When Behavior Speaks: Play Therapy Interventions for Challenging Behaviors

This is a 4-hour online course, and we will have 2 breaks. Earn 5 CEs for ASWB and NBCC and 5 Non-Contact hours APT. Share with others!
About this Event

When Behavior Speaks: Play Therapy Interventions for Challenging Behaviors
Trainer: Sabra Starnes, LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW, RPT-S, M.Ed
Attend online or in person!
Brief Description

Challenging behaviors are often expressions of unmet needs, emotional dysregulation, trauma, or environmental stress.

A hybrid experiential training helps clinicians interpret behavioral presentations through a play therapy framework and respond with developmentally attuned, evidence-informed interventions.
Participants will deepen their understanding of the emotional meaning behind aggression, defiance, withdrawal, impulsivity, and disruptive behaviors. The training integrates attachment theory, nervous system regulation, and trauma-informed care with both directive and non-directive play therapy techniques.
Through hands-on activities, structured case consultation, and intervention design, clinicians will leave with practical strategies they can immediately implement in their sessions.

During This Training, Participants Will:

· Understand how challenging behaviors communicate unmet needs through a play therapy lens.

· Identify emotional, relational, trauma-related, and neurobiological contributors to dysregulation.

· Experience regulation-based play interventions that support nervous system stabilization.

· Practice therapeutic limit-setting grounded in child-centered play therapy principles.

· Learn directive play therapy techniques for aggression, defiance, and impulsivity.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to:

1. Identify at least four emotional, relational, trauma-related, or neurobiological contributors to challenging behaviors in students.

2. Explain how play therapy conceptualizes behavior as symbolic communication rather than solely defiance or noncompliance.

3. Demonstrate effective therapeutic limit-setting responses consistent with child-centered play therapy principles within school environments.

4.List regulation-based play or expressive interventions to support students experiencing aggression, impulsivity, or emotional dysregulation