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.
96 Episodes
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Send us 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 to...
Send us 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...
Send us 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...
Send us 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 f...
Send us a text 🚨 The Big Miss in Traditional Play Therapy (And Why It’s Holding Back Progress) We talk a lot about helping kids heal using play therapy… But here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud: Most traditional play therapy approaches treat the child like they exist in a vacuum. 👀 Reality check: What kid do you know is paying their own rent, making their own dinner, and handling life without family dynamics shaping them every single day? Exactly. None. Families are ...
Send us a text 🚨 5 Signs You Might Be Accidentally Sabotaging Your Play Therapy Progress (and What to Do Instead) If you’re a play therapist who’s tired of getting those frantic mid-week parent calls, texts, or emails saying “nothing is working”—even though you see real progress in the playroom—this week’s free livestream is for you. Here’s the hard truth: sometimes our best play therapy efforts fall flat outside our offices. Parents get frustrated. Kids feel misunderstood....
Send us a text The norm in play therapy, and the mental health profession in general, is to meet with a child or teen every week for individual counseling sessions and meet with parents as an adjunct to treatment. This format has been around for decades and is the approach taught in most universities. I’ve always been a believer that this isn’t the best way to help children heal. Don’t get me wrong – individual play therapy counseling is beneficial and I use it with my clients. &...
Send us a text If you’re a play therapist – either a newbie, got some experience under your belt, or full on seasoned play therapist – this is bound to happen more than once. To be honest I’ve had this happen so many times, I’ve lost count. You get frantic phone calls, emails, or texts between sessions telling you all the “bad” things your client is doing at home or school. You can hear the concern in their parents’ voices and you feel the pressure in your chest to fix it fast. ...
Send us a text How many of you have had this happen with play therapy clients (raise your virtual hand in the Comments) – You greet your client in the waiting room and your client looks at you with an eager face and asks, “Can my mom/dad come with us?” 🙄 Or … When you meet with parents for the first time and they ask you why you only meet with their child. Why don’t they get to join the sessions? They want to know what you’re doing with their child. 😬 Or … You kn...
Send us a text Have you ever had this happen with a play therapy client? You greet your young client in the lobby and your client asks – “Can my mom/dad come with us today?” Or maybe you’re talking with a parent who asks you what you do in their child’s play therapy sessions and why do you only work with their child? Why aren’t they (parents) allowed in the play therapy session? What do you say as you feel the lump in your throat growing and your voice stammers a little bit to fin...
Send us a text Raise your virtual hand and shout YES! if you never make mistakes and you are the perfect play therapist who does everything right all the time. Do you hear those crickets? 🦗🦗🦗 The sound of silent voices, well, except for the crickets. 😂 That’s because no one is perfect. The good news is that we don’t need to be perfect. If you have been doubting yourself and thinking about all the ways you messed up and probably made things worse, Then you are not a...
Send us a text What’s one of the biggest struggles play therapists say causes them to feel anxious, incompetent, frustrated, and generally overwhelmed on a regular basis? If you guessed working with parents – winner, winner, chicken dinner! It’s one of the most common challenges I hear from play therapists. Do any of these sound familiar? “I can’t get parents to schedule a parent only session with me.” “I’m getting lots of phone calls, texts, and emails from a parent telling me all ...
Send us a text When I talk with play therapists about reasons they avoid having difficult conversations with parents/caregivers, here's the most common worry they tell me 👇 “What if I say something and they pull their kid from play therapy?” It can feel awful when parents terminate play therapy before real change can happen. We feel like giant failures and then start listing all the ways we failed the child (and ourselves). So, this fear is real. Sometimes parents do pull their...
Send us a text 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 therapy? Hmmmmm. What the heck does that question even mean? Essentially clinical decision-making involves our expertise and training in a play therapy model and how play therapists engage in the decision-making process to get excellent treatment results for their clients. Is the clinic...
Send us a text What do you do when you keep getting frantic phone calls from caregivers between play therapy sessions telling you all the things going wrong with their child? You feel the weight of these phone calls and the pressure to make everything better- quickly. You’ve tried many times to get these caregivers to schedule an appointment with you but there’s always a reason they can’t meet with you. So, you spend hours writing emails and responding to phone calls with little to no s...
Send us a text Have you ever thought to yourself when it’s just you and you’ve had a hard day - “I wish I had someone to help me process what just happened in that play therapy session.” If you’re like most play therapists that I’ve met, you’re probably the only one in your agency or group that works with kids and uses play therapy (or is aspiring to learn play therapy). Being a play therapist can feel lonely and challenging because you don’t have others who “get it” about the benefits of...
Send us a text If you’re a play therapist - Do you find yourself doing any of these? 👇 🙄 Constantly searching for new activities online 🙄 Have folders full of saved play therapy interventions 🙄 Still feeling uncertain about client progress 🙄 Wondering why 'perfect' activities aren't creating lasting change If you're like most play therapists I know, you probably have folders of saved play therapy activities, Pinterest boards full of ideas, and a bookshelf o...
Send us a text Is this just a flower… or a window into healing using play therapy? How do you know if your client is ‘just playing’ or doing deep therapeutic work in play therapy sessions? Ever stared at a child’s drawing of a flower and thought: “Is this meaningful… or are we just passing time?” You’re not alone. As play therapists, we’re trained to honor the child’s process—but let’s be real: There are times when it’s hard to tell the difference between meaningful play and…...
Send us a text Have you ever thought to yourself - I have no idea how play therapy actually helps my traumatized client heal? Then I’ve got good news for you! ✨ This week’s livestream episode is focused on the hidden healing power of play therapy for traumatized children. What if a pile of toys, a safe room, and a listening heart could help rewire a child’s nervous system? In this week’s free livestream episode, I’m peeling back the curtain on something profound—how play becomes the l...
Send us a text There is no such thing as the best approach for play therapy with traumatized kids. What????!!!! 😱 Searching for the ONE approach that will heal ALL your traumatized clients and is BETTER THAN all the play therapy models existing today is an exercise in frustration, overwhelm, and exhaustion. I know what you’re thinking 👇 If that’s the case, then how do you help your traumatized clients heal using play therapy? There are a few things to consider when usin...
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