Spooner: And so then what we're doing is we're, we're taking that and making sense of it looking at the symbol, I mean the, um, the themes, right?
• 31:36
  Cathi Spooner: Or what, what you could call, um, like those energy spots that's what, that's what Eliana Gill, when I took her sandre training a zillion years ago, she would call them energy spots.
• 31:49
  Cathi Spooner: Like, what is that psychological energy that's getting manifested through that expressive modality?
• 31:58
  Cathi Spooner: I love that idea.
• 31:59
  Cathi Spooner: In play therapy, we call them play therapy themes, and that's, that's a learned skill.
• 32:05
  Cathi Spooner: It's also going to be influenced by your theoretical model.
• 32:10
  Cathi Spooner: So your framework matters and so you making sense of the themes in your client's expressive arts activities based on those, your theoretical model.
• 32:25
  Cathi Spooner: And the thing is your theoretical model is gonna influence what you do with that activity.
• 32:34
  Cathi Spooner: Here's what I mean by that.
• 32:36
  Cathi Spooner: Are you interpreting it for your clients or are you not interpreting?
• 32:42
  Cathi Spooner: Some models are gonna, at some point they're gonna want, part of the change process is you, as a therapist, is helping your clients to use that therapeutic process with expressive arts modalities and help to create meaning to it.
• 33:03
  Cathi Spooner: So helping your clients connect what's going on and what's underlying, what are the roots of what's causing their problems, and you're gonna want them to kind of connect the dots with that, so to speak.
• 33:18
  Cathi Spooner: So where does interpretation play in there?
• 33:22
  Cathi Spooner: Some modalities, you're not gonna do that.
• 33:25
  Cathi Spooner: There's no interpretation at all.
• 33:29
  Cathi Spooner: So depending on what theoretical model you're using, it will influence what you do with that theme.
• 33:37
  Cathi Spooner: The other thing you want to avoid is having clients feel like you're going to analyze, psychoanalyze every little detail about the work that they are creating in the play therapy o office, and you don't wanna treat that expressive arts modality as like a projective test to their unconscious.
• 34:02
  Cathi Spooner: So we're thinking about it in terms of this is their, this is their emotional language.
• 34:10
  Cathi Spooner: This is our way of communicating through the process.
• 34:14
  Cathi Spooner: You know, more through right brain processes.
• 34:18
  Cathi Spooner: And then you are holding that a lot of times what I'll say to my clients is you can say as much or as little as you want about what you've created.
• 34:30
  Cathi Spooner: If they don't wanna say anything, I don't ask and I give them permission not to say anything, and I have to be okay with that because if I'm not okay with that, then they're gonna pick up on it.
• 34:45
  Cathi Spooner: I have to, it's that congruence, right?
• 34:47
  Cathi Spooner: Unconditional positive regard and acceptance.
• 34:50
  Cathi Spooner: I have to feel it internally so it'll, um, kind of show itself externally that's that congruence, and I have to be okay with them saying nothing.
• 35:03
  Cathi Spooner: That being said, I can learn how to identify the themes of what they're, what's going on.
• 35:10
  Cathi Spooner: That's just gonna give me information for my clinical decision making to know where they are in the change process, you know, what are they working on so I can figure out how to help them to do that.
• 35:24
  Cathi Spooner: But the key is we wanna make sure that we are kind of respectful that ties in with holding that therapeutic space and also ties into your, what framework are you using to hold that therapeutic process and guide what you're saying and doing in the session.
• 35:47
  Cathi Spooner: So through your therapeutic model, whatever your theory model is, it's gonna help you make sense of, um, the symbols and the metaphors.
• 35:59
  Cathi Spooner: How are they using the process therapeutically?
• 36:03
  Cathi Spooner: Is it, you know, is it working?
• 36:06
  Cathi Spooner: Is it not working?
• 36:07
  Cathi Spooner: Do you need to adjust?
• 36:09
  Cathi Spooner: So that, that part of it usually in my experience, requires a little bit of support.
• 36:15
  Cathi Spooner: Ongoing support from a, um community consultation supervisor, however it is that you're getting support colleagues who know how to do it as well, and you can run down the hall.
• 36:27
  Cathi Spooner: I used to do that early on when I like, wait, this is like 25 years ago almost.
• 36:34
  Cathi Spooner: I had a, before I finally got into play therapy, found somebody, I would go across the hall to my colleague friend, I would say, help what's going on here?
• 36:47
  Cathi Spooner: And we'd kind of figure it out together.
• 36:49
  Cathi Spooner: And she's the one that kind of helped me figure out where to get some training 'cause I hadn't been able to find any.
• 36:56
  Cathi Spooner: So.
• 36:57
  Cathi Spooner: And then, then the, the last thing to think about, which we've kind of been talking a little bit about already is, um.
• 37:06
  Cathi Spooner: Using a cohesive play therapy framework.
• 37:10
  Cathi Spooner: So you wanna have that co cohesive framework so that it's not feeling like what I call the spaghetti against the wall method, where you're just pulling out anything and any everything to see what works or what doesn't work, but it doesn't really make any rhyme or reason.
• 37:29
  Cathi Spooner: There's no kind of clinical decision strategy that you're grounding it in to kind of guide you to know why are you using which specific activity, what therapeutic power of play are you, um, trying to tap into at, at, at this particular, stage of change?
• 37:54
  Cathi Spooner: Why am I using this activity versus another activity based on where are they in that change process?
• 38:03
  Cathi Spooner: And your, your theoretical model, your framework is gonna help you figure out how to help your clients access those therapeutic powers of play.
• 38:17
  Cathi Spooner: And so then when you have that framework when you get lost,'cause we all get lost.
• 38:22
  Cathi Spooner: It's not if you're gonna get lost, it's when and how often.
• 38:25
  Cathi Spooner: And then how do you get back on track?
• 38:27
  Cathi Spooner: To me, when I feel a little bit lost and I go back to my theory model for my case conceptualization to identify like what are, what is at the roots of this?
• 38:37
  Cathi Spooner: What is going on with this?
• 38:39
  Cathi Spooner: And then I think about my play therapy model.
• 38:42
  Cathi Spooner: Then I think about what stage they're in, and from there I can figure out what activities to pick.
• 38:49
  Cathi Spooner: So you can see how all of those tie together.
• 38:55
  Cathi Spooner: So, um, that is it for today.
• 38:59
  Cathi Spooner: Those are what I have found to be strategic ways of helping clients make progress and using expressive arts in their um, in the sessions and using that instead of traditional talk therapy, which I have found to be a lot more helpful.
• 39:22
  Cathi Spooner: So we're gonna do a little bit of recap, which, um, so first thing is setting stage.
• 39:31
  Cathi Spooner: How are you introducing?
• 39:34
  Cathi Spooner: The play therapy to your clients, and this requires a little bit of a shift from thinking, talking is the only way of helping your clients get better.
• 39:45
  Cathi Spooner: So we're kind of shifting over to thinking about play therapy in terms of how are we helping them access those therapeutic powers of play, which means we're gonna be reframing it as expressive arts.
• 39:57
  Cathi Spooner: We're using expressive arts.
• 40:00
  Cathi Spooner: And we have other ways of, um, helping that our, our adolescent clients work through the challenges that they're experiencing.
• 40:11
  Cathi Spooner: And then we're gonna be choosing activities based on their interest, um, kind of where they are developmentally.
• 40:21
  Cathi Spooner: If you have a really articulate adolescent, you may wanna try one activity versus maybe you have another client who is not very verbal and maybe you're getting the one word answers, you might wanna try something different.
• 40:38
  Cathi Spooner: Um, I can't tell you how many times in the beginning I have gotten really good buy-in just by pulling out those pre-printed mandalas, having my client pick a mandala.
• 40:52
  Cathi Spooner: I put on some, what I call therapist toy music.
• 40:56
  Cathi Spooner: I first ask my client, Hey, are you okay with this music?
• 40:59
  Cathi Spooner: Because I have learned from my husband who hates my therapist e kind of instrumental spa music, and it's not calming for him.
• 41:09
  Cathi Spooner: Um, it is very calming for me.
• 41:11
  Cathi Spooner: So I've just kind of learned not well, like what works for me doesn't work for everybody.
• 41:15
  Cathi Spooner: So I'll ask my client is, are you okay with this music?
• 41:19
  Cathi Spooner: And then I'll just let 'em color.
• 41:21
  Cathi Spooner: I might, we might do that for two sessions.
• 41:24
  Cathi Spooner: They might just sit in there coloring.
• 41:27
  Cathi Spooner: 'Cause I want their nervous system to be able to settle down and feel safe.
• 41:34
  Cathi Spooner: And if that's how they have to do it, then that's what I'm gonna do.
• 41:38
  Cathi Spooner: And then how are we holding that therapeutic space?
• 41:41
  Cathi Spooner: We want them.
• 41:43
  Cathi Spooner: To feel comfortable we want them to be able to engage those social engagement circuits of feeling safe in the session.
• 41:52
  Cathi Spooner: So we wanna make them, um, feel comfortable.
• 41:56
  Cathi Spooner: It's a no judgment zone, however you do this is exactly how it needs to be.
• 42:01
  Cathi Spooner: There's no right or wrong way to do this.
• 42:04
  Cathi Spooner: You're not gonna be rushing it.
• 42:06
  Cathi Spooner: You are going to be allowing it to unfold in a way that is comfortable for your clients safety first expression, uh, expression, first talking later, or maybe no talking at all.
• 42:21
  Cathi Spooner: And then how are we making sense?
• 42:24
  Cathi Spooner: This is where you are learning how to identify themes in whatever has happened, and you're also making sure that you're not kind of creating that atmosphere of you're gonna be analyzing every little thing they did.
• 42:41
  Cathi Spooner: You are just using it to, um, you're recognizing the themes to help you understand what's going on so you can use that for your decision making about are you on track?
• 42:54
  Cathi Spooner: Are you not on track, or, oh, there, you know, seem to be working through this and it's gonna help you figure out what you need to do.
• 43:02
  Cathi Spooner: How.
• 43:03
  Cathi Spooner: How are you involving parents?
• 43:05
  Cathi Spooner: That's a whole other thing.
• 43:07
  Cathi Spooner: And maintaining confidentiality, how are you doing all of that?
• 43:11
  Cathi Spooner: I typically, um, don't go along with the a hundred percent traditional view on that.
• 43:18
  Cathi Spooner: That's a whole nother topic.
• 43:20
  Cathi Spooner: Um.
• 43:21
  Cathi Spooner: But that, but they need to feel safe.
• 43:24
  Cathi Spooner: They need to make sure it's private.
• 43:25
  Cathi Spooner: But I also think you need to make sure parents are involved.
• 43:28
  Cathi Spooner: And I don't keep secrets.
• 43:30
  Cathi Spooner: So there's ways that we have to manage that, that secrets are different than mandatory reporting things in my book.
• 43:37
  Cathi Spooner: But how are we managing that?
• 43:39
  Cathi Spooner: 'Cause ultimately, the client needs to feel safe.
• 43:43
  Cathi Spooner: And then the, the final thing is.
• 43:46
  Cathi Spooner: Is, um, using a framework.
• 43:50
  Cathi Spooner: You don't wanna just do anything and everything.
• 43:53
  Cathi Spooner: Your framework really is your roadmap that helps you figure out what to do and when to do it.
• 43:58
  Cathi Spooner: Also, how are you making sense of what's going on?
• 44:01
  Cathi Spooner: It's also gonna influence what you say and don't say in your, in your sessions with your adolescent clients.
• 44:11
  Cathi Spooner: So that is it for today.
• 44:14
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested, I have, uh, a training coming up.
• 44:18
  Cathi Spooner: It's coming up on March 7th.
• 44:21
  Cathi Spooner: It's called Play Therapy with Adolescents Using Expressive Arts.
• 44:27
  Cathi Spooner: We are going to be using a neuroscience and attachment lens using an integrative play therapy approach with, um, some of the foundational theoretical lens we're looking through as neuroscience and attachment.
• 44:42
  Cathi Spooner: So kind of what I talked about a little bit today, looking at things that way.
• 44:46
  Cathi Spooner: We'll do a lot of that, like how are we conceptualizing it?
• 44:51
  Cathi Spooner: And then a lot of then how do we do this?
• 44:55
  Cathi Spooner: So we'll do lots of different activities, experiential activities.
• 44:59
  Cathi Spooner: There's, there's two options.
• 45:01
  Cathi Spooner: It's in person, so, or virtual you can attend either way.
• 45:08
  Cathi Spooner: In person will be in Southern Utah, which will be beautiful in early March.
• 45:15
  Cathi Spooner: Um, or you can attend virtually those two different registrations.
• 45:21
  Cathi Spooner: If you are, if not, if that time zone doesn't work for you maybe you're living outside of the US and you're like, oh, that, that's like in the middle of the night for me.
• 45:32
  Cathi Spooner: Or maybe the date doesn't work for you and you still want to get the information.
• 45:36
  Cathi Spooner: There is a recorded training option available.
• 45:40
  Cathi Spooner: So what's gonna happen is I'm going to, um, or I'm gonna do the training and then after the training we will, um, take all the recordings and kind of put them in modules and then you will have access to those around seven to 10 days after the training ends.
• 46:01
  Cathi Spooner: But it all, it'll be all the, it'll be the recorded version.
• 46:05
  Cathi Spooner: So either, either any of those options, if those work for you, and all of those options are going to include 60, 60 days for new members into play therapy, elevation Circle, so you can continue getting that ongoing support.
• 46:21
  Cathi Spooner: You don't have to do it alone.
• 46:23
  Cathi Spooner: One of the things that I've found is being a play therapist can feel really isolating, especially if you're the only one in your practice who's, who's using play therapy or maybe, uh, creative arts or expressive arts, and there's nobody, everybody else is just kind of using the traditional talk therapy or cognitive models and that you're kind of feeling like you don't have support.
• 46:49
  Cathi Spooner: And so to me Play Therapy, elevation Circle is a way to get that support for you.
• 46:56
  Cathi Spooner: Um, if you're interested though and you really want some more skill building, a lot more support for skill building with play therapy.
• 47:06
  Cathi Spooner: I do have openings in Play Therapy Academy, so if you're interested in that or maybe you're not sure if Elevation Circle or Play Therapy Academy is a good fit, then schedule a 30 minute video call with me and we can help you figure it out.
• 47:24
  Cathi Spooner: In the training though, you'll get access to Elevation Circle afterwards.
• 47:30
  Cathi Spooner: Not Play Therapy Academy.
• 47:31
  Cathi Spooner: That's a separate thing, but I don't always have openings and I have openings.
• 47:36
  Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested, feel free to schedule a 30 minute video call with me and I will make sure to put all of the links for the training in the comments.
• 47:48
  Cathi Spooner: We will make sure to put links, um, for Play Therapy Academy to schedule the 30 minute video call.
• 47:57
  Cathi Spooner: If you're interested, pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 48:04
  Cathi Spooner: It'll be on the training page for the play therapy with adolescents using Expressive Arts.
• 48:11
  Cathi Spooner: That training will be on the um, training page, so you're gonna pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
• 48:21
  Cathi Spooner: On the training page, look for play therapy with adolescents using expressive arts.
• 48:27
  Cathi Spooner: And, um, and the website is renewing hearts play therapy training.
• 48:33
  Cathi Spooner: And I will see you next week.
• 48:34
  Cathi Spooner: Feel free to message me if you have questions.
• 48:37
  Cathi Spooner: I, um, love hearing from people about how they're using play therapy.
• 48:41
  Cathi Spooner: And feel free to ask me any questions about the training.
• 48:44
  Cathi Spooner: I'm happy to answer those.
• 48:45
  Cathi Spooner: All righty, I will see you next time.
• 48:48
  Cathi Spooner: Bye for now.
• 48:53
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 48:57
  Cathi Spooner: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gain new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 49:07
  Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 49:12
  Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 49:18
  Cathi Spooner: Remember.
• 49:19
  Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 49:23
  Cathi Spooner: Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play and your own work in relationships.
• 49:34
  Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episode.
• 49:39
  Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear from you.
• 49:41
  Cathi Spooner: Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 49:53
  Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 49:57
  Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.