Claim OwnershipNext Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence
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Join me on Next Level Play Therapy, a podcast for child and adolescent therapists seeking to elevate your play therapy services. Hosted by Cathi Spooner, LCSW, RPT-S, at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training.
Each episode delves into the nuances of play therapy, exploring innovative techniques, evidence-based practices, and practical strategies for providing exceptional therapeutic experiences. These engaging discussions cover a wide range of topics, including building rapport with children, how to make sure you get great outcomes for clients, therapeutic toys and tools and strategies to use in sessions, addressing trauma and attachment issues, engaging parents, promoting emotional regulation, and nurturing resilience for children and their families.
Whether you're an experienced therapist looking to refine your skills or a novice clinician venturing into the world of play therapy, the Next Level Play Therapy podcast equips you with the knowledge and insights to enhance your play therapy practice. With interviews featuring experts in play therapy, exploration of best practices, discussion of game-changing principles and strategies, this podcast equips you with the tools to unlock the amazing power of play therapy to transform the lives of children, adolescents, and families.
Tune in to Next Level Play Therapy and take a journey towards becoming an exceptional play therapist as we navigate the next level strategies that lead to profound healing and growth for children and their families.
112 Episodes
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Send a text Can you really use sand tray therapy with adolescents? Absolutely—and when you understand how to adapt it developmentally, sand tray becomes one of the most powerful expressive arts tools to use with teens. In this podcast episode, I’m diving into how to use sand tray with teens in a way that respects their autonomy, supports emotional regulation, and deepens therapeutic insight. If you’re a play therapist who has ever wondered whether sand tray feels “too young” for a...
Send a text This week I’m sharing one of my favorite ways to help teens access the therapeutic powers of play using poetry. Yes - poetry! If you’re rolling your eyes and remembering your high school English class feeling tortured by reading poetry, then rest assured - this is not your high school English class version of poetry. Poetry is an expressive arts modality that allows clients to use words and language for expression - like the lyrics of your favorite songs. This week I’m sharing my ...
Send a text Play therapy isn’t for adolescents. It’s just for little kids. There’s a misbelief in the mental health community that play therapy is only for little kids. Maybe you’ve wondered that yourself. Play therapy can be an amazing way to help adolescents engage in healing and in a way that meets their developmental needs. Rather than asking IF play therapy works for adolescents – Ask –HOW is play therapy beneficial for adolescents? Using play therapy with adolescents r...
Send a text Ever sit across from a teen in session, clock ticking, silence screaming… and your nervous system quietly panicking? Yeah. This episode is for that moment. In this week’s podcast, we’re naming the thing no one warned you about in grad school: why play therapists feel stuck with teens—and why it’s not because you’re doing it wrong. Here’s the hard truth (said with love): 👉 Trying harder to get teens to talk about their feelings is often the exact thing keeping them ...
Send a text Happy International Play Therapy Week! 🎉 What is play therapy—and how is it different from simply using games and activities in therapy sessions? This is a common and critical question for mental health professionals working with children. While games, art, and activities are often part of therapy, play therapy is a distinct, evidence-based clinical approach grounded in child development, theory, and the therapeutic relationship. In this special International Play Therapy Week con...
Send a text More Impact. Less Burnout. isn’t a cute slogan. It’s a line in the sand. Because here’s the truth most play therapists won’t say out loud: Burnout doesn’t come from caring too much. It comes from doing this work alone. In this week’s free livestream episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on why being part of a strategic play therapy community isn’t optional if you want sustainable impact in play therapy. Not another play therapy training. Not more play therapy activities.&...
Send a text What if better results in play therapy didn’t come from more play therapy activities, more games, or more play therapy training — but from clearer thinking? In this week’s free livestream episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on the real secret sauce: case conceptualization. Because if you don’t know what’s driving the behavior, how do you decide what to do in play therapy sessions without guessing? 👀 We’ll talk about why your play therapy model actually matters (yep—models...
Send a text If you’re a mental health professional, including play therapy, we’ve all heard this said and probably even said it ourselves: consultation is a clinical and ethical part of providing effective play therapy (and therapy in general). Truthfully – I have mixed feelings about this statement. From a clinical and ethical standpoint, consultation is an important part of providing quality mental health services to our clients, including play therapy. I’m a firm believer in gettin...
Send a text A New Year Is a Chance to Stop Doing Play Therapy Alone. A new year begins… and for many play therapists, your caseloads are already full. Same questions about what you should be doing in play therapy sessions to “get it right.” Same feeling of wishing there was someone who truly understood your play therapy work so you could share ideas and support. If you ended last year feeling tired, isolated, or second-guessing yourself, this week’s free livestream is for you. ...
Send a text Helping Neurodivergent Kids Thrive in the Playroom: A Conversation with Dr. Robert Jason Grant Every month inside Play Therapy Academy and the Play Therapy Elevation CIRCLE, I hear the same heart-wide-open question: “What’s the best way to support neurodivergent kids in play therapy so they can truly thrive?” And honestly? Same. It’s a big, beautiful question — and the kind of question that deserves wisdom from someone who’s both deeply trained and living the neurodi...
Send a text 🎁 Pulled from the Vault: An Oldie but Goodie I’m officially taking a break this holiday season — slowing down, soaking up family time, and sipping something warm by the tree. ✨ But I didn’t want to leave you hanging! So I dug into the vault and pulled out one of the most-loved livestream episodes I’ve ever done. And honestly? It’s still 🔥 relevant today. Over the last 15+ years of supervising and training play therapists, I’ve noticed one big mistake that keeps showing up again...
Send a text Happy holidays!! I’ve decided to take two weeks off to spend the holiday season focusing on my family. So – I went back into my livestream vault and found this oldie but goodie! Check out this podcast discussing some interesting information I gleaned from research and what it means for play therapists. How does being trained to use a specific play therapy model influence clinical decision-making vs clinical decision-making of child/adolescent therapists using play in t...
Send a text 🎶 This Week’s Podcast: How Music Helps Kids Heal — A Heartfelt Conversation with Crystal Luk-Worrall If you’ve ever watched a child hum softly during play… tap a rhythm while they’re telling a story… or light up when you mirror the beat they’re creating… …you already know music has its own kind of magic in the playroom. This week, we’re going deeper into that magic with a guest whose work is as grounded as it is breathtaking — Crystal Luk-Worrall, a London-based music th...
Send a text If you’ve ever wondered how to set up a sand tray during play therapy sessions in a way that feels intentional, grounded, and supportive of your client’s nervous system, this episode is your new BFF. We’re diving into the essentials — starting with how to introduce the sand tray using child-centered, non-directive prompts and when to lean into thoughtful directive prompts that still honor the client’s process. Then we’ll get real about boundaries (aka the invisible safety net of e...
Send a text If I say play therapy treatment plans, what’s the first thing that pops into your brain? “Aaaaagh! I hate writing treatment plans! They’re just more paperwork to make insurance happy.” “Ugh, they’re so complicated and confusing.” “Treatment plans are pointless. I never use them and they take forever.” “I get why we need them… but writing them for play therapy clients? Overwhelming.” If you’re in the mental health world — even in the play therapy realm — you’ve probably t...
Send a text When kids can’t find the words, the sand tray speaks for them in play therapy sessions. In this week’s podcast episode, we’ll look at how sand tray therapy taps into the implicit memories stored beneath language — The attachment patterns, emotional imprints, and unspoken stories that surface symbolically before they ever become verbal. If you’ve ever felt goosebumps watching a client create a scene that “says everything without saying anything,” this one’s for you. ✨...
Send a text Sand Tray Therapy vs. Sandplay Therapy: What’s the Difference—And Why It Matters for Play Therapists Ever find yourself wondering, “Wait… am I doing sandplay therapy or sand tray therapy?” 👀 You’re not alone — and it’s way more than a semantics thing. In this podcast episode, we’re unpacking the fascinating roots and modern applications of both approaches — from Dora Kalff’s Jungian foundations to the integrative, attachment-focused sand tray therapy so many of us use today...
Send a text I love love love using sand tray therapy in family play therapy sessions! Watching how families approach and complete the activities provides a wealth of information about interaction patterns and how each family member sees the world and their family relationships. When I use sand tray activities in family play therapy sessions, I like to use activities that allow me to observe interaction patterns. As play therapists working with children in family systems, we recognize th...
Send a text 🌪️ Family Play Therapy + Sand Tray = Chaos or Connection? Ever had a family play therapy session turn into a sand-flinging circus? 🙃 One minute it feels like magic, the next like total mayhem. The truth is—the sand tray can be one of the most powerful tools for family healing… but only if you know how to guide the process with purpose. 👉 In this week’s episode, I’ll show you how to move from chaos to clarity with 3 practical tips for using sand tray in family play therapy se...
Send a text 3 Hidden Mistakes Sabotaging Your Family Play Therapy Sessions “Let’s invite the parents in…” Sounds simple, right? But if you’ve ever had a family play therapy session dissolve into chaos—or worse, sit in painful silence—you know it’s anything but simple. Here’s the secret nobody tells you: those messy moments aren’t proof you failed. They’re actually your biggest opportunities for healing. In this week’s podcast, you’ll discover: ✨ Why treating fami...
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