Latest / Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence / 5 Ways Community Improves Play Therapy Results, Especially When Clients Wreck Your Playroom

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5 Ways Community Improves Play Therapy Results, Especially When Clients Wreck Your Playroom · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy, a weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  We'll explore all things play therapy to elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  I'll discuss practical tips and ideas so you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives.
• 0:33
  So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:49
  Today, we're gonna be talking about something I see all the time, and that is clinical isolation and what happens when you're working in clinical isolation, and why being part of a community of like-minded play therapists when you're providing play therapy is the magic ingredient that moves the needle, helps you feel less burned out, and you can get faster results for your clients to help them heal using play therapy So that's this whole topic of isolation means that what is happening is you are probably the only play therapist in your office, and you have clients that you're having to figure out everything all on your own.
• 1:51
  So like a classic example of a problem if you're a play therapist that happens is what happens when a client wrecks your room, and you're the only play therapist, because probably what's also happening if everybody else in your office is an adult therapist, is they're letting you know that the ruckus is disturbing their clients, and they're getting a little frustrated.
• 2:24
  So what do you do?
• 2:27
  Do you set limits?
• 2:29
  Do you let them wreck the playroom week after week?
• 2:36
  Do you talk to their parents and come up with a strategy for what to do differently at home?
• 2:47
  Do you re- refer them out?
• 2:50
  What do you do?
• 2:50
  When this happens, you're the only play therapist, and you have to figure this out all by yourself.
• 3:00
  Or what do you do when a client comes to your room, and they have selective mutism, and they… I had this happen.
• 3:11
  Client just stood in the middle of the room frozen like a statue for like three weeks in a row.
• 3:20
  What do you do?
• 3:21
  And I tried all my best tricks.
• 3:23
  Nothing.
• 3:24
  Nothing happens.
• 3:26
  So if that's something that's happened to you, and you're the only play therapist, that isolation creates a lot of challenges, not just for you, but also it impacts your client because you're figuring it out all by yourself.
• 3:51
  And so if you are a play therapist, and this sounds familiar to you, then keep on listening because this episode is for you.
• 4:03
  'Cause I hear this so many times.
• 4:06
  I know you're not the only one.
• 4:09
  I- it happened to me, and thankfully, I did have a community of play therapists, people that I could go to.
• 4:17
  I never would've figured this out on my own.
• 4:19
  Sometimes it's just too much, to be honest.
• 4:23
  So if that's you- Then today's episode is for you.
• 4:28
  I am gonna talk about five ways that being part of community can actually accelerate progress for your clients, and I would also add in there, help you avoid burnout.
• 4:44
  So we are gonna be talking about, um, un- it'll h- being part of a community is gonna help you unlock those stuck cases much faster because you're gonna have other perspectives.
• 5:00
  You're gonna be able to show up present and regulated because you will have had a whole bunch of ideas ready to be used.
• 5:11
  We're also gonna be talking about how being part of a community, um, increases your strategies and knowing what you can do, and it's gonna help improve your communication and your therapeutic rapport building with parents.
• 5:32
  And then finally, it's gonna help to build your own clinical trust in yourself, that you can trust that you know what you're doing in the session and therefore you have more, more confidence and your imposter syndrome goes away.
• 5:51
  So today's topic is five ways community improves play therapy results.
• 5:59
  If you are watching, uh, live on LinkedIn and YouTube, I would l- or here on Instagram, I would love for you to post in the comments what population are you working with.
• 6:13
  Are you using play therapy or maybe another expressive arts modality?
• 6:18
  Because I feel like all of the expressive arts modality, of which play therapy is one of them, we're kind of in a niched part of the mental health community, and that makes it a little more challenging, I think, sometimes to get the support that we need because you're usually the only one in your, in your building doing what you're doing with expressive arts.
• 6:49
  So if you're watching on live, I would love to know what population you work with, where you work, what, uh, play therapy model you use, all the things.
• 7:01
  If you're watching the replay episodes on, in my Facebook group, on LinkedIn, on YouTube, here on Instagram, I would also love to know those things.
• 7:12
  Which one of these resonates with you?
• 7:16
  Post those in the comments.
• 7:18
  If you're listening to the podcast episode, feel free to send me an email or pop over to my Instagram channel@renewingheartstraining, send me a message, or if you're on Facebook, you can also follow me on Facebook and send me a message.
• 7:37
  Um, alrighty, so let's get started for today.
• 7:44
  Way number one that community helps to im- pr- uh, improve play therapy, and I would also add avoid burnout, and that is that you don't ever have to sit alone with a case that you're stuck with, which means your clients aren't gonna be stuck as long either.
• 8:13
  So when you're isolated, that case stays stuck until you're not stuck, and you, you have to figure it out all by yourself what you're gonna do next.
• 8:29
  And if you don't know, or you've tried several things and nothing has worked, then your client is gonna stay in the same place until you're not stuck anymore, and that is an awful feeling.
• 8:49
  You start wondering if you're cut out to do this.
• 8:54
  You start worrying that you're the worst play therapist on the entire planet.
• 9:01
  You start feeling a little anxious and maybe even start trying anything and everything, I call that the spaghetti against the wall method, until something finally sticks, which means your confidence in yourself is not gonna be very high.
• 9:21
  And, you know, we get into this because we wanna make a difference.
• 9:26
  We wanna help children heal.
• 9:31
  Everyone I've ever talked to, and this is true for me as well, we get into this field not because it's a, a, a job, but because we feel called to it.
• 9:44
  It's kind of like our life's purpose is to help people heal, to help children heal, to help children and their families heal.
• 9:55
  And so when you're stuck, it feels like you're not fulfilling that purpose or that mission, and that feels horrible 'cause you feel like you're letting your clients down, and you also feel like you're letting yourself down because you're not doing the kind of job that you want to be able to do.
• 10:15
  But here's how all of that changes when you have a community of like-minded play therapists who can help you figure it out.
• 10:27
  So you bring this case to your peers And you describe what's happening, you describe all the things that you've tried, you've described what you see, and then almost immediately, I see this every single time in Play Therapy Academy and in Play Therapy Elevation Circle.
• 10:53
  In Elevation Circle, we are staffing, staffing cases once a month as well in our, um, mastermind meetings.
• 11:04
  And so almost immediately, what happens, we go through the case conceptualization problem, figuring out what is at the root of the problem, why is it happening, what are the patterns, and then what do we do about it?
• 11:16
  Because in order to figure out what to do, you have to understand what the problem is.
• 11:21
  So, in our communities, in Play Therapy Academy and Play Therapy Elevation Circle, we're gonna deep dive into what is at the root of that problem causing the problem, and then as a collective group, and that is where the magic is.
• 11:37
  This is my favorite part.
• 11:39
  If you ask anybody in Play Therapy Academy or Play Therapy Elevation Circle, they will tell you having that group, that community of people to staff it and get ideas and feedback is where the magic is.
• 11:57
  That is what moves the needle.
• 11:59
  So what em- happens immediately, and I see this every single time we have a mastermind meeting or a play therapy, uh, I mean, um, a Play Therapy Academy consultation meeting, somebody immediately says,"Oh yeah, I had that happen.
• 12:19
  Here's what I tried.
• 12:20
  It worked really well." Or,"You know, you may wanna look at this a different way.
• 12:27
  I kind of see it this way, and here's what I've tried when that's happened with my clients." Or, "Oh, I was listening to this podcast," or,"I went to this training, and they talked about this topic, and here's what they suggested.
• 12:48
  And you know when I tried it with my client, it worked really well." And so it's not just about the surface activities that you can use, it's about having a community of play therapists who are gonna go deeper to figure out what's at the root of the problem with you And help you see things that you can't see, because you don't know what you don't know, and you can't see what you can't see.
• 13:18
  This is true for all of us.
• 13:20
  I've been in the child and adolescent mental health field almost 35 years.
• 13:26
  I still need help, because sometimes I get so locked into one thing, and then I hear somebody else say something and I think, "Oh my gosh, that is such a good point." And so because you have other perspectives and other ideas, you don't have to solve this problem alone.
• 13:52
  It becomes something that your community in one conversation, the kind that can only happen with a community of like-minded play therapist, the, the … That can unlock one case in a matter of minutes rather than a matter of weeks, or I would say even months.
• 14:19
  We've had some cases where some play therapists have struggled for months.
• 14:25
  We have one conversation and it shifts the entire thing.
• 14:30
  So that, that means your client's not gonna stay stuck because you're no longer stuck.
• 14:38
  And it doesn't just help you feel better and avoid burnout, it actually helps your client make better progress faster even in the playroom And then way number two is that you walk into play therapy sessions with confidence, knowing you not only have a plan, plan A, you probably have plan B and C.
• 15:13
  And so because you have these backup plans, your anxiety goes down, your nervous system is a lot calmer, which means you can show up with more presence.
• 15:30
  So one of the quietest ways that isolation hurts your clients is that you're anxious in the play therapy room.
• 15:41
  Be- And now, because you're a little anxious, you can't be fully present.
• 15:46
  You can't connect with congruence.
• 15:49
  So congruence is a fancy term that means your inside experience is matching what's being reflected externally.
• 16:02
  So for example, to be able to connect internally with unconditional positive regard, empathy, and confidence, to have that Calm, regulated state, you have to feel it internally first.
• 16:22
  You can fake it till you make it.
• 16:25
  The thing is, and, and we all do it, so don't, don't feel judgment there because we have all done it.
• 16:33
  What happens though, when you're doing it by yourself, that stays longer.
• 16:39
  You are not able to be- access congruence because internally you're anxious, so you can't tap into that attuned, regulated state and unconditional positive regard and empathy.
• 17:00
  Or maybe you have a client that for some reason is triggering you where you're just like,"Ooh." Or you start thinking about them and you're like, "Oh, I dread that client coming." We, we all have had that happen.
• 17:16
  We don't have anybody to help, a safe place to take it to figure out what that is, and then have ideas for what to do about it.
• 17:28
  Because the prob- the likelihood that problem is happening because there's something going on with your client, or maybe you have something going on in your personal life, um, that is kind of showing up.
• 17:44
  Again, these are, these aren't meant to be like you're the only one.
• 17:50
  I'm saying it because we all have this happen.
• 17:54
  We're all… My husband would regularly remind me much earlier in my career, he said something to me one time and I was like… At first I wanted to blow him off because he wasn't a therapist, and what does he know?
• 18:07
  But he's usually right about these things, to be honest.
• 18:10
  Um, and he's kind of my voice of truth and reason m- I would say 98% of the time.
• 18:19
  Um, he said to me one time, because I was struggling with something, I don't remember what it was, and it had to do with work Um, again, I don't, I don't talk about my clients, but I'll, I'll kinda talk about my struggles sometimes.
• 18:34
  And he said to me, he was like, "Well, you're not a robot. Of course you're gonna feel upset sometimes." And I thought, immediately I thought, 'Well, no, I'm a, I'm a therapist.
• 18:44
  That doesn't happen to me.' And then I thought, 'Oh, well that's not true.' He is 100% right, but that's true, right?
• 18:54
  If you're in community, if you have a community of play therapists, then you have a safe place to bring these to.
• 19:02
  And I'll tell you, in Play Therapy Academy, and also, um, this happens in Elevation Circle, in our circle mastermind meetings where we meet, meet once a month for consultation, we talk about these things because it's important.
• 19:17
  I feel like as play therapists, we need a safe space where we're not gonna feel judged, where somebody's not gonna get all preachy on us, or, um, you know, point out all our flaws.
• 19:33
  But we have a community of people that we know care about us, so we can take these things to them, know we're not gonna get judged, and Sorry if you're watching on the video, I'm looking out my window Something scratching there.
• 19:53
  I don't know, there's something weird happening on my window, and I have no idea what it is.
• 19:59
  But it was kinda creepy.
• 20:00
  Or not creepy, but freaky.
• 20:02
  But anyways, I'm gonna keep on going.
• 20:05
  Where was I?
• 20:05
  I was talking about having a safe, having a safe place.
• 20:11
  We need that because we can bring it there, get the support that we need with people who understand confidentiality, that understand the work that we're doing, and can help us just leave it there so that we can go and do the work that we need to do.
• 20:30
  Also, this is a community of people that are gonna give us ideas of what to do when we are stuck, feeling stuck.
• 20:43
  They're gonna give us ideas of what c- what can we do.
• 20:48
  In the session, we'll have backup plans, plan A, B, and C. I know this to be true because I see it every time we do a consultation call in Play Therapy Academy and Elevation Circle.
• 21:02
  You leave with several ideas of what you can do.
• 21:08
  And now, because you've already talked through the case of what's going on, you, you've got that clinical decision-making in your head.
• 21:20
  You've done the case conceptualization where you've figured out what is at the root of the problem, and you haven't had to do that by yourself, so you get other perspectives of what might be going on.
• 21:33
  And then you get several ideas about what to do about it, or if it's a personal thing and it's, like, really weighing you down and impacting what, how you show up in the playroom, you, you have had a place of compassionate, safe, committed other professionals who get it to support you so that you can leave that there.
• 22:01
  You can leave some of that guilt and shame.
• 22:03
  Maybe it doesn't solve all the problems, but sometimes just having a listening ear is what moves the needle.
• 22:11
  And we do heavy work all day long, and so we need people to support us who get it, and that's what a community does.
• 22:22
  So that way you can show up in the playroom with less anxiety or less ugh 'cause you're dreading this client, or they, they trigger something again in you and you're like, "What is getting triggered here?" You have some ideas, and that is going to improve the quality of the therapeutic relationship that you've established with your client, so you can show up fully present and attuned.
• 22:55
  Which leads me also to the third way.
• 22:59
  Way number three is, kind of builds on way number two, and I would say builds on way number one, and that is you have access to a range of play therapy interventions, so you don't have to keep going for the same thing over and over and over.
• 23:20
  So, and this is something that we don't really talk about a lot.
• 23:25
  When you're isolated, your play therapy toolkit is limited to what you know, and it's limited to what you learned in a play therapy training, or what you learned in a play therapy book, or what you've stumbled across in your own research.
• 23:49
  And if you've been stuck in the same pattern with a client week after week, then you don't, you're only able to use the tools that you've learnt.
• 24:04
  And so if you've tried everything, what do you do when you run out of things to try?
• 24:12
  You can go Googling on, um, I do- I call it Dr. Google.
• 24:18
  Dr. Google will give you lots of ideas.
• 24:21
  The thing about being part of a play therapy community is you will have staffed that case and gotten different ideas, and this is kind of tied in with, uh, number one and number two, that now you, you have these ideas and you know how to apply them.
• 24:40
  So maybe … We see this a lot too, if you've been to a training Here's the thing I had somebody say this to me one time that, "I wanna learn it all." And so I said, "Well, nobody can know it all." And, um, th- th- this person said yes.
• 25:04
  And, and this was a really, really bright person.
• 25:07
  Like, this person probably ran circles around my brain.
• 25:11
  The thing is though, there's always something.
• 25:16
  There's always something, and nobody can be the master of everything.
• 25:23
  And so when you have a community of play therapists, you have all of their collective expertise.
• 25:32
  So maybe somebody in your community is really interested in working with neurodiverse children, or maybe somebody in your community is, um, interested in working with trauma or attachment or a- anxiety, so, or high-conflict divorce cases, or family therapy, or Adlerian play therapy, or Gestalt play therapy.
• 26:04
  When you have people in your play therapy community, you also get their knowledge and expertise so that you don't feel like you have to read every book, attend every training, know everything, spend hours and hours on Dr.
• 26:24
  Google finding a- a- activities.
• 26:27
  You're, they're, everyone in that community is gonna bring their own training, their own expertise, their own experience, their ideas about interventions, their unique spin on, on a- Popular intervention.
• 26:46
  So like how I might do it, somebody else might have a, a different kind of spin on that, which is kind of cool, and maybe their spin is the missing piece to how to help your client.
• 26:59
  And so when somebody in your community has worked with a child that's similar to the one that you're feeling stuck with in play therapy, they can offer ideas and suggestions and knowledge and resources that maybe you probably haven't even considered.
• 27:20
  And so somebody who's done that directive activity or used child-centered play therapy and have ideas for how to track using child-centered play therapy tracking, then you get all of that feedback, and that means you're gonna get the breakthroughs.
• 27:44
  Your client's not gonna be stuck because you're not gonna be stuck, and so those, those breakthroughs with that presenting issue can come faster.
• 27:57
  And I would also add to that, you're not bearing the weight of Having to do it by yourself and figure it out by yourself, which that weight is heavy, and that's what leads to burnout, and feeling exhausted, and wondering if you are cut out to be a play therapist.
• 28:25
  I know there have been times over the last 35 years where I have thought, "Am I really cut out to do this?" And then something happens, or I have a conversation with one of my colleagues, and everything changes.
• 28:39
  Then I realize, nope, I was just feeling a little crispy, and a little fried, and burned out, and this is what I'm meant to do.
• 28:48
  This is my calling.
• 28:50
  I am called to bring light into the darkness and to, to help the next generation heal.
• 29:00
  Play therapy is early intervention.
• 29:02
  That's the way I look at it.
• 29:04
  When you're doing play therapy with children, you have the ability to intervene early, and the goal would be to avoid years and decades of mental health struggles.
• 29:20
  So being able to have access to that play therapy community is going to also help you not to burn out, because you don't have to do it alone, and you don't have to figure out, come up with all the interventions all by yourself.
• 29:40
  When you've run out of tools in your toolkit, then you have people to go to who get it, that speak the same language of play therapy.
• 29:50
  That's the key.
• 29:51
  They speak the same language of play therapy.
• 29:54
  They are not gonna tell you to pull out a, a worksheet to get them to talk or, um, you know, pull out art supplies to get them to talk.
• 30:06
  They get that play is the vehicle for change, and using your therapeutic model for play therapy is what is gonna help your client heal So way number four, we are rounding up to the final ones.
• 30:24
  Way number four has to do with parents.
• 30:27
  You don't have to figure out how to navigate parents all by yourself, and with a community, you're gonna gain confidence working with parents, and that's gonna help parents stay engaged in the play therapy process.
• 30:49
  I can't tell you how many times I hear people say, "Oh, I wish I could just work with the kid and not the parents," or, "I like working with kids, but I don't like working with the parents." And in my head, s- although I'll be honest, sometimes I say it outside my head, I try to say it compassionately, but s- sometimes it doesn't always come across that way, so I have to, I have to kind of do a little repair there and, uh, help them understand what I mean.
• 31:19
  S- and that is, if you are dreading working with parents or you are thinking, "Oh, I wish I could only work with parents," I mean, uh, kids and not the parents, then I would say that's because you don't know how to work with parents to get them on board.
• 31:37
  Like, the way you're conceptualizing parents is probably not working or, or you're probably doing things you don't realize that are perpetuating this disconnect with parents.
• 31:56
  So I've talked about working with parents in previous episodes, so if you're watching on, um, LinkedIn or Instagram or even YouTube, you might wanna head over to my y- or YouTube channel.
• 32:11
  Um, click the live tab 'cause that's where all the replays are for the live episodes.
• 32:17
  If you're listening on the podcast, just go through and find the previous episodes.
• 32:22
  I've talked about parents in other episodes, and here's the thing Here's the thing about working with parents.
• 32:34
  When parents feel like when they pick up on your anxiety, then they kind of, and your uncertainty, they kind of wonder if you can actually help.
• 32:50
  I know, that's, that's a ouchie one.
• 32:52
  A- and here's the thing, sometimes you have to fake it till you make it, but here's the thing, when you have a community, you don't have to do that as long, and you're going to get ideas and strategies and figure out where the problem is much faster.
• 33:11
  We had, in one of our consultation calls, here, this happens all the time.
• 33:17
  One of the play therapists was… It was her, uh, she was staffing a case and she told us what happened in this parent session, and this, this parent, this was like the first parent meeting.
• 33:31
  This parent was kind of verbally aggressive.
• 33:33
  I'm not gonna lie.
• 33:35
  Um, uh, m- my hypothesis was they didn't mean to be that way.
• 33:40
  I, my hypothesis was it was their anxiety, uh, and the way in which they came across to this play therapist in that parent session was, uh, was a little aggressive.
• 33:53
  And all of us, uh, you know, and this person is thinking, "It must be me.
• 33:57
  I, you know, I must be terrible.
• 33:59
  I must not be very good at this." We do all the blaming, right?
• 34:01
  That's what we do'cause we're helpers.
• 34:03
  Typically, most of the time, we'll blame ourselves, or we'll start disliking that parent because they've been aggressive, right?
• 34:11
  We're people too.
• 34:12
  Remember, we're humans.
• 34:14
  And What ended up happening is we staffed, we went through the case consultation for the client, we staffed what was going You know, what parents said, what they did, what this person's res- the play therapist's response was.
• 34:30
  We figured out what was at the root of that problem, and then we used a neuroscience and attachment theoretical lens to understand that parent's behavior and kind of what was going on with that child, and then figured out what this play therapist could do to shift that dynamic with the parent.
• 34:56
  It took one session and parents were on board.
• 35:00
  It was so amazing.
• 35:03
  I hear that so many times when, when I, in my communities, Play Therapy Academy and Play Therapy Elevation Circle, I hear that all the time when, when we kind of figure out what's going on in that parent relationship, like maybe why they're n- not coming in for the parent sessions or what to do when they're making all those phone calls at the I call them the 911 panic calls, wanting you to fix it fast, and you feel the full weight of trying to fix it fast 'cause you wanna help.
• 35:40
  You wanna help relieve the distress.
• 35:43
  Here's what happens when you're alone, when you're isolated.
• 35:49
  You have to figure it out by yourself, and you don't have anybody to talk to to figure it out When you have a play therapy community of like-minded people who get what you're saying and who've had experience and tried different things, then you don't have to figure it out alone.
• 36:14
  That, that ends up giving you more confidence that when you do show up and you have those conversations with parents, you're now more confident.
• 36:26
  You have, um, more understanding of what to say, how to say it, when to say it, and that's gonna shift that relationship with parents.
• 36:41
  They're gonna-- You're gonna feel more confident.
• 36:44
  They're gonna pick up on you feeling more confident, like you've got this.
• 36:48
  Like, they can trust you.
• 36:51
  They can listen to what you're saying and try some of the things that you're suggesting.
• 36:56
  And then they see the change in their child.
• 37:01
  They're gonna keep bringing their child.
• 37:03
  They're gonna keep trusting you.
• 37:05
  They're gonna do the things that you're asking them to do.
• 37:09
  They become your partners instead of your critic, and they work-- they're gonna do the things you're suggesting to do.
• 37:22
  They're gonna open up and be vulnerable with you as well, which means you're gonna be able to help them make those parenting shifts that need to be made, and that comes about because you're not doing it alone.
• 37:35
  You have a community of play therapists who are gonna help you figure it out And then the final thing is way number five is you begin to trust your clinical instincts.
• 37:53
  You can act on them instead of second-guessing them.
• 37:58
  When you've been i- isolated long, um, for a long time, then you begin to stop trusting yourself.
• 38:09
  You start thinking, "Oh, am I doing this right?" And then your guessing leads to second-guessing, and then your second-guessing leads to imposter syndrome, which eventually leads to feeling burned out.
• 38:25
  But when you have a community of play therapists, then you have people who are validating, saying, "Oh yeah, that's… You're spot on with that.
• 38:35
  I can see what you're doing." You're giving feedback, and it's actually useful, like your ideas and the way that you're conceptualizing things.
• 38:44
  You're getting feedback that it's on target and that you're spot on. So then you start trusting yourself that when something feels a little off, you start paying attention to it because you've had people in your community say,"Oh yeah, that's so spot on.
• 39:04
  Yeah, I had that happen too," or, "This happened to me." So then you're, you stop second-guessing yourself.
• 39:12
  One, because of all the other ways that we've gone way one, way two, way three, way four, all influence way five, which is now you're trusting yourself, that you feel like you have the tools and the confidence and the clinical insight.
• 39:29
  You s- trust your intuition, and you're, you learn to recognize when your gut is spot on versus when your gut is maybe something in you is getting triggered, and maybe it's your stuff, not your client's.
• 39:48
  But then you have strategies to know what to do about that.
• 39:52
  And so when you're in a play therapy community, you learn to trust yourself faster because you've gotten that feedback from other people that you trust, and that you trust they know you, and they would give you feedback if you were off somewhere, right?
• 40:14
  So you, that kinda helps you trust them, and then you trust yourself in the process.
• 40:22
  So play therapists who are in a community of like-minded play therapists actually gain confidence faster in their clinical decision-making skills.
• 40:34
  They, they… Because their instincts get validated, you bring your observations to peers in that community, and you get the feedback of what's going on and that, um, you're on target.
• 40:51
  And then over time, that validation and that feedback leads to one of the most important things, which is you begin to trust yourself.
• 41:03
  You begin to trust your instinct, and that ability to walk into a play therapy session with confidence and think, "I've got this. No matter what happens, I've got this." And that you don't, you don't have to feel like you're doing this alone, which is then gonna increase your confidence.
• 41:28
  So that is it for today.
• 41:30
  Five ways that community actually improves your play therapy results.
• 41:39
  These are five real ways.
• 41:42
  I have seen these be true for- Consultation after consultation after consultation, and I've been doing this a long time.
• 41:54
  And so it's not always about getting more training.
• 41:57
  Training is good, uh, bec- uh, or a new certification.
• 42:02
  It's about getting, having access to a supportive community of play therapists who actually get it.
• 42:09
  And, um, that to me is the missing ingredient in the work that we do, having access to that community So if you are interested, um, maybe you are feeling isolated and alone, and you would like access to a play therapy community, I, I do have an online community called Play Therapy Elevation Circle, and enrollment for that is opening up this month.
• 42:44
  Play Therapy Elevation Circle is, um, for play therapists who wanna stop working alone in isolation, have access to a community of supportive play therapists who speak your language, where you can get ideas, share ideas, share your knowledge, gain from the knowledge of others.
• 43:07
  Um, we do monthly consultations in there.
• 43:09
  We have a monthly book club.
• 43:12
  I go live every Tuesday and give quick tips you can use right away.
• 43:17
  We have group chats where you can kind of chat in between our meetings.
• 43:23
  Also, in the… when coming up, what I'm gonna be adding is, um, play therapy roundtable discussions, where we maybe will take a topic like maybe anxiety and how would different perspectives, like how would a play ther- a family play therapist address that?
• 43:46
  How would somebody maybe from, uh, Adlerian play therapy address that, or child-centered play therapy get it, or maybe a prescriptive play therapy, just kind of different perspectives of, of dealing with a particular topic.
• 44:02
  My thought is I'd take a case study, and then we would talk about how to address that from these different perspectives.
• 44:09
  So just kind of adding again, so you don't have to do it all by yourself.
• 44:15
  Um, so enrollment is opening up soon.
• 44:18
  If you're interested, then get on the wait list.
• 44:21
  You can pop over to my website at rhplaytherapytraining.com.
• 44:27
  That's rhplaytherapytrain- training.com, Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training.
• 44:34
  Um, pop over to my website, click the link to join the wait list, or we're gonna post the links in the comments, so check the comments.
• 44:43
  If you're watching on Instagram, click on my bio.
• 44:46
  It's over there.
• 44:48
  Um, but I also have a free webinar coming up where we're… I'm gonna teach.
• 44:54
  It's called How to Provide Play Therapy Without Second Guessing Every Clinical Decision, Even Complex Cases.
• 45:03
  In this free webinar, it's 90 minutes, I'm gonna walk you through my three-part framework that's gonna help you gain more confidence.
• 45:14
  And I'm also gonna be talking about the role of community as well, um, plus the other, the other parts of the framework.
• 45:22
  Because having a framework to guide you through helps you get much better results and, and stop second-guessing yourself.
• 45:31
  So if you're interested in that, that is coming up on August
• 45:35
  23rd at 4: 00 PM Pacific Time.
• 45:40
  23rd at 4: We will post the lin- Again, if you're interested in that, pop over to my website, and we're also gonna p- uh, post the link in the comments.
• 45:49
  23rd at 4: So it's a free webinar.
• 45:51
  23rd at 4: Join us, sign up, register soon so you don't miss it, and I will see you there Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 46:06
  23rd at 4: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 46:16
  23rd at 4: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 46:21
  23rd at 4: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 46:27
  23rd at 4: Remember, play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 46:32
  23rd at 4: 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.
• 46:43
  23rd at 4: If you have any questions or topic suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
• 46:50
  23rd at 4: 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.
• 47:03
  23rd at 4: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 47:06
  23rd at 4: Until next time, keep playing, learning, and growing.