Play Therapy 

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS 

Implicit Bias Awareness in the Play Therapy Room

The purpose of the Implicit Bias Awareness in the Play Therapy Room Workshop is to build a shared understanding of key terms and definitions around implicit bias, reflect on the implicit biases that each of us holds, and actively practice strategies for mitigating the impacts of implicit bias and interrupting their effects on people, systems and structures, policies, and practices, especially in play therapy. 

Participants will learn about implicit biases and understand that we all hold implicit biases at all times- for survival and brain functioning. But, how can these problematic narratives that we hold in our work impact our work with children and families? What is the science behind biases and how do we mitigate them? How can play therapists make sure we maintain awareness around biases and manage the disproportionalities in our work? We will dive into skills, practices, methods and techniques to address these issues in the play therapy room.

Learning Objectives

1. Identify, recognize and differentiate between implicit and explicit bias and how we all perpetuate harm.

2. Determine where we get our biases from (messages, stories, media).

3. Discuss and describe brain science around bias and use activities to practice brain science.

4.  Explain and demonstrate how these biases show up in therapeutic work.

5. Identify and utilize strategies to mitigate biases specific to play therapy.

6.  Practice and demonstrate prioritizing impact over intent. 

DATE: Monday May 8th, 2023

TIME: 11am-1pm 

CREDITS: 2  CE Interactive Live Webinar

CONTENT LEVEL:  All Levels of Practitioners

APT Approved Provider # 22-680

Decolonizing Play Therapy: Tools to be an Anti-Oppressive Play Therapist

How can we apply white-centered theories to Black and Brown individuals? How do we do this well in a historically white modality? What is the research of Play Therapy on marginalized individuals and how do we do this work better?

The purpose of the Decolonizing Play Therapy Workshop is to understand ways we can decolonize our therapeutic practices in the world of Play Therapy. We typically apply white-centered theories to Black and Brown individuals, even children! How do we understand play therapy as a historically white modality? What is the research of Play Therapy on marginalized individuals and how do we do this work better? We will learn key terms like colorblindness, poverty disciplining, deficit thinking and white dominant culture and apply them to children’s lives in the home, education, and in the world. We will explore how texts like the DSM and psychological handbooks impact the way we think about clients through play therapy. We will integrate ancestral wisdom into our practice to best serve clients of color and white clients alike. We will learn how to integrate disability justice, healing justice, and anti-oppression into our work through play therapy theories, methods, techniques, and practice. 

Learning Objectives

1. Define colorblindness, deficit thinking, poverty discliping, white dominant culture

2. Explore and identify impacts of white-centered texts and play therapy on clients 

3. Examine and analyze diagnoses that can be harmful without careful consideration to complex histories and context

4. Define, identify and analyze anti-oppression in our play therapy

5. Demonstrate ways to be anti-colonial in play therapeutic work while reflecting how other participants of our practice feel about these issues.

DATE: Wednesday, May 17, 2023

TIME: 11am-1pm 

CREDITS: 2  CE Interactive Live Webinar

CONTENT LEVEL:  All Levels of Practitioners

APT Approved Provider # 22-680