Latest / Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence / Virtual Play Therapy Explained: Tools, Tips & Platforms for Play Therapists

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Virtual Play Therapy Explained: Tools, Tips & Platforms for Play Therapists · Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

• 0:02
  Csthi Spooner: Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:04
  Csthi Spooner: A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services.
• 0:14
  Csthi Spooner: We'll explore all things play therapy.
• 0:17
  Csthi Spooner: To elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play.
• 0:23
  Csthi 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
  Csthi 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
  Csthi Spooner: Hey, welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 0:51
  Csthi Spooner: I am super excited about my guest this week.
• 0:55
  Csthi Spooner: So if you are doing virtual play therapy.
• 1:00
  Csthi Spooner: Um, then you're probably have been kind of frustrated as my guess about, my guess about some of the platforms.
• 1:09
  Csthi Spooner: The reality is, uh, virtual play therapy isn't something that we kind of conceptualize or we think.
• 1:16
  Csthi Spooner: Oh, maybe that's gonna happen in the future.
• 1:19
  Csthi Spooner: It's already here.
• 1:21
  Csthi Spooner: A lot of the play therapists I consult with are already using play therapy virtually, and what they're finding is most platforms aren't really built for play therapists or art therapists or creative therapists, and so they really weren't designed to engage children.
• 1:42
  Csthi Spooner: Virtually.
• 1:43
  Csthi Spooner: They weren't designed for expressive play.
• 1:46
  Csthi Spooner: They weren't designed for kind of the symbolic relational work that we do with children.
• 1:53
  Csthi Spooner: In that virtual space, which is why I was excited when I met Brendan and, um, learned about Playspace.
• 2:03
  Csthi Spooner: I actually learned about Playspace from one of the play therapists in one of my consultation groups, and she had been using Playspace and had good things to say about it.
• 2:16
  Csthi Spooner: And so actually.
• 2:18
  Csthi Spooner: I met Brendan.
• 2:20
  Csthi Spooner: He reached out to me in an email to do a podcast for his episode, and we did that one, and I then I was like, oh, we need to do one for this platform.
• 2:31
  Csthi Spooner: And so he graciously agreed to do that.
• 2:34
  Csthi Spooner: So this is, uh, my guest today is Brendan Vac.
• 2:40
  Csthi Spooner: He's a Chief Innovation Officer over at Playspace.
• 2:44
  Csthi Spooner: And today we are gonna be talking about.
• 2:48
  Csthi Spooner: Um, Playspace and how Playspace can fill that need in this virtual play therapy arena.
• 2:59
  Csthi Spooner: So any of you watching the livestream, please feel free to introduce yourself in the comments.
• 3:07
  Csthi Spooner: Uh, my name is Kathy Spooner.
• 3:09
  Csthi Spooner: I'm a licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist, and I'm the owner of Renewing Hearts Play Therapy training.
• 3:16
  Csthi Spooner: I do a lot of training and consulting with play therapists, and so if you intro, go ahead and introduce yourself in the comments where you're from, what population you work with, what are your questions maybe that you have for Brendan.
• 3:34
  Csthi Spooner: About Playspace or what are some of the struggles that you're having using play therapy in, um, on, in that virtual space?
• 3:46
  Csthi Spooner: So, hey Brendan, welcome to the, uh, welcome to the podcast episode and also the live stream.
• 3:58
  Csthi Spooner: Do you wanna
• 3:59
  Brendan Herjavec: here?
• 3:59
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah, I can introduce myself quickly.
• 4:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Again, you did a phenomenal job and kind tell, like similar to you, tell my little story of how this all came to be, so that'd be great.
• 4:09
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah.
• 4:09
  Brendan Herjavec: I, Brenda, I'm Brener Vac, um, chief Innovation Officer at Playspace.
• 4:13
  Brendan Herjavec: Been a part of the team for a few years now, but background actually since COVID been in virtual health, uh, working.
• 4:20
  Brendan Herjavec: Primarily initially on the EAP side, bringing, um, digital health to about a million Canadians across Canada, uh, primarily, but now with Playspace worldwide being in Canada, the us, um, Australia, uh, Europe, and some other countries of all, a few of our clients.
• 4:35
  Brendan Herjavec: And really this, the story of how Playspace really came to be is like many others, and this virtual digital health ecosystem was during COVID, uh, Matt, the founder, you know, and talking to his therapist of.
• 4:46
  Brendan Herjavec: 30 years they were having conversation where, you know, when Hugh came first into the session, and as we all know here being play therapists, you know.
• 4:55
  Brendan Herjavec: They weren't having communication.
• 4:56
  Brendan Herjavec: They were going through play Tic-tac toe, monopoly, other games.
• 4:59
  Brendan Herjavec: But when, you know, COVID was forcing everyone to transition over.
• 5:02
  Brendan Herjavec: My wife's a teacher.
• 5:03
  Brendan Herjavec: It was a very hard shift to virtual schooling.
• 5:06
  Brendan Herjavec: And in therapy there wasn't anything out there.
• 5:08
  Brendan Herjavec: They were using Zoom, Google meets Microsoft teams, but it would really didn't have the ability to develop that same rapport.
• 5:14
  Brendan Herjavec: So the idea was, okay, well can we take what we're doing in person and mimic have the same experience online?
• 5:21
  Brendan Herjavec: And for many therapists I work with, this was, you know.
• 5:24
  Brendan Herjavec: I would say not shocking, but very much a big transition.
• 5:28
  Brendan Herjavec: But we're obviously seeing in the other markets that video games, most children think of play today.
• 5:33
  Brendan Herjavec: It is virtual.
• 5:34
  Brendan Herjavec: So there was this move to virtual kind of being the standard of it.
• 5:38
  Brendan Herjavec: But what's really unique now since working on pla uh, play space and kind of helping scale and grow this product, and right now all the innovation we're bringing to it is, is the idea that.
• 5:47
  Brendan Herjavec: There are, what you can be done virtually that can be done in person is the ability to customize or meet your patient where you are.
• 5:54
  Brendan Herjavec: Mm-hmm.
• 5:54
  Brendan Herjavec: So a great example is, um, you know, very simple example, but one of our therapists asks, you know, we're playing tic-tac toe.
• 6:01
  Brendan Herjavec: The child loves dogs.
• 6:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Sub Xs and no, can it be pomeranians and corgis, and you just switch it to that.
• 6:07
  Brendan Herjavec: And now we have a dog based tic-tac toe and as simple as that sounds, that's awesome.
• 6:11
  Brendan Herjavec: It's something that virtual allows you to do.
• 6:14
  Brendan Herjavec: And I think that's what's really unique is that play is different online and there's still obviously benefits in person, but there are some benefits of being able to customize and really do these unique things.
• 6:23
  Brendan Herjavec: And I think now since.
• 6:25
  Brendan Herjavec: Obviously the, the growth of, you know, virtual, I would say being more common practice.
• 6:30
  Brendan Herjavec: It's been really interesting to see how Play Therapy's been able to, uh, be accessible online and being used online, especially through all the ages.
• 6:37
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, before, I know years ago, and, you know.
• 6:41
  Brendan Herjavec: Before Zoom calls when working with therapist, it was through the phone was the only way.
• 6:44
  Brendan Herjavec: And that's very hard with a child.
• 6:46
  Brendan Herjavec: But now you tell a, you know, child to open up Zoom or could be on a computer that isn't a unique, um, a challenge for them yet, building that rapport is still always challenging.
• 6:56
  Brendan Herjavec: So I, I think Playspace really fits in this nice way of helping.
• 6:59
  Brendan Herjavec: The therapist focused on therapy and really us being the engagement layer to make it as seamless as possible, whether it be in person or virtual, to be able to connect with, uh, the child or patient, um, whether it be play therapy or therapy, or even just talk therapy for, uh, an 80-year-old grandmother, just building that engagement and connection.
• 7:16
  Brendan Herjavec: Uh, there's validity in that.
• 7:19
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah, and I, I think you really identified all of the struggles that a lot of play therapists were having, because you're right.
• 7:29
  Csthi Spooner: During COVID play therapists, we were used to kids coming into our playroom, and there were very few.
• 7:37
  Csthi Spooner: People doing virtual play therapy, but overnight they had to get it figured out and they kind of hobbled together ways to do that.
• 7:49
  Csthi Spooner: And I think for a lot of play therapists, it was very painful
• 7:55
  Brendan Herjavec: mm-hmm.
• 7:56
  Csthi Spooner: To get that figured out.
• 7:58
  Csthi Spooner: And so I, I think that's, now that we've started doing it more, um.
• 8:05
  Csthi Spooner: I, I think it's more mainstream.
• 8:08
  Csthi Spooner: Mm-hmm.
• 8:09
  Csthi Spooner: Now doing virtual play therapy, which I think is good because I live in a state where there's, there's a lot of rural areas.
• 8:19
  Csthi Spooner: And, uh, the, the benefit of virtual therapy, I mean, I think there's a lot of benefits and one of the benefits is being able, you can reach more people.
• 8:33
  Brendan Herjavec: Mm-hmm.
• 8:33
  Csthi Spooner: You can help more kids, you can help more families.
• 8:37
  Csthi Spooner: Um, if you have, like I I in, in my plate therapy academy, there's a therapist who does a lot of work with.
• 8:46
  Csthi Spooner: High conflict divorced families, which most play therapists, we try not to get involved in because of all the complexities mm-hmm.
• 8:57
  Csthi Spooner: Of that.
• 8:58
  Csthi Spooner: And that's kind of one of her specialties.
• 9:02
  Csthi Spooner: So in the state there's not a lot.
• 9:06
  Csthi Spooner: And so she's doing a lot of virtual play therapy with some of these.
• 9:11
  Csthi Spooner: More specialized, um, areas in the state, so more people have access to that as well.
• 9:21
  Csthi Spooner: Um, and I, I think, you know, your, your points about how to be able to do that.
• 9:32
  Csthi Spooner: In the virtual space in a way that engages children is really important because I think my experience has been with the people that I consult with all the time is they kind of hobbled together.
• 9:48
  Csthi Spooner: Like, um, Google Slides and Google using Google in different kind of ways.
• 9:56
  Csthi Spooner: But it was, uh, it was just kind of a mishmash of things.
• 10:01
  Csthi Spooner: So can you talk a little bit about what are some of the, the ways that Play Space works?
• 10:08
  Csthi Spooner: And we can, we can actually, for those of you listening on the podcast, we're gonna, um, have Brenda share his screen.
• 10:18
  Csthi Spooner: So if you, if you want to, you can.
• 10:21
  Csthi Spooner: Pop over to YouTube on my YouTube channel, Kathy Spoon or Renewing Hearts.
• 10:27
  Csthi Spooner: Uh, and click on the live tab and then you can watch the, the video version of it.
• 10:32
  Csthi Spooner: If you wanna see Brendan's screen with those of you watching live or watching the replay, you'll be able to see the screen.
• 10:41
  Csthi Spooner: So let me.
• 10:42
  Csthi Spooner: Um, oh, you know what?
• 10:44
  Csthi Spooner: I think you have to add your screen again.
• 10:48
  Csthi Spooner: I, let me add this.
• 10:49
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah, I can add
• 10:50
  Brendan Herjavec: it in.
• 10:50
  Brendan Herjavec: I forgot
• 10:50
  Csthi Spooner: to tell you that we were practicing before that.
• 10:54
  Csthi Spooner: There we go.
• 10:55
  Csthi Spooner: Um, and then I forgot to tell Brenda.
• 10:58
  Csthi Spooner: Oh yeah.
• 10:58
  Csthi Spooner: Once you, once you do that, it'll go away again.
• 11:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah.
• 11:03
  Brendan Herjavec: So I think.
• 11:05
  Brendan Herjavec: What's, what, what's unique.
• 11:06
  Brendan Herjavec: And Kathy, I'll, I'll be jumping through a few different screens, so you may have to accept them as I have.
• 11:10
  Brendan Herjavec: They're all in different tabs.
• 11:11
  Csthi Spooner: Oh,
• 11:12
  Brendan Herjavec: okay.
• 11:12
  Brendan Herjavec: Cool.
• 11:13
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, just call it out.
• 11:14
  Brendan Herjavec: So I think what was unique was when we, when we were building Play space, the idea was that, you know.
• 11:19
  Brendan Herjavec: A video platform is one thing, but there's also, as you touched on, challenges when it comes to using a computer, they're great tools, unfortunately, great distractions as well.
• 11:30
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, so a lot of the things we do we're really to streamline the, you know, experience both for the clinician as, um, as, I mean anyone else.
• 11:38
  Brendan Herjavec: You don't wanna learn a new tool or have to develop new workflow.
• 11:41
  Brendan Herjavec: So make it as soon this is possible on the child side, at least keep it as straightforward as possible.
• 11:47
  Brendan Herjavec: To really mimic that in-person experience.
• 11:49
  Brendan Herjavec: And like we said, we never try to move people from in-person to online, but we realize many people are online, whether it be remote or here in Canada, we have a snowstorm.
• 11:58
  Brendan Herjavec: All of a, not today luckily, but all of a sudden it's nice to be able to still do a recession and not have to feel like it's, um, less worthy.
• 12:05
  Brendan Herjavec: So this is really how we've, you know, built our homepage.
• 12:08
  Brendan Herjavec: And as you can see, just some of the callouts, we have our playroom, which are in the show, sand trays, dollhouse whiteboards.
• 12:14
  Brendan Herjavec: Games, games can be tic-tac toe monopoly.
• 12:17
  Brendan Herjavec: All, all the basic ones you realize.
• 12:19
  Brendan Herjavec: And one thing we're we having built, now it's just actually being updated to be a little bit more pretty is our, uh, playroom builder.
• 12:25
  Brendan Herjavec: And this is why I talk to where you can say, build a tic-tac toe with dogs and we'll build that game for you to really build a one.
• 12:31
  Brendan Herjavec: One-to-one customization.
• 12:34
  Brendan Herjavec: We also have a storybook creator, so you can build slides in the app.
• 12:38
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, we use some AI so you can have child friendly stories upload your worksheets to be able to do 'em in, in, in session and everything else.
• 12:45
  Brendan Herjavec: But what I'm sharing right now is kind of the, the exciting part.
• 12:48
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, and that is the, let me stop sharing, kind of move to move to the other screen.
• 12:54
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, is.
• 12:57
  Brendan Herjavec: The playroom itself.
• 12:58
  Brendan Herjavec: So one of the big things, and this is just our, um, oh, this is the demo mode one.
• 13:03
  Brendan Herjavec: It's so
• 13:04
  Csthi Spooner: cool.
• 13:05
  Brendan Herjavec: So this is the playroom.
• 13:06
  Brendan Herjavec: Uh, actually me, I, I know I keep jumping around.
• 13:10
  Brendan Herjavec: So let's share this tab instead.
• 13:12
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, so let me, if I go back, so this is the playroom, as you would see.
• 13:16
  Brendan Herjavec: This is gonna look weird for a second.
• 13:18
  Brendan Herjavec: This is me on the left hand side.
• 13:20
  Brendan Herjavec: If you're, lemme see if you're seeing this properly.
• 13:21
  Brendan Herjavec: Yes, you are.
• 13:22
  Brendan Herjavec: Um.
• 13:22
  Brendan Herjavec: And then I'll have also turn it off.
• 13:24
  Brendan Herjavec: And then you have the chat here.
• 13:25
  Brendan Herjavec: So this is just like the Zoom call or Google, whatever you're using here.
• 13:28
  Brendan Herjavec: And on the right hand side is our playroom built like the playroom, and you have customization.
• 13:32
  Brendan Herjavec: This is obviously more youth focused, but you can also change it so there's no playroom.
• 13:37
  Brendan Herjavec: If you're working with a teen or adult who feels that you.
• 13:39
  Brendan Herjavec: You know, they don't, they don't feel that this is their cup of tea and you can still launch everything I'm about to show you, but in a more direct manner.
• 13:46
  Brendan Herjavec: Um,
• 13:47
  Csthi Spooner: it's nice that you can, sorry, I was interrupting.
• 13:49
  Csthi Spooner: No, go ahead.
• 13:49
  Csthi Spooner: It's awesome that you can change the playroom to fit the age level.
• 13:55
  Csthi Spooner: Like it's really versatile that way.
• 13:57
  Csthi Spooner: If you're working with a younger child.
• 14:00
  Csthi Spooner: If you're working with a teenager, right, because that's a thing.
• 14:03
  Csthi Spooner: Play therapist.
• 14:04
  Csthi Spooner: Worry about when we're working with teens is we don't want them to feel like they're being treated like babies.
• 14:10
  Csthi Spooner: Um, and then a, a grownup.
• 14:11
  Csthi Spooner: Mm-hmm.
• 14:12
  Csthi Spooner: If like, if you're having a parent session or maybe you also work with adults mm-hmm.
• 14:17
  Csthi Spooner: You can use this mm-hmm.
• 14:18
  Csthi Spooner: With adults as well.
• 14:20
  Csthi Spooner: That's awesome.
• 14:21
  Csthi Spooner: And.
• 14:23
  Brendan Herjavec: What you touched on is actually the newer features released is called Toolkit.
• 14:26
  Brendan Herjavec: So everything I'm about to show you, instead of having in a playroom, it would just launch the whiteboard directly so you wouldn't see this room itself.
• 14:33
  Brendan Herjavec: And it's funny, we, we, you know, some therapists will call us the art board or drawing board for children, you say whiteboard and.
• 14:39
  Brendan Herjavec: Living in corporate America, you're like, that's very adult.
• 14:41
  Brendan Herjavec: This is same tool, just different name.
• 14:44
  Brendan Herjavec: Oh my, as we all know, it's, it's how it's, uh, framed.
• 14:46
  Brendan Herjavec: But what's really cool is you, you're just seeing my mouse here because it's just on my screen, but when the child's in here, they have a, the child's mouse is here as well.
• 14:54
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, but as a therapist or the practitioner, you can allow the, you know, patient centered care where they can click around, kind of jump into games or jump into sand tray or wherever they want to go.
• 15:05
  Brendan Herjavec: Or, but as a clinician, you always have control as well to say, okay, we're gonna jump into this room so we allow.
• 15:10
  Brendan Herjavec: You know, the, the patient to have some control, but therapists can always oversee.
• 15:14
  Brendan Herjavec: And what's the benefit of this?
• 15:16
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, which is kind of the creme de lare, which makes Playspace unique, is this is all in one screen.
• 15:21
  Brendan Herjavec: Either you're not switching tabs, you're not telling the child's, okay, now share your screen.
• 15:26
  Brendan Herjavec: This is all automatic and you're, you as a, uh.
• 15:28
  Brendan Herjavec: Practitioner and that the patient are seeing the exact same thing.
• 15:31
  Brendan Herjavec: So you know exactly what the patient is looking at, um, what they're going through and everything else.
• 15:36
  Brendan Herjavec: So I'm just gonna start a San tray, which is Oh,
• 15:39
  Csthi Spooner: cool.
• 15:39
  Csthi Spooner: A
• 15:39
  Brendan Herjavec: classic one.
• 15:41
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, and this is a virtual, uh, virtual sand tray, uh, as a Lowe's not obviously live streaming, so it takes a little bit more time.
• 15:48
  Brendan Herjavec: Mm-hmm.
• 15:48
  Brendan Herjavec: But you can do all the classic things.
• 15:50
  Brendan Herjavec: You can add characters, um, add toys, uh, the classic Zoom in, zoom out, um.
• 15:57
  Brendan Herjavec: People always like different themes.
• 15:58
  Brendan Herjavec: You can change the theme in the background.
• 16:01
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, kind of the one benefit of technology is I can draw in a pool.
• 16:06
  Brendan Herjavec: If you were to do this in person, uh, this would cause the, uh, who's ever cleaning your office.
• 16:11
  Brendan Herjavec: Very upset if you got a pile of water on the ground.
• 16:13
  Brendan Herjavec: Very cool.
• 16:13
  Brendan Herjavec: So it asks some custom ability.
• 16:16
  Brendan Herjavec: Uh, and one thing we also have added in, um, it would just take too much time by now 'cause it typically takes a few, a few minutes, is the 2D to 3D uh, image generator.
• 16:23
  Brendan Herjavec: So if you had eight.
• 16:24
  Brendan Herjavec: Family pet, if you had an item they liked, you could upload it and it would be put into the sand tray.
• 16:30
  Brendan Herjavec: Oh, that's awesome.
• 16:30
  Brendan Herjavec: So a lot of times, yeah, a lot of times you're seeing pets uploaded or as you know, working.
• 16:36
  Brendan Herjavec: I have a 19 month old, she loves her, you know, like specific her bunny.
• 16:40
  Brendan Herjavec: So I would need to get a bunny in here.
• 16:42
  Brendan Herjavec: So if we didn't have the asset you wanted, you could upload it, you could save it yourself.
• 16:45
  Brendan Herjavec: So it really adds that level of, um.
• 16:47
  Brendan Herjavec: Funding complexity.
• 16:48
  Brendan Herjavec: And obviously another benefit, um, which I get a lot, is that you can also save this.
• 16:53
  Brendan Herjavec: So oftentimes if you hear a patient talking about, you know, going through grief, they might set up how they're feeling and then save it and then come back next session and say, okay, what has changed on here?
• 17:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, where in person that can sometimes be a little bit more, um, challenging as well, just because having to reset up and kind of take photos.
• 17:09
  Brendan Herjavec: Um.
• 17:10
  Brendan Herjavec: The other thing I'll say is we also have a, uh, like many others now, we have a note taker.
• 17:13
  Brendan Herjavec: So especially when it comes to play-based therapy, allowing you to focus on this session and then, um, allow the note taker to kind of.
• 17:21
  Brendan Herjavec: Collect the notes as well.
• 17:23
  Csthi Spooner: No way.
• 17:24
  Csthi Spooner: That is ver So it'll, there's an AI feature that captures notes for you?
• 17:31
  Brendan Herjavec: Yes.
• 17:31
  Brendan Herjavec: AI features to capture notes, um, just like a note taker embedded into this.
• 17:36
  Brendan Herjavec: Uh, we.
• 17:38
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah, the other AI features, we, we have, um, again, our, our view on AI is AI is to enable, um, the clinician obviously to be more, more effective,
• 17:47
  Csthi Spooner: right?
• 17:47
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, so for example, we have one that's storybook creators, so allowing to create quick, quick story, um, as well as worksheet builder.
• 17:55
  Brendan Herjavec: So oftentimes, um, which is a really simple feature.
• 17:58
  Brendan Herjavec: Simple in theory, hard in practice is that you could upload your forms you're may be using and then digitize them to, so send 'em so you can vir fill them in virtually as well.
• 18:06
  Brendan Herjavec: Cool.
• 18:06
  Brendan Herjavec: So form building.
• 18:07
  Brendan Herjavec: Cool.
• 18:07
  Brendan Herjavec: So our goal is to streamline this as much as possible, make it as straightforward as possible.
• 18:13
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, and then as I'll launch now the dollhouse, um, uh, very much similar to the sand tray, but.
• 18:21
  Brendan Herjavec: Again, really built around the same principles.
• 18:23
  Brendan Herjavec: And one thing we actually got, uh, a few months ago feedback on is different types of homes.
• 18:27
  Brendan Herjavec: So obviously, you know,
• 18:29
  Csthi Spooner: oh, being able to
• 18:30
  Brendan Herjavec: multi-home
• 18:31
  Csthi Spooner: new homes is perfect
• 18:33
  Brendan Herjavec: apartments.
• 18:34
  Brendan Herjavec: 'cause one of the things we had, and this is, I mean, you talk to anyone is, you know, we had this standard home and then the child would say, well, you know, I live in an apartment.
• 18:41
  Brendan Herjavec: This is not me.
• 18:42
  Brendan Herjavec: And obviously you can tell 'em, well just imagine this is it.
• 18:45
  Brendan Herjavec: But then off, but then you said, oh, you know what?
• 18:48
  Brendan Herjavec: We're getting a lot of feedback.
• 18:49
  Brendan Herjavec: Let's add different options and obviously, um, we have a few and we're adding more, but the big thing, obviously mobile home as well, and then a multi home obviously for, as you touched on a bit, um, if there's divorced parents or anything else where they have two things or oftentimes, uh, this is also where like.
• 19:05
  Brendan Herjavec: You know, how would you, you know, your view versus someone else?
• 19:08
  Brendan Herjavec: It just allows two different room, uh, settings and we're seeing a lot of, obviously this is one of our more popular features, um, as well.
• 19:15
  Brendan Herjavec: And it's, uh, it's always fun and one of the things I always do is, um.
• 19:21
  Brendan Herjavec: In, in, we didn't, every time someone joins the company, their first onboarding thing is to make a sandaire dollhouse of how they view themselves or kind of build the room around themselves.
• 19:30
  Brendan Herjavec: So even as adults, it's, we always say, oh, and then three hours later you realize you're spending time building the ecosystem.
• 19:36
  Brendan Herjavec: So like you touched on, it's very much like the case.
• 19:39
  Brendan Herjavec: And then, yeah, whiteboard is, is very much the standard whiteboard.
• 19:43
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, but as we touched on before.
• 19:45
  Brendan Herjavec: With this room, it's completely customized.
• 19:47
  Brendan Herjavec: Oftentimes people provide photos in here so you can make a room for every patient, somehow have a standard like a DHD room, uh, with games or tools specifically for that, but allowing as much custom ability as possible while still making it standardized.
• 19:59
  Brendan Herjavec: So it's not too challenging, um, to do.
• 20:02
  Brendan Herjavec: And yeah, we have multiplayer games, most of the common games, and some single player games as well.
• 20:06
  Brendan Herjavec: So that's really the ecosystem of play space.
• 20:09
  Brendan Herjavec: And a very quick, uh, quick review, and this would be, um, your activity shelf.
• 20:13
  Brendan Herjavec: I have no.
• 20:14
  Brendan Herjavec: No worksheets saved here yet, but you can add activities.
• 20:18
  Brendan Herjavec: Here are some of the books people have written.
• 20:20
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, and if you add it in, then you can use that storybook in session.
• 20:24
  Brendan Herjavec: Oh, that's
• 20:25
  Csthi Spooner: very cool.
• 20:25
  Brendan Herjavec: Well, and like any other storybook, um, we've actually improved our, um, photos now would be more consistent, but then you can draw on this, print it out, give it to the patient.
• 20:34
  Brendan Herjavec: And oftentimes obviously we're building this because it's children and minds.
• 20:38
  Brendan Herjavec: It ensures there's.
• 20:40
  Brendan Herjavec: Consistency in wording, messaging.
• 20:42
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, but one thing I'd wanna also say is everything that touches ai.
• 20:46
  Brendan Herjavec: So whether it be building a storybook, whether you're building a game, it is always human in the loop, meaning a therapist would see a first be before bringing into a session.
• 20:55
  Brendan Herjavec: So you build storybooks outta session, make sure, um, and most oftentimes it's because, uh, we've also built it around safety.
• 21:03
  Brendan Herjavec: But oftentimes if you're looking for a specific story to tell.
• 21:07
  Brendan Herjavec: You wanna make sure it tells that story, especially if it's about grief or something, or about losing a puppy, um, which is puppies are a lot of oftentimes the theme you wanna have, you know, have some validity.
• 21:17
  Brendan Herjavec: So yeah, you can regenerate photos.
• 21:18
  Brendan Herjavec: So it's been very unique to kind of see what the most common things are.
• 21:22
  Brendan Herjavec: And obviously as we all know, the sand tray is, is, uh, standard and it's been very popular and probably are still to this day, are most popular too.
• 21:30
  Brendan Herjavec: Even you could build it yourself.
• 21:31
  Brendan Herjavec: It's, uh, nice to see more and more use around that, uh, patient centric care.
• 21:37
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah.
• 21:37
  Csthi Spooner: And you know, the nice thing as, as you were showing some of these things, I was thinking, well, I know as play therapist there, there are options to get some of these features virtually on other platforms, but what.
• 21:53
  Csthi Spooner: What I'm seeing with Playspace is it's, it's all in one space.
• 21:57
  Csthi Spooner: You don't have to hobble it together, so, and that it saves it.
• 22:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Mm-hmm.
• 22:03
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah.
• 22:03
  Brendan Herjavec: The, the big thing I would, funny, funny enough say, is the, probably the biggest piece of feedback we get, that the positive feedback is the fact that because this is all in one screen.
• 22:12
  Brendan Herjavec: There's no separate tab.
• 22:14
  Brendan Herjavec: And as anyone who's worked with any youth, once you have to, once a child has to click something, they're now lost into the ether of the internet.
• 22:22
  Brendan Herjavec: So it's twofold.
• 22:24
  Brendan Herjavec: One, it forces them to foc like focus.
• 22:26
  Brendan Herjavec: There's no switching tabs.
• 22:27
  Brendan Herjavec: And also the big benefit is because the practitioner and child is seeing the same thing, you as a clinician know exactly what they're looking at.
• 22:35
  Brendan Herjavec: So oftentimes if you see the child, you know, adding a lot of.
• 22:38
  Brendan Herjavec: I mean, I'm not a clinician, but the classic story here is, you know, seeing 'em on lot of, you know, skeletons or gravestones, you're like, okay, well why are you adding that?
• 22:45
  Brendan Herjavec: You, and you see it real time, rather than having two separate views and just like you were in person kind of observing.
• 22:51
  Csthi Spooner: Right.
• 22:51
  Brendan Herjavec: Uh, which is really the big thing we're seeing more and more.
• 22:54
  Brendan Herjavec: So it's, it's very, um, it's been very interesting and, and like you touched on a bit, we're seeing also more of an uptick as we get more through teens and, um, early adults.
• 23:03
  Csthi Spooner: Mm-hmm.
• 23:03
  Brendan Herjavec: Mostly I'd say the whiteboard probably being the most common thing.
• 23:05
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah.
• 23:06
  Brendan Herjavec: But, um, even.
• 23:07
  Brendan Herjavec: A lot of the simpler games just through, even on the rapport building side, um, when it comes to that.
• 23:13
  Brendan Herjavec: So we're, it's really interesting to kind of, it's one of those things, like, as you touched on, is that all these tools are age agnostic.
• 23:20
  Brendan Herjavec: It's just really how you position them so that, um, they feel relevant to your, your session in the patient and in front of you.
• 23:26
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah.
• 23:28
  Csthi Spooner: And, um, I, I, I actually work with adults, teens, mm-hmm.
• 23:32
  Csthi Spooner: And kids, I, I have the grownups do the sand tray mm-hmm.
• 23:36
  Csthi Spooner: And art.
• 23:37
  Csthi Spooner: So I, I like that.
• 23:40
  Csthi Spooner: It's a really virtu, um, um, um, I lost the word.
• 23:45
  Csthi Spooner: I'm still getting over my cold, so my brains are a little looky and my voice is still, at least I don't sound like mini mouse anymore.
• 23:53
  Csthi Spooner: Um, I had laryngitis really bad.
• 23:55
  Csthi Spooner: Um, it's versatile.
• 23:59
  Csthi Spooner: That's the word I was looking for, that you can use it with the, uh, you know, several age like children all the way up to adults because, uh, a lot of places, I mean, some play therapists or.
• 24:14
  Csthi Spooner: Only work with kids, but a lot of, a lot of play therapists, we work with the full age range.
• 24:22
  Csthi Spooner: And so, um, being able to have that versatility and, and change it around is needed.
• 24:29
  Csthi Spooner: And the have that, the art board, I love that you called it the Art board and the San Tray.
• 24:37
  Csthi Spooner: I think those are really awesome.
• 24:41
  Csthi Spooner: Benefits to being able to have one platform.
• 24:45
  Csthi Spooner: 'cause here's the thing, like play therapists, we're not known for our tech savvy skills.
• 24:52
  Csthi Spooner: Um, and so I think agree, agreed with the kids and navigating that and not having to get the parents to come in to help out with the virtual part of it.
• 25:03
  Csthi Spooner: If it's all in one place and you, you don't have to navigate a bunch of different screens.
• 25:10
  Csthi Spooner: That I think can be really helpful as well.
• 25:15
  Brendan Herjavec: And just to show this as well, I'm just share switching tabs here.
• 25:18
  Brendan Herjavec: So this is our game builder.
• 25:21
  Brendan Herjavec: So I said, Hey, build me a Tetras style game and play-based colors.
• 25:25
  Brendan Herjavec: And then you have the game here you can build just like tetras.
• 25:28
  Brendan Herjavec: So using, I'm bad at Tetris, so we're not gonna play.
• 25:32
  Brendan Herjavec: I'll pretend I, I stop playing rather than being bad at the game.
• 25:35
  Brendan Herjavec: But this is just an example where, um.
• 25:38
  Brendan Herjavec: Allowed some CRE creativity and you could, I mean, you could adjust this based on colors or anything else, and it's, I think that's one of the things is as we, as you just touch on, is as a. Therapist.
• 25:49
  Brendan Herjavec: You don't wanna have to learn new technology or a new thing.
• 25:51
  Brendan Herjavec: Right.
• 25:51
  Brendan Herjavec: And one of the big things we're seeing with the rise of AI specifically is the democratization of creation.
• 25:58
  Brendan Herjavec: And I think one thing we even do internally is we have a lot of clinicians we work with on staff or cst.
• 26:03
  Brendan Herjavec: Oh, that's nice.
• 26:04
  Brendan Herjavec: Uh, all, all in school to be, uh, clinicians or our, currently our clinicians.
• 26:08
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, and that's like a play studio.
• 26:10
  Brendan Herjavec: So you just enter whatever you want to build it here.
• 26:12
  Brendan Herjavec: And one of the things we keep, um, seeing more and more is that.
• 26:17
  Brendan Herjavec: Clinicians have the greatest ideas.
• 26:18
  Brendan Herjavec: I held a, uh, competition internally at all our engineers, our business people, me to build the best.
• 26:24
  Brendan Herjavec: Game possible for therapists.
• 26:26
  Brendan Herjavec: And you know, I'm using these tools every day thinking I'm a superstar.
• 26:30
  Brendan Herjavec: And our junior employee came up and built a, um, it was like a mind mapping game that instantly blew everyone's socks off because she had the greatest ideas.
• 26:39
  Brendan Herjavec: She worked with patients, she understood what was required.
• 26:42
  Brendan Herjavec: And because now building is no longer a limitation to some extent, she was able to build what she always had imagined in her head.
• 26:49
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, which was a, uh, uh, I'll share probably after I probably have on my LinkedIn, but it's some of these simple games.
• 26:54
  Brendan Herjavec: I think that's what's we're seeing more and more with a lot of these technologies is if you have the idea, and you obviously clinicians being the expert.
• 27:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Now you're able to create what you had in your mind, um, rather than having to rely on, um, a chain of command or allow other people to kind of develop it.
• 27:09
  Brendan Herjavec: And especially when it's a simple games.
• 27:10
  Brendan Herjavec: I'm not saying you can build, uh, the new, uh, Minecraft or anything in there, but.
• 27:15
  Brendan Herjavec: The classic games with some customization we're seeing more and more just because, um, it allows your unique spin.
• 27:21
  Brendan Herjavec: And even though, uh, we always like to think, you know, people's lived experiences are different.
• 27:26
  Brendan Herjavec: So as simple as it sounds, switching the cars for the trains or anything else, as I just feeling of personalization, we're seeing more and more and it's the power technology and kind of what we're finding is unique.
• 27:37
  Brendan Herjavec: Benefits and obviously their weakness online, but the so unique benefit of online that, um, gets expensive in person if you to have 20 different sets of the same game.
• 27:45
  Csthi Spooner: Yes, that's very true.
• 27:47
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah.
• 27:48
  Csthi Spooner: And I love that you have, um, actual therapists mm-hmm.
• 27:53
  Csthi Spooner: Or a therapist in training who are thinking that way and they're.
• 27:57
  Csthi Spooner: Really, so it's kind of play therapist inspired where you have them kind of helping alongside giving the ideas, giving the feedback, here's what we need, and making it really.
• 28:11
  Csthi Spooner: Um, something that is useful in a practical way.
• 28:19
  Brendan Herjavec: Mm-hmm.
• 28:19
  Csthi Spooner: For the, the things that play therapists or, or therapists or creative arts therapists are experiencing.
• 28:28
  Brendan Herjavec: And I think what's unique about that, and this is just someone who works in that in a healthcare field, but has never been a clinician themselves, is what I think is cool and exciting is oftentimes overly complex because this is my world.
• 28:41
  Brendan Herjavec: I love it.
• 28:42
  Brendan Herjavec: You know, I'm trying to build this highly complex feature in new X, Y, and Z. When they say, I just want, I just wanna simple do to do this.
• 28:49
  Brendan Herjavec: So oftentimes it's, it's kind of, it's an interesting scene.
• 28:52
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, kind of both parties having that discussion work.
• 28:54
  Brendan Herjavec: This is what we want for our, within our clinics, within our sessions.
• 28:59
  Brendan Herjavec: This is what's possible.
• 29:00
  Brendan Herjavec: Now it's mind both to see now you know the possibilities.
• 29:02
  Brendan Herjavec: Where is this middle ground that is valuable?
• 29:05
  Brendan Herjavec: Built in, obviously therapeutic principles, but most importantly, allowing you to live your life easier.
• 29:10
  Brendan Herjavec: And I think that's one thing when it comes to technology that can get intimidating, is that it's like anything else, a rabbit hole.
• 29:15
  Brendan Herjavec: There's so many options.
• 29:17
  Brendan Herjavec: So where you kind of build, that's what's been a unique thing.
• 29:19
  Brendan Herjavec: Even internally, being able to combine the, you know, our engineers who are very technical.
• 29:24
  Brendan Herjavec: Our, uh, leadership who's very visionary and there are clinicians who are in the field and kind of in the practice and kind of find the hodgepodge connection of building relevant tools for people who are actually gonna use them that aren't complex.
• 29:35
  Brendan Herjavec: Because our use case are clinicians who are either working part a clinic or running their own business, right.
• 29:40
  Brendan Herjavec: Enough time to learn new tools.
• 29:41
  Brendan Herjavec: Or it's the youth on the other end who are, you don't wanna, you wanna make it as simple and and age friendly as possible, and then age agnostic as we kind of keep focusing on this.
• 29:51
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah.
• 29:52
  Csthi Spooner: Yes.
• 29:53
  Csthi Spooner: I think that's awesome.
• 29:55
  Csthi Spooner: Um, if people, like, can you kind of share if people are interested in learning more about Play space, how, what would they, what would they do?
• 30:08
  Csthi Spooner: How and how can they Yeah.
• 30:10
  Csthi Spooner: Connect with you and how can they find out more about play space and see if it's a good fit for them?
• 30:19
  Brendan Herjavec: So, yeah, our website is Playspace Health.
• 30:22
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, also you connect with me on LinkedIn, just Brenna Vac.
• 30:26
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, I believe I'm the only one in the world, so it's a easy name to find.
• 30:30
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, and I quickly,
• 30:31
  Csthi Spooner: I think we put your, we're gonna put, uh, I think we're gonna put the website in the comments.
• 30:37
  Csthi Spooner: Mm-hmm.
• 30:37
  Csthi Spooner: But also we're gonna put your LinkedIn, uh, a, a link to connect with you on LinkedIn.
• 30:43
  Csthi Spooner: Mm-hmm.
• 30:44
  Brendan Herjavec: Perfect.
• 30:44
  Brendan Herjavec: And so Playspace Health, or if you connect with me, um, we also have, uh, some coupon calls, an extended trial.
• 30:50
  Brendan Herjavec: So if you wanna connect with me, I can get you, uh, longer access as well, um, or help you with some of our un some new features.
• 30:57
  Brendan Herjavec: So I'm a good person to connect with on that front as well.
• 31:00
  Brendan Herjavec: But at very simply, you can just sign up, um, and, and try the platform.
• 31:04
  Brendan Herjavec: And it's, uh.
• 31:05
  Brendan Herjavec: Exciting to hear kind of people's feedback on how they're using this in session because every time there's a new user, there's a new story and a unique way of viewing, uh, the problem that's always developing, especially when humans speaking to humans.
• 31:18
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah, and I, I love that there's a, a free trial and definitely I would encourage people to connect with Brendan to get that longer freetrial access to give it a really good try.
• 31:32
  Csthi Spooner: So that way they can, can try it out and see how it works.
• 31:37
  Csthi Spooner: And then if they like, I'm, I'm wondering about the, like if people have questions or they run into problems on the platform, what's the, um, support that's available to them?
• 31:53
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah, so actually we have a little, uh.
• 31:56
  Brendan Herjavec: Like many of our websites, you can ask questions here and we have obviously employees here who view this, uh, in real time in the class of nine to five.
• 32:05
  Brendan Herjavec: But we also have some, uh, after hours as well and ask questions there.
• 32:08
  Brendan Herjavec: Or even, I mean, we're a small team.
• 32:10
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, people are sitting behind me, right behind this nice whiteboard wall, classic office furniture here.
• 32:16
  Brendan Herjavec: Um, so even if you reach out to me with questions or, uh, features you'd want, even games you wanna help being built, um.
• 32:24
  Brendan Herjavec: I can either help you myself or connect you with the team here.
• 32:27
  Brendan Herjavec: 'cause we're a pretty tight-knit team, all kind of building towards the same, uh, same goals.
• 32:32
  Brendan Herjavec: So everyone, anyone on the team should help.
• 32:34
  Brendan Herjavec: And I'm, uh, my goal is to bring innovation.
• 32:36
  Brendan Herjavec: So any innovative ideas, I'm the person to speak to.
• 32:39
  Csthi Spooner: Well, that's awesome.
• 32:41
  Csthi Spooner: And like I, I mentioned at the beginning I found out about Brendan.
• 32:45
  Csthi Spooner: Through one of the, excuse me, the therapists in my Plate Therapy Academy program, and she was using Playspace because in, we were having this conversation and she was talking about Playspace and virtually, and all of the plate therapists were like, oh, oh, oh, can you tell me like, what was the name of that place?
• 33:06
  Csthi Spooner: And so she shared a little bit about it and.
• 33:10
  Csthi Spooner: Talked about, like she was finding it to be really useful and very helpful.
• 33:16
  Csthi Spooner: And so, um, that's why I thought, well, this would, I think a lot of people in the play therapy community and, and as well as I know somebody, some of the people watching and listening.
• 33:30
  Csthi Spooner: Also, um, art therapists and creative arts therapists and in different expressive, um, expressive arts fields.
• 33:41
  Csthi Spooner: And it, it seems to me like this platform kind of meets a lot of those.
• 33:46
  Csthi Spooner: Needs as well.
• 33:47
  Csthi Spooner: So thank you so much for joining us today, and if for those of you who may still have questions or you want that longer free trial, feel free to reach out to Brendan.
• 34:04
  Csthi Spooner: We're gonna put the links in the comments, I think in the description.
• 34:08
  Csthi Spooner: I also put a link to your.
• 34:10
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah, I did.
• 34:11
  Csthi Spooner: I put a link in the description to your LinkedIn profile.
• 34:17
  Brendan Herjavec: Perfect.
• 34:17
  Brendan Herjavec: Yeah, it was great.
• 34:18
  Brendan Herjavec: Great being on.
• 34:19
  Brendan Herjavec: I always love talking about obviously this space about play space and even just plays fun to talk about as well.
• 34:24
  Brendan Herjavec: So, great talking on Kathy and hopefully, uh, I speak to more of your listeners soon to kind of see what they're working on and see, uh, if we can help out in any way.
• 34:32
  Csthi Spooner: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 34:35
  Csthi Spooner: Alright, well that is it for today and I will see if you guys next week.
• 34:46
  Csthi Spooner: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy.
• 34:51
  Csthi Spooner: I hope you found the discussion valuable and gain new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal.
• 35:00
  Csthi Spooner: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review.
• 35:05
  Csthi Spooner: Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information.
• 35:11
  Csthi Spooner: Remember, play Therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth.
• 35:16
  Csthi 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 in relationships.
• 35:27
  Csthi Spooner: If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future episodes, I'd love to hear from you.
• 35:34
  Csthi Spooner: Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training.
• 35:41
  Csthi Spooner: To stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources.
• 35:47
  Csthi Spooner: Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy.
• 35:51
  Csthi Spooner: Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.