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How to Use Poetry with Teens in Play Therapy for Self-Expression · 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.
0:48
Cathi Spooner: Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy, where we talk about all things play therapy, and this week we're talking about an expressive arts modality that, I'll be honest, when I first heard about it, oh goodness, this was probably back in 2000 and eight, maybe.
1:14
Cathi Spooner: Probably.
1:16
Cathi Spooner: And we were, um, I was living in Virginia at the time.
1:21
Cathi Spooner: We were organizing the Virginia Association for Play Therapy.
1:26
Cathi Spooner: We were organizing training topics and trying to promote play therapy.
1:32
Cathi Spooner: And one of the play therapists in our, in our area was using, was a big fan of poetry therapy.
1:41
Cathi Spooner: And she did a training on it, and I thought to myself, stick needles in my eyes.
1:47
Cathi Spooner: That sounds atrocious, but I wanted to be supportive and I wanted to kind of represent association for play therapy well, so I went and I was so glad that I went.
2:04
Cathi Spooner: Um.
2:05
Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna do a shout out to Wendy Ratting back in Virginia.
2:09
Cathi Spooner: She's the one that got me hooked.
2:12
Cathi Spooner: Anyway, she did this training.
2:14
Cathi Spooner: She was a, a registered play therapist supervisor, and she was using poetry, and there's this whole category of poetry therapy as an expressive arts modality that I had no idea of because when you said poetry, my mind went to English class learning poetry and, uh, like, you know, like the old poets and they didn't make any sense to me most of the time.
2:43
Cathi Spooner: And I was, I was just not a fan.
2:46
Cathi Spooner: And going to that training and seeing how play there play how you can use poetry as an expressive arts modality to help clients heal.
3:03
Cathi Spooner: I was just transformed.
3:05
Cathi Spooner: I, by the end of that training, I was hooked.
3:10
Cathi Spooner: I have been hooked ever since, so I am grateful for that training and grateful that my, my perceptions were changed and shifted because I think it's a really powerful modality.
3:27
Cathi Spooner: And when working with adolescents, I use this one all the time.
3:33
Cathi Spooner: I use poetry in play therapy sessions with adolescents as a way to help them express what's going on.
3:43
Cathi Spooner: Um.
3:45
Cathi Spooner: Kind of explore different ideas and different things going on, and I found it to be a really useful tool.
3:54
Cathi Spooner: So as we've been talking about using play therapy with adolescents, in my mind, being able to use expressive arts is the way to make a difference with adolescents when you're using play therapy.
4:12
Cathi Spooner: So that is our topic today, using poetry in play therapy.
4:17
Cathi Spooner: Uh, for clarification, I am not a, um, poetry therapist.
4:25
Cathi Spooner: Just like I'm not an art therapist, I'm not a music therapist.
4:29
Cathi Spooner: Those are expressive arts categories in and of themselves.
4:35
Cathi Spooner: I use poetry, I use art, I use music with my theoretical model to help clients access those therapeutic powers of play.
4:46
Cathi Spooner: And I think it's really important to make that distinction.
4:50
Cathi Spooner: 'Cause I, I think language matters because it conveys what we're talking about, which is what poetry therapy is all about.
5:00
Cathi Spooner: So if you're joining us live, feel free to, and you're a play therapist or you're a child and adolescent mental health professional, please feel free to post in the comments, what population do you work with, what, what Play Therapy modality are you using?
5:20
Cathi Spooner: Are you working with adolescents?
5:23
Cathi Spooner: For those of you watching on the replay, I would love to hear your comments as well, so please feel free to join into in the conversation if you're a child and adolescent therapist or a play therapist and, and also those of you listening on the podcast, feel free to connect with me on Instagram, message me your thoughts and comments.
5:50
Cathi Spooner: Send me an email, um, with your thoughts and comments.
5:54
Cathi Spooner: I'd love to hear from you.
5:56
Cathi Spooner: So let's get started for today.
6:00
Cathi Spooner: So we're talking today about using poetry in play therapy when you're working with adolescents.
6:09
Cathi Spooner: And so for those of you who are watching on the live stream, I'm showing a book called Poetry Therapy Theory and Practice by Nicholas Maza.
6:21
Cathi Spooner: Now this one is a bit.
6:23
Cathi Spooner: Uh, it just seems weird to me to say that 2003 is an oldie, like it's 23 years ago.
6:33
Cathi Spooner: It just seems like it was like last decade.
6:36
Cathi Spooner: Doesn't seem like she'd be that old.
6:38
Cathi Spooner: Also as an FYI, I am fighting off a cold.
6:42
Cathi Spooner: I have been battling it for a couple of weeks, but it seems to be winning again this week.
6:47
Cathi Spooner: So if you hear my voice being a little raspy or I'm a little sniffly, and also my brain is a little wobbly these days.
6:55
Cathi Spooner: So, um, just be forewarned.
7:00
Cathi Spooner: So, um, I thought it would be useful one to, for if you're interested in learning more about poetry therapy, then there are some resources and it is a whole thing.
7:12
Cathi Spooner: And, um, there's actually, I think there's still, uh, a association for poetry therapy.
7:21
Cathi Spooner: Here's what I found interesting.
7:23
Cathi Spooner: So in the book, he, um, uh.
7:27
Cathi Spooner: He talked about what is poetry therapy, and he talked about, this is what he says.
7:32
Cathi Spooner: I'm gonna quote the book here.
7:34
Cathi Spooner: He says, poetry therapy as one of the expressive arts therapies includes attention to verbal and nonverbal behavior, language, symbolism, use of sensory modes, vision, order, and balance.
7:53
Cathi Spooner: Poetry therapy involves the use of language arts as the in therapeutic capacities.
8:01
Cathi Spooner: That sounded like play therapy to me.
8:03
Cathi Spooner: When I read that, I thought, oh my gosh.
8:05
Cathi Spooner: That's why I think they go so well together is because you're using this expressive arts modality in a therapeutic way, and that's what we're doing with play therapy.
8:18
Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is one of the expressive arts modalities.
8:24
Cathi Spooner: So, um, so let's talk a little bit about, um, using play therapy.
8:35
Cathi Spooner: I mean, sorry, using poetry in play therapy and how does that work?
8:39
Cathi Spooner: The way that it works is we're using poetry to help our adolescent clients.
8:46
Cathi Spooner: I've used this with young clients too.
8:48
Cathi Spooner: Some of my younger clients loved using poetry.
8:52
Cathi Spooner: I use it in family play therapy all the time.
8:57
Cathi Spooner: I remember one family that I worked with had a, uh, like a 5-year-old and some older elementary school and a middle schooler.
9:06
Cathi Spooner: And I, I, you know, before we did the play, the family play therapy activity using poetry, I always check in and I, I, when I'm using my attachment base, um, family play therapy model, then I'm, I'm working really collaboratively with parents and I was chatting with them and we were gonna focus on a certain thing in the session we were targeting a, a specific area that the parents felt like we needed to work on to create some shifts in the system.
9:40
Cathi Spooner: And I, I had this idea about using poetry, but I knew one of, one of 'em was really little.
9:46
Cathi Spooner: So I asked, you know, do you think this would be effective?
9:49
Cathi Spooner: And they're like, oh yeah, she's gonna take over.
9:51
Cathi Spooner: And lo and behold she did take over the whole process and kind of let us along the way, which was so cute to watch.
9:58
Cathi Spooner: And it was, it was very interesting to see the dynamics that were, how they all worked together with that.
10:05
Cathi Spooner: And so we can, we can use it in family play therapy models.
10:12
Cathi Spooner: I've used it in group therapy sessions with adolescents.
10:16
Cathi Spooner: It works like magic.
10:18
Cathi Spooner: I love using poetry in groups with adolescents.
10:23
Cathi Spooner: I've used it individual play therapy sessions with younger kids.
10:28
Cathi Spooner: I've used it in play therapy sessions with adolescents when we're, um, using expressive art.
10:35
Cathi Spooner: So I, I find this to be a really effective way to engage adolescents in the play therapy process and help them access those therapeutic powers of play for healing.
10:52
Cathi Spooner: And so, if you think about it.
10:55
Cathi Spooner: Um, if you think about poetry and u using it therapeutically, when we're accessing the therapeutic powers of play can access most of them.
11:06
Cathi Spooner: Actually, most of the therapeutic powers of play, and if you are a little rusty on the therapeutic powers of play, the Association for Play Therapy has this handy dandy little, um, graphic on their website so you can go in there and search for the therapeutic powers of play.
11:25
Cathi Spooner: It's A PDF, um, but it facilitates communication is one of the therapeutic powers of play, right?
11:34
Cathi Spooner: That's what we're helping at adolescence, to find ways to express themselves in in a way that is beneficial for them.
11:46
Cathi Spooner: And we talked a lot about that using play therapy with adolescents in a previous session.
11:52
Cathi Spooner: So I'm not gonna go over that again in this session 'cause I wanna focus on poetry and using it and give you some ideas.
12:01
Cathi Spooner: For using it in this session.
12:03
Cathi Spooner: So I would EI would encourage you to go back and watch the previous, uh, episode or two about using play therapy with adolescents.
12:13
Cathi Spooner: So what we're doing is for when we're using play therapy and we're using expressive arts to help access the therapeutic powers of play, we're helping our adolescent clients find ways for self-expression, and that's communication, right?
12:30
Cathi Spooner: So self-expression, access to the unconscious.
12:34
Cathi Spooner: We can do some direct teaching or indirect teaching using poetry.
12:40
Cathi Spooner: Also when some of these activities, as I describe them, think about ways in which they require creative problem solving.
12:50
Cathi Spooner: Developing resiliency, moral development.
12:54
Cathi Spooner: That's one of the things we're really working on in adolescence is they're kind of honing what are their beliefs and values and how are they, how are they coming into their sense of self and who they are.
13:12
Cathi Spooner: So providing expressive arts activities to do that is going to help them work through some of those things.
13:24
Cathi Spooner: Some of those typical developmental adolescent things, but also we're looking at how some of their mental health issues have gotten activated.
13:34
Cathi Spooner: I typically, the theoretical lens, I typically look through and I blend it in for my integrative when I'm using, when, if I'm working with adolescents, I'm gonna be using an integrative model and I'm gonna be grounding that in attachment and neuroscience.
13:52
Cathi Spooner: So I'm looking at um, attachment relationships and how those have influenced their beliefs about themselves others, their beliefs about relationships, how they show up in relationships, what does that mean for who they're becoming as a young adult.
14:12
Cathi Spooner: All of these things, if we look at that through that attachment lens and accessing the therapeutic powers of play to go through and explore and express and use creative problem solving and figuring those things out to change some of their perceptions about themselves and address some of the underlying issues that they're experiencing.
14:37
Cathi Spooner: We can use poetry to do that'cause we're accessing these therapeutic powers of play.
14:45
Cathi Spooner: Um, and so the benefit for teens is that we are giving them an avenue for self-expression to explore implicit experiences that may not have access to brought through their left brain cognitive, um insight oriented areas of of brain, they might not be able to access that.
15:18
Cathi Spooner: So we can use play therapy with poetry to help them explore some of the things that for them, uh, are maybe current issues that they're struggling with or exploring, like I said, values and beliefs so we can, we can help them through poetry, reduce some of their inhibitions about exploring that, because now we've given them an avenue to do that in a way that's meaningful for them.
15:53
Cathi Spooner: Also, emotion regulation, because there can be like this meditative quality about poetry as we're kind of focused in the moment on writing EEE expression through writing.
16:13
Cathi Spooner: I, there's this, um, on Instagram, I forgot.
16:19
Cathi Spooner: I forgot her name.
16:20
Cathi Spooner: I think her name is Baby Blue Music.
16:22
Cathi Spooner: I forgot something like that.
16:25
Cathi Spooner: Um.
16:27
Cathi Spooner: Oh, I wish I could remember.
16:28
Cathi Spooner: Anyways, she, she, she posts on Instagram.
16:31
Cathi Spooner: I follow her on Instagram and sh she's using music.
16:36
Cathi Spooner: She's using music to talk about, uh, and, and express, have a way of expressing some of the challenges.
16:47
Cathi Spooner: Like she has a song about anxiety.
16:50
Cathi Spooner: She sings about anxiety.
16:52
Cathi Spooner: Well, the way that I think about music, the lyrics are poetry, it's self-expression, using words and language.
17:01
Cathi Spooner: She's also using sound and rhythm with it as well, but just that writing process and that creative process unfolding can be meditative.
17:14
Cathi Spooner: Also, where we're writing, oh, sorry.
17:17
Cathi Spooner: I feel like I have a sneeze coming on.
17:20
Cathi Spooner: And for those of you just joining, I am, uh, overcoming a cold.
17:26
Cathi Spooner: I'm fighting it off and it, it thinks it's gonna win, but it's not.
17:31
Cathi Spooner: Anyways.
17:32
Cathi Spooner: Um, so I'll try not to sneeze.
17:37
Cathi Spooner: Anyway, so, um, identity development, we can use, like I said, we can use poetry as a way to explore values, making meaning of things, navigating the challenges of relationship.
17:53
Cathi Spooner: When I, when I thought about this topic.
17:56
Cathi Spooner: Thought about my own adolescence and I used poetry back then and I did not even remember that, but this was back in the 1970s okay.
18:08
Cathi Spooner: Um, and we didn't really think about poetry as therapy way back then.
18:12
Cathi Spooner: At least I didn't in high school, and we didn't talk about it that way.
18:16
Cathi Spooner: And I remember using writing and poetry and journaling as a way to, I had kind of a challenging adolescence that I remember.
18:27
Cathi Spooner: I remember using, and one of my poems actually got published in the, in the, uh, what did we call that?
18:37
Cathi Spooner: Anyways, there was a, like a creative arts.
18:42
Cathi Spooner: Not a journal, but a publication that the high school put out for students publishing their artwork, their, their stories and poetry.
18:53
Cathi Spooner: And mine got, mine got published in there.
18:56
Cathi Spooner: So I thought about it years later and I thought, oh my gosh.
19:00
Cathi Spooner: I was using poetry back then for exploring values and that angst of being an adolescence in addition to, um my family situation was not at all stable at that time, and I used it as a way to help me explore and make meaning of things.
19:22
Cathi Spooner: And I think that's what we can offer to adolescents is an avenue for them to do that, that doesn't, um, cause them to try or put them in a, a position where they have to use insight and make meaning of things.
19:41
Cathi Spooner: I think we can do it.
19:43
Cathi Spooner: That's one of the beauties of expressive arts, I think, is to allow the, the, process, that creative process to unfold.
19:54
Cathi Spooner: Um, and in fact, there, one of my favorite, um, authors these days, I don't, you can follow him on Instagram.
20:02
Cathi Spooner: I feel like I'm doing lots of promotions today.
20:05
Cathi Spooner: Let's consider these resources.
20:08
Cathi Spooner: Um, if you're watching on the, uh, livestream or the replay.
20:13
Cathi Spooner: You'll see me showing a book by Yung Pueblo.
20:17
Cathi Spooner: You can follow him on Instagram as well.
20:19
Cathi Spooner: He write, he has a book called Clarity and Connection.
20:22
Cathi Spooner: He has another book of poems called Inward.
20:25
Cathi Spooner: I would, I would say a lot of these are, kind of, um, I think they're therapeutic.
20:32
Cathi Spooner: I read 'em all the time.
20:33
Cathi Spooner: I actually get a book and I'll, I'll take my pencil.
20:38
Cathi Spooner: It feels weird writing in a book, but I'll take a pencil and I'll kind of use it to spring, uh, springboard journaling.
20:46
Cathi Spooner: Like I'm gonna read one of his poems and it's called, and, uh, you can see he's kind of a, he reminds me of a way back in the day in the 1970s, EE Cummings was, was like all the rage.
21:02
Cathi Spooner: I remember my mom getting one of his books, I think.
21:05
Cathi Spooner: I don't remember how I found him, but anyways, he would like, this reminds me of kind of an EE Cummings kind of style where there's no punctuation and all lowercase letter letters and a kind of a different modern take on using poetry and anyway, so I'm gonna read this one just to give an example.
21:26
Cathi Spooner: I think of how poetry can be used in a creative way and as play therapists then we can use it therapeutically in our sessions.
21:40
Cathi Spooner: I would say that a lot of the stuff I do with adolescents using expressive arts, I'll also use with adults, so this is a, a poem in his book, young Pueblo, in Clarity and Connection.
21:53
Cathi Spooner: The poem is Reclaiming Your Power is noticing when a story based on assumptions is making your mind tense and intentionally bringing yourself back to the present moment.
22:09
Cathi Spooner: As a way to cut the delusion.
22:13
Cathi Spooner: So even reading it, you kind of have to slow down and be reflective, I think.
22:22
Cathi Spooner: And then I usually will, like if I'm highlighting something, I don't know if he's gonna appreciate that I write over all over, but it's my book.
22:31
Cathi Spooner: I can do what I want and it's meaningful to me anyways.
22:35
Cathi Spooner: I kind of use it as a journal.
22:37
Cathi Spooner: But that to me was a good example of how poetry can one be reflective and rhythmic.
22:47
Cathi Spooner: Also help adolescents go through and explore some of those things that they're working through as an adolescent.
22:56
Cathi Spooner: And also validation because it kind of helps as you're processing your feelings and you're exploring your feelings and you're trying to make meaning of what's going on, poetry as self-expression and creative problem solving, excuse me, I'm gonna take a drink of my coconut water.
23:22
Cathi Spooner: Can help adolescents feel seen, heard, understood, and held right.
23:28
Cathi Spooner: That's what Daniel Siegel talks about in his interpersonal neurobiology model of mindset.
23:34
Cathi Spooner: He talks about helping clients feel seen, heard, understood, and held so they feel less alone in their experiences and through that therapeutic process where we're connecting and they're feeling seen, heard, and understood, we know from neurobiology that we're also helping to facilitate a change in those neural pathways through that attuned presence.
24:08
Cathi Spooner: We can create that in the play therapy sessions.
24:12
Cathi Spooner: We can use that in family play therapy sessions.
24:16
Cathi Spooner: We can use that in group therapy sessions with our adolescent clients.
24:23
Cathi Spooner: So those are, to me, some of the benefits of integrating poetry as an expressive arts modality into the play therapy process.
24:36
Cathi Spooner: And so, and also if you're interested in learning how to use play therapy with adolescents and using expressive arts, and you love that idea of using a neuroscience and attachment lens, or maybe you just want some fresh ideas and new ways of working with your adolescent clients using play therapy.
24:56
Cathi Spooner: I do have a training coming up, so I'm gonna talk about that a little bit at the end.
25:01
Cathi Spooner: You'll probably wanna keep listening for that.
25:05
Cathi Spooner: I'll also talk a little bit about Play Therapy Academy.
25:09
Cathi Spooner: I have openings in that.
25:10
Cathi Spooner: Play Therapy Academy is where we do kind of a deep dive core skill building with play therapy and really honing your ability to use play therapy effectively and feel confident using it.
25:29
Cathi Spooner: So I'll talk a little bit more about those at the end.
25:31
Cathi Spooner: 'Cause we, we talk about a lot of these things in Play Therapy Academy.
25:37
Cathi Spooner: We also talk a lot about these things in Elevation Circle, which is more of the community based support.
25:47
Cathi Spooner: So let's talk about some ideas for using poetry.
25:52
Cathi Spooner: With your adolescent, adolescent client.
25:55
Cathi Spooner: So let's say I usually kind of bring the expressive arts activities in when we're talking about something that's going on.
26:09
Cathi Spooner: I'm going to use expressive arts to help bypass any of those ways they might get stuck, trying to be insight oriented first.
26:20
Cathi Spooner: I, we can use these expressive ways to help them sort through that, and then later they can connect if they're ready.
26:28
Cathi Spooner: They don't have to though.
26:30
Cathi Spooner: It's like play therapy.
26:32
Cathi Spooner: We trust that process, that that therapeutic process is gonna be beneficial and help them to resolve some of those issues.
26:40
Cathi Spooner: So.
26:42
Cathi Spooner: So if we're talking about, um, the, one of the ways that I integrate play therapy is if we're talking about things and maybe they're kind of doing their what ifs, right?
26:56
Cathi Spooner: What if this happens?
26:58
Cathi Spooner: Excuse me, or what if that happens?
27:01
Cathi Spooner: And they're kind of stuck in that and maybe getting in their head too much about it.
27:08
Cathi Spooner: We can use that and do a what if activity.
27:11
Cathi Spooner: So this is where teens are gonna write about their fears, exaggerations, future goals, and then.
27:19
Cathi Spooner: Then, so like, this is, honestly, this is what I did in high school.
27:23
Cathi Spooner: I wrote this poem called Just because it wasn't a, it wasn't titled What If, but, uh, to me, I, I, it could easily be what if, you know, I, I was accepted for who I was.
27:36
Cathi Spooner: What if I took a risk and I, discovered my power.
27:44
Cathi Spooner: You know, this is me like a zillion decades later, but there would've been some version of that in the poem that I write.
27:51
Cathi Spooner: But you could like what if, so what if about their fears?
27:57
Cathi Spooner: What if about some of the ways that they might be exec exaggerating and going into black and white thinking, right?
28:06
Cathi Spooner: So if you're using DBT therapy and you're, you're working on not being black and white and maybe trying to help them walk a middle path.
28:17
Cathi Spooner: You could use a what if poem to help facilitate that process.
28:23
Cathi Spooner: So another one would be, um, another activity.
28:27
Cathi Spooner: I love doing this one as well.
28:30
Cathi Spooner: This one is, there's two that I use with kind of music.
28:34
Cathi Spooner: So if we're thinking about it from a poetry standpoint, what I might do is have the adolescent, this f there.
28:43
Cathi Spooner: Okay, so let me do a self-disclosure again first.
28:47
Cathi Spooner: So my husband went off to work and my dog Luna.
28:50
Cathi Spooner: Is now in the office with me.
28:54
Cathi Spooner: She, she is behind me rolling around and moaning.
28:58
Cathi Spooner: You might hear her digging.
28:59
Cathi Spooner: You might hear her moaning.
29:02
Cathi Spooner: I tell people that.
29:03
Cathi Spooner: So you, you won't wonder what is going on in the office or as you're listening.
29:09
Cathi Spooner: That's my dog, Luna.
29:11
Cathi Spooner: She's in here with me and she likes to hang out.
29:14
Cathi Spooner: She likes to hang out with her people.
29:16
Cathi Spooner: Luna.
29:18
Cathi Spooner: She's getting old so she doesn't hear me when we call her name anymore to get her to stop.
29:24
Cathi Spooner: So anyways, all righty.
29:26
Cathi Spooner: So using lyrics in a poem.
29:30
Cathi Spooner: So one if, and this is, uh, most adolescents have a favorite artist or they have a favorite song or they like music.
29:38
Cathi Spooner: So you can tap into that interest and so you can have them pick one of their favorite songs.
29:46
Cathi Spooner: Or maybe one of their favorite artists or band.
29:49
Cathi Spooner: And then typically what I'll do is we'll go on to YouTube.
29:54
Cathi Spooner: I'll have 'em show me which song it is that they wanna listen to.
29:58
Cathi Spooner: We, uh, which I usually try to get the YouTube version of it that has the lyrics so I can see them.
30:05
Cathi Spooner: 'Cause sometimes it's hard to hear the lyrics with some of the songs, especially the screamy ones.
30:11
Cathi Spooner: Um, and so, then we'll listen to the song and then I'll explore, you know, what is it that you like about that song?
30:21
Cathi Spooner: What's meaningful to you?
30:24
Cathi Spooner: And then what we'll do is we'll usually try to find the lyric.
30:27
Cathi Spooner: You can usually find, do a Google search or, um.
30:32
Cathi Spooner: You can usually find the lyrics.
30:34
Cathi Spooner: And so I'll print those out and then, or I'll pull those up on the screen if we're, uh, near my computer.
30:41
Cathi Spooner: And then what I'll do is I'll have them pick one or two lines from the song, and now they have to use that as the basis for a poem that they're going to write.
30:55
Cathi Spooner: And so I have them add as much or as little.
30:59
Cathi Spooner: You know, whatever kind of words.
31:01
Cathi Spooner: Here's how I introduce it.
31:04
Cathi Spooner: I'll say you can, you know, use these two lines from the lyrics to create an your own poem.
31:13
Cathi Spooner: It can be any kind of poem.
31:15
Cathi Spooner: It can, it doesn't have to rhyme, it doesn't have to look a certain way.
31:20
Cathi Spooner: However you do it is fine.
31:21
Cathi Spooner: There's no wrong way to do this activity.
31:26
Cathi Spooner: And I do that because I want them to get out of judgment.
31:30
Cathi Spooner: I want them to, because they're not gonna be able to access that creativity or that self-expression if they're judging themselves.
31:39
Cathi Spooner: And I say that with the what if as well, so.
31:42
Cathi Spooner: We kind of set it up that way.
31:44
Cathi Spooner: There's no wrong way and it's expressive arts in therapy, so there's no wrong way to do it.
31:49
Cathi Spooner: And so normally in the beginning, if it's the first time they've done it, then it might, they might be a little hesitant, but you just kind of stick with them and encourage'em, and you have an inner sense of confidence that it will be okay and then they can use your calm neuro system to get settled and allow themselves to express, to, um, create a poem.
32:17
Cathi Spooner: And then a, another one is I, and this is what I learned in my, that poetry training that I went to a zillion years ago.
32:27
Cathi Spooner: Um, I have printed out, I went through and printed out like seven pages of words.
32:36
Cathi Spooner: And like adjectives, nouns, verbs, um, some like con uh, what do you call those?
32:46
Cathi Spooner: Like the, these, the ands, the, you know, those, um, I printed out and then I painstakingly cut out each word to be an individual word.
32:58
Cathi Spooner: So they were really little, put 'em in a container.
33:01
Cathi Spooner: And so another option would be have 'em pick out the songs and then use the words, get some extra words, and they can add those words.
33:13
Cathi Spooner: So you'll have, they'll pick the song lyrics, and now we have those, they've written those down.
33:21
Cathi Spooner: And then I have this whole container full of words.
33:25
Cathi Spooner: I'll have them grab as many or as few of the words as they would like to grab them.
33:31
Cathi Spooner: They get those and we've spread those out on the table and they kind of look at 'em, and then they can use those words to add on to their poems.
33:39
Cathi Spooner: That usually helps if they're a little stuck.
33:42
Cathi Spooner: The other thing that I like to use with, um, poetry is now that they've created this poem now they can create art to go with it, or they can use clay to create a symbol that represents what they've, their poem, or they can, like, you know, like you do art for a album cover, they can do art to go with their poem, what represents the poem.
34:16
Cathi Spooner: So that's another way of getting some art in there with the poem.
34:21
Cathi Spooner: Um, and then another one is, I just used the words, uh, so all of those poetry words, I'll just have them grab as many or as few of the poetry words that they want to, and then they use those words to create a poem from the words that they've chosen.
34:45
Cathi Spooner: And then again, when they're done and they've read it to me, that I might, um, have them use art or clay or something to rep to create a visual representation to go along with that.
34:59
Cathi Spooner: One of my favorite things to do, and this one is one I use with like family play therapy all the time or group or even individual.
35:09
Cathi Spooner: So most of you have probably heard of Shell Silverstein.
35:14
Cathi Spooner: This is my son took all the, these were his books.
35:17
Cathi Spooner: He.
35:18
Cathi Spooner: My youngest son, I, I think it was like third grade, and they were reading Shell Silverstein poems in his class, and he, he loved Shell Silverstein.
35:30
Cathi Spooner: And so then we had to buy all of his books and then he would let me borrow them for therapy sometimes.
35:37
Cathi Spooner: And eventually he donated them to me, which I was very happy about.
35:41
Cathi Spooner: But he had, by then, he had taken the jacket off all, all of'em.
35:45
Cathi Spooner: But anyways, so one of the things that I'll do is I'll use Shell Silverstein poems because they're silly and they're fun, and so we can access that positive motion, therapeutic power of play, and we can use that.
36:02
Cathi Spooner: So.
36:03
Cathi Spooner: Um, I may, I, I may have a few that I've picked out and they get to choose from 'em.
36:09
Cathi Spooner: So I'm gonna, so here's a perfect example, and this is a Shell Silverstein book from his book called A Light in the Attic.
36:19
Cathi Spooner: This one's called Fear, right?
36:21
Cathi Spooner: We're play therapists.
36:22
Cathi Spooner: We explore these things.
36:24
Cathi Spooner: So the poem, and then they come with these kind of fun um, visuals that go with them.
36:32
Cathi Spooner: So if you're watching on the live stream, you'll see it.
36:35
Cathi Spooner: If you're listening to the podcast, then you're probably familiar with Shell Silverstein.
36:41
Cathi Spooner: But here's the poem, it's called Fear.
36:45
Cathi Spooner: Barnabas Browning was scared of drowning, so he, so he would, he, so he never would swim or get into a boat or take a bath, or cross a moat.
36:58
Cathi Spooner: He just sat day and night with his door locked tight and the windows nailed down, shaking with fear that a wave might appear and cried so many tears that they filled up the room and he drowned.
37:15
Cathi Spooner: Which is kind of appalling and ridiculous at the same time.
37:21
Cathi Spooner: So you, you don't know, I don't know Michelle Silverstein half the time.
37:24
Cathi Spooner: I don't know whether to be like shocked or just laugh'cause it's so ridiculous.
37:30
Cathi Spooner: But the kids think they're funny.
37:32
Cathi Spooner: So there's an, uh, another poem called Standing is Stupid, right?
37:37
Cathi Spooner: Like if you're a kid, this just taps into being a kid.
37:41
Cathi Spooner: Standing is stupid.
37:42
Cathi Spooner: So standing is stupid.
37:44
Cathi Spooner: Wrongs a curses.
37:46
Cathi Spooner: Skipping is silly.
37:48
Cathi Spooner: Is worse, hopping is hopeless.
37:51
Cathi Spooner: Jumping's a chore.
37:53
Cathi Spooner: Sitting is senseless leaning, sub bore running's ridiculous.
37:59
Cathi Spooner: Jogging's insane.
38:00
Cathi Spooner: Guest will go upstairs and lie down again.
38:04
Cathi Spooner: So, um, so what I'll have 'em do is I'll have 'em pick out one of the poems and then they have to take, um, two to three lyrics from the Shell Silverstein poem and create their own poem, kind of like we did with the lyrics.
38:23
Cathi Spooner: Say this one, they're choosing two to three lines from the poem, and then you can also add some of your poetry words to help 'em out with that.
38:32
Cathi Spooner: There's, you know, you could do, you don't have to use, if you're using a, I use this one with adolescents too, because they're usually a little reluctant thinking it, it seems kind of stupid, like standing.
38:45
Cathi Spooner: Um, so I'll usually use Sell Shell Silverstein because they're funny and they're not heavy at all so we can help them access those therapeutic powers at play because it doesn't feel heavy.
39:03
Cathi Spooner: You know, but you can use any of 'em.
39:04
Cathi Spooner: Like you can use some of the ones from Y Pueblo if you have a really insightful adolescent who likes to go deep.
39:14
Cathi Spooner: You gotta be careful with that though.
39:15
Cathi Spooner: Sometimes they get way too existential and in their head.
39:19
Cathi Spooner: Um, so another one is blackout poetry.
39:24
Cathi Spooner: I learned about this one from one of my clients.
39:27
Cathi Spooner: What I worked in residential treatment program for, for girls.
39:33
Cathi Spooner: And she was very creative.
39:35
Cathi Spooner: Like her creativity was amazing to watch.
39:39
Cathi Spooner: Anyway, she, she was doing this thing called blackout poetry.
39:43
Cathi Spooner: She found it on YouTube.
39:45
Cathi Spooner: So, by the way, if you wanna learn more about blackout poetry, you can go look on YouTube.
39:51
Cathi Spooner: Um.
39:53
Cathi Spooner: So with blackout poetry, you're taking like a, a magazine or a book you can use, like an old book that you're, is you're not using anymore, or the free bin at the library or something.
40:07
Cathi Spooner: And then they're gonna go through and pick specific words in the poem.
40:12
Cathi Spooner: And, to create a poem and they're gonna black out the rest.
40:17
Cathi Spooner: So you can use a sharpie marker, a black one to black out all the letters.
40:23
Cathi Spooner: You can use paint like acrylic paint works really well to black it out.
40:29
Cathi Spooner: And so what's left are the words in your poem and um, what, what this client did is she took the, she used a book and she would black out the words, and she kind of used it as her, her journal because you know, there was a lot of pages in there and she kinda used it as her journal.
40:50
Cathi Spooner: And she would black out using paint and then she would create art in addition to the poem on the pages.
40:59
Cathi Spooner: So you can use collage.
41:02
Cathi Spooner: As well with, um, with the blackout poetry, adding that on in there.
41:09
Cathi Spooner: So those are some ideas for poetry therapy, using it in expressive arts with your clients in play therapy sessions.
41:20
Cathi Spooner: If you say play therapy, teenagers are probably gonna roll their eyes, but if you talk about using expressive arts, then that that usually kind of captures their interest a little bit more.
41:32
Cathi Spooner: So just kind of a recap for today, poetry is an expressive arts modality, and we can use it in play therapy to help adolescent clients access those therapeutic powers of play.
41:46
Cathi Spooner: And the benefit is that they have alternative ways of expressing their beliefs, regulating their emotions and their nervous systems.
41:56
Cathi Spooner: Exploring the struggles of adolescents that they're working through, exploring identity and relationship, and experience some self-compassion by feeling validated, feeling seen, heard, understood, and held.
42:14
Cathi Spooner: And then there are a variety of ways to use poetry.
42:18
Cathi Spooner: In play therapy sessions.
42:20
Cathi Spooner: The key is though, to have a framework that is grounded in a theoretical model so that you know what you're working on, when you're working on it, and how you are going to use that expressive arts poetry activity to help them access those therapeutic powers of play.
42:42
Cathi Spooner: So if you're interested, I do have a training coming up called Express, I mean, uh, play therapy with adolescents using expressive arts.
42:54
Cathi Spooner: There's a virtual option, there's an in-person option.
42:58
Cathi Spooner: And for those of you whose, um, the time zone doesn't quite work for you.
43:04
Cathi Spooner: Maybe you're not available.
43:06
Cathi Spooner: It's gonna be March 7th, so it's coming up.
43:08
Cathi Spooner: Registration is gonna be closing next week, so registration is closing soon.
43:14
Cathi Spooner: But if you, if you, um, aren't available on that day or the time zone doesn't work for you, there will be a recording, a recorded version available.
43:26
Cathi Spooner: It won't be available until after the training, but you can re, you'll need to register now and then, once the training is over, we'll put it, um, we'll kind of put the recordings into modules so that you can access and watch the training and do all the things.
43:47
Cathi Spooner: So that's gonna be available, um, for those of you who are interested in play therapy with adolescents, you can sign up for that soon.
44:04
Cathi Spooner: And, sorry, I got a little distracted with some of the comments.
44:08
Cathi Spooner: Um.
44:10
Cathi Spooner: And that registration for that is closing soon.
44:12
Cathi Spooner: If you're interested in learning how to use play therapy and you want, um, you are really focused on developing some of the core competencies and getting support to use the up specific play therapy theoretical model through all of the stages of change.
44:31
Cathi Spooner: I do have openings in Play Therapy Academy.
44:35
Cathi Spooner: I only have openings when people leave, so I have some openings now.
44:41
Cathi Spooner: If you're interested in Play Therapy Academy or you're interested in the training.
44:47
Cathi Spooner: Pop over to my website at rh play therapy training.com.
44:53
Cathi Spooner: That's RH play therapy training.com.
44:57
Cathi Spooner: The play therapy with adolescents using expressive arts training will be on the training page if you're interested in learning about play therapy Academy.
45:07
Cathi Spooner: You can find out more about that on this the, uh, supervision page.
45:12
Cathi Spooner: You'll wanna schedule a free 30 minute video with me to make sure it's a good fit for you.
45:18
Cathi Spooner: All righty, well that is it for today, and I will see you next week.
45:23
Cathi Spooner: Bye for now.
45:34
Cathi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
45:39
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.
45:48
Cathi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
45:54
Cathi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
46:00
Cathi Spooner: Remember.
46:01
Cathi Spooner: Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
46:04
Cathi Spooner: Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play in your own work and relationships.
46:15
Cathi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
46:22
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.
46:35
Cathi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
46:39
Cathi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.