Adult Play Therapy and Parenting Skills : (2-day, 13 CEs)

As a Marriage and Family Therapist it has been my desire to consider the whole system when working with children. Sometimes families have been ready to come for family therapy sessions all together at day one and those situations have worked well. But, more often, I noticed that in my eagerness to involve parents, sometimes I was too quick to jump to things like family therapy. Don’t get me wrong, I love interventions like Family Play Therapy and Filial Therapy (they are my favorite to do and teach), but oftentimes, I have learned there are some building blocks that are needed to bridge families to those interventions, and meeting those needs first set everyone up for sucess.

In my experience, parents are often entering the counseling process overwhelmed, stressed, burnout, and discouraged. Sometimes they lack parenting skills, or maybe they have many skills but not ones that fit their child’s unique needs. Sometimes, they have all the skills, but are too exhausted to keep using them. Sometimes they are without support systems, resources, or respite care they are desperately in need of.

When we can see parents and meet them where they are at, we create the ability to join with them as a team and here the whole family wins! Meanwhile, the world of Adult Play Therapy shows meaningful ways we can integrate play therapy techniques.

In this training we will be discussing the use of various play therapy techniques to help form bonds with parents and learn how to join with them so you can work together as a team. We will also explore how to assess whether they are needing respite care or self-compassion, parenting skills or resources, and how to utilize play therapy to meet these various needs.

With use of lecture, videos, demonstrations, and role play, we will play our way through this program.

Prerequisite: None

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This workshop is designed to help you:

1. Describe various media and methods for use of Adult Play Therapy for working with parents.
2. Utilize Adult Play THerapy to assess for parents needs and compile matching treatment goals.
3. Describe a way of utilizing Expressive Art therapy to help clients identify ways to increase their support systems.
4. Demonstrate 3 Sandtray Play Therapy or Expressive Arts techniques for helping parents identify ways to self-regulate while parenting.
5. Explain 4 Sandtray Play Therapy or Expressive Arts techniques to help parents process grief related to parenting.
6. Recite the process of learning skills to aid in having realistic expectations for how parents develop or change parenting patterns or skills as they engage in the process of Play Therapy.
7. Identify resources to use to help parents gain realistic expectations for their children’s developmental process.
8. List verbal and non-verbal co-regulation strategies for parents to use to regulate a highly dysregulated child that incorporate the therapeutic powers of play.
9. Identify structuring strategies for meeting child’s needs to decrease behaviors.
10. Compare Natural Consequences, verses Related Consequences, versus Unrelated Consequences.
11. Practice utilizing Drama Play Therapy to help parents gain parenting skills like Redos and Positive Predicting to encourage positive loop patterns of behavior.
12. Describe how parents can provide repair in response to attachment disruptions and utilize Play Therapy to engage in self-forgiveness.
13. Describe key characteristics of a therapist that help create a safe environment for parents to learn and grow while engaged in Adult Play Therapy.

APT Approved Provider #19-592 for 13 CE hours.

This training is classified as a "Contact" trianing.

Location: 999 N. Main St. Suite #202 (second floor), Glen Ellyn, IL, 60137

Schedule: Friday and Saturday April 11th and 12th 2025, 8am-3:30pm CST,

Friday, April 11th 7:45am CST Registration, 8am-3:30pm CST Training (meal break from 11:30am-12:30pm)

Saturday, April 12th 7:45am CST Registration, 8am-3:30pm CST Training (meal break from 11:30am-12:30pm)

Meals on your own. Snacks, coffee and tea will be provided!

Investment: $150 for Full-Time students ($85 per day), $295 Early Bird Rate for Professionals available before April 1st. $355 regular fee for Professionals after April 1st.

$75 discount for those who work at a non-profit. Tickets in this category are limited and indicated at checkout by the title "Nonprofit and Associate Licensed Professional Rate". Please provide a copy of tax exempt status via email to [email protected]. There are limited spots available for this discount per training.

$75 discount for those who have an Associate license only. Tickets in this category are limited and are indicated at checkout by the title "Nonprofit and Associate Licensed Professional Rate". Please provide a copy of your associate license via email to [email protected] . There are limited spots available for this discount per training.

Payments accepted: Credit Card (thru Eventbrite), Check or Chase Quick Pay Zelle (received 1 week before event)

Refund: Full Refund Available (minus credit card fees) up to 7 days in advance.

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Sharon Bryant, LMFT, EMDR, RPT-S, CCPT-S, FFT-S, is certified in Child-Centered Play Therapy, Filial Therapy, Relationship Enhancement Programming, and is an EMDRIA Approved EMDR Trained Clinician. Sharon is a Child-Centered Play Therapy and Filial Family Therapy Skills Consultant for NIRE. She is the founder of Flourishing Families LLC and works in private practice at Flourishing Families LLC in Glen Ellyn, IL. She has presented twice at the NIRE national conference in Washington D.C., has taught play therapy as an adjunct professor, and has trained in play therapy for a variety of settings. Sharon has co-authored a life-skills curriculum called Back on Track and has contributed to a marriage-enrichment program (“Couple Talk”) as well as a parenting book titled A Life Shared: Meaningful Conversations with Our Kids.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]

Flourishing Families delivers quality training, supervision, and resources for mental health professionals. Our goal is to empower, equip, and nurture clinicians to enable them to provide quality mental health services that help families heal and flourish. Flourishing Families is an APT Approved Provider #19-592.

Flourishing Families

999 N. Main St. Suite #103

Glen Ellyn, IL

60137

Click here to receive more info on what we have for you: http://eepurl.com/gfg8Gr

Host or Publisher Flourishing Families, LLC