The 30th Annual Indiana Association for Play Therapy Conference

Conference Workshop Overview: Using Play Therapy to Heal Wounded Attachment and Dissociation

Day 1:

Play therapists are often at loss when treating attachment wounds and managing dissociative symptoms. We will take a prescriptive approach to play therapy treatment of attachment wounds, using neurosequential thinking and dyadic play therapy techniques and attachment-focused modalities to support gradual change for the child with a fractured sense of self. Our goal will be for clinicians to increase the intentional use of the self in these encounters with children and caregivers in the play therapy setting through an experiential exploration of their own attachment style and an awareness of how these patterns develop in the therapeutic relationship with the child.

Involving the family/caregivers in these attachment focused play therapy activities will increase their ability to mentalize for the child and allow for improved relationships at home, school and in the community. Extended case examples will help to illustrate this process. We will also focus on developing an in-depth case formulation and treatment plan and apply Child- Centered, Gestalt and other play therapy approaches within a prescriptive framework based on the current literature on polyvagal theory, developmental trauma and attachment and discuss the complications therapists may encounter in using trauma approaches such as trauma narratives, EMDR or TF-CBT to heal “attachment trauma”.

Objective 1

Describe at least three aspects of combining an in-depth attachment history with unfolding narratives and dynamics within play therapy sessions to assess for early attachment wounds and disruptions.

Objective 2

Utilize 3 mentalization questions and corresponding attachment repair interventions with caregivers in the play therapy room.

Objective 3

Utilize animal archetypes to identify 8 adaptation strategies children use to cope with complex trauma and explore ways to employ these in the playroom.

Objective 4

Analyze themes of play to amplify and suggest metaphors for gradually approaching traumatic material as a way of assessing the attachment and pre-verbal trauma targets

Objective 5

Utilize a play-based storytelling method within a play therapy context to heal attachment wounds and preverbal traumas

Objective 6

Utilize 5 play therapy interventions which apply polyvagal theory and therapeutic presence in the playroom to activate the conditions for the interoception of safety

Day 2:

Exposure to severe and long-term trauma can lead children to exhibit concerning behaviors such as rages, destruction, self-harm, and switching into different self-states or emotional parts which are now understood as related to attachment wounds and dissociation and the accompanying fragmentation of the self. In this workshop, participants will practice an experiential approach to parts of the self through the projective power of play therapy, (especially Gestalt play therapy) and expressive arts activities and choose how to incorporate trauma processing (including with trauma protocols) in a titrated manner with the support of caregivers.

Objective 1

Participants will be able to describe 5 aspects of how dissociative fragmentation presents in our child and teen clients

Objective 2

Participants will be able to distinguish and describe 2 examples of how to initiate cooperation with self-states in the preparation phase and use developmentally appropriate ego-state language through play therapy modalities such as dolls/puppets, storytelling, sandtray or art.

Objective 3

Participants will apply principles and practices from Gestalt play therapy in a practice session to promote contact with protective parts of self

Objective 4

Participants will analyze a case example and apply play-based neurosequential thinking through regulation activities.

Objective 5

Participants will describe 3 examples of playful, active and creative trauma processing in order to help children with dissociative parts to access and process traumatic material

Objective 6

Participants will describe 4 principles in engaging and structuring caregiver participation in all the phases of trauma work and attachment repair.

About the Presenter

Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Buffalo, New York. Her specialties include attachment and child and adolescent trauma, and she also works with adult survivors. She is certified in EMDR and is an EMDR Approved Consultant and Trainer and a faculty member of the Child Trauma Institute, as well as a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor and Approved Provider of play therapy continuing education through the Association for Play Therapy. She provides consultation in person and remotely, and gives trainings locally and internationally. Her primary interest is in the intersection of play therapy and EMDR and has published on this topic including as co-editor of EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room: An Integrated Approach (2020) and the upcoming Oxford Handbook of EMDR

Annie Monaco, LCSW-R, RPT-S, is a faculty member of the Child Trauma Institute & Trauma Institute and co-founder of Playful EMDR, an online hub for training and consultation in treating trauma-exposed children. Annie travels throughout the US and internationally providing a multitude of trauma-informed trainings and agency and therapist consultation. Annie is an EMDRIA approved trainer of EMDR, EMDR Consultant and trainer of Progressive Counting. Annie also provides specialty trainings onattachment, dissociation, and EMDR with children and teens. Annie was a Director of Restorative Justice programs at anon-profit agency where she oversaw juvenile and adult offender programs for over 10 years. Presently her private practice includes specialties in foster care, out of country adoptions, juvenile justice and dissociation. Annie is the co-editor and contributor of chapters for EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room, An Integrated Approach (2020).

Ethics training will be provided during the lunch hour on June 25th, 2025.

Ethics Training (1 CE)

Food Pantry: The Delaware Township Community Center is collecting donations of non-perishable food items or personal hygiene items. Please consider donating when you come to the conference.

ADA: If you need special needs, please contact Paige Young via email at [email protected] or by phone at (574)340-3963

Dietary accommodations: If you are in need of dietary accommodations please contact us at [email protected]

Lodging:

Drury Inn & Suites Indianapolis Northeast

8180 North Shadeland Avenue

Indianapolis, IN 46250

(317)849-8900

/bookandstay/newreservation/?groupno=10134760

Reservations may also be made by calling 1-800-325-0720 and referring to the group number 10134760. ($135-144+tax)

LAST DAY TO BOOK AT SPECIAL RATE: 05/18/2025

(includes complementary breakfast; complementary dinner and two

complementary cocktails).

You are invited to join APT by going online: https://www.a4pt.org/page/Membership

Continuing Education

This event is sponsored by the Indiana Association for Play Therapy. The program offers 12.00 contact hours (6.00 hrs. per day), with full attendance required. The program also offers 1.00 of ethics training on Day 1, with full attendance required.

There is no additional fee to submit an application for CE credit. CE forms will be made available to participants by the Indiana Assn. Play Therapy. CE verification will be emailed to CE applicants following the event. If you have questions regarding continuing education, contact The Indiana Association for Play Therapy at [email protected]

Important: It is the responsibility of participants to determine if CE credit offered by The Indiana Association for Play Therapy will meet the regulations of their licensing/certification board.

Indiana Board Counseling/ Social Work/ MFT: Indiana Association for Play Therapy is recognized as a provider of continuing education by the Indiana Licensing Professional Agency for the (BHHS) social work, counseling, MFT, Provider 98001258-A, expiration 04/2026.

Play Therapy: The Indiana Association for Play Therapy is approved by the Association for Play Therapy to sponsor continuing education specific to play therapy. The Indiana Association for Play Therapy maintains responsibility for the program. APT Provider 23-716.

DEADLINES:

Early Bird Discount if registration completed by end of day, April 7, 2025.

Late Registration entered after May 26, 2025- LATE REGISTRATION CHARGE: $25.00

No registrations accepted after June 6, 2025.

Notify of cancellations by June 6, 2025.

**In the event of cancelation, Eventbrite registration fees will not be refunded

Questions regarding registration? Please contact by email [email protected]

Host or Publisher Indiana Association for Play Therapy