If you’re a play therapist and you have struggled to write progress notes that make sense without draining your brain, then you are definitely not alone.  Maybe you feel confused and overwhelmed about writing play therapy notes because you have no idea what to write that makes sense and doesn’t sound like you just played for an hour with your client.  😂 These are the struggles of many play therapists. Writing play therapy progress notes can be exhausting, confusing, and frustrating. If...

If you’re a mental health professional in the United States, you might have heard about the CURES Act. It’s created quite a buzz in the mental health community. Maybe you’ve heard of Open Notes. Essentially the discussion about progress notes in the medical community, including the mental health community, revolves around clients’ access to their medical records. Open Notes are a form of co-creating progress notes with clients. When dealing with challenging topics and issues, I find...

Play therapists place a lot of emphasis on recognizing themes in play therapy sessions. Why? Because understanding play behaviors and recognizing what clients are communicating in their play is critical to help them in the healing process. Here’s where case conceptualization is often overlooked when making sense of what’s going on in play therapy for your clients. Understanding play therapy themes is heavily influenced by your play therapy model. What does that have to do with play...

Have you ever struggled to figure out what exactly your clients are communicating during their play therapy sessions? Whether you’re a new play therapist or a seasoned play therapist, identifying themes can be challenging. Learning to recognize themes in your clients’ play therapy sessions is a great way to understand what they are communicating through their play. That’s why I’m soooooooooooo excited to have my guest, Dr. Jodi Mullen, share her tips identifying themes in play therapy...

There is a lot of terrible information being shared in the mental health community about writing progress notes. Some information is based on fear, some information is based on misunderstanding about progress notes, and some information is based on minimizing the importance of progress notes.  (Ouch!) 😲 Over the last 30+ years in the mental health field, I’ve heard and seen most of the terrible information being shared about writing progress notes. Not all the information is terrible,...

What’s the secret to success using play therapy like a pro? Any new play therapist will tell you that the thing that drives them to learn new things 👇 is their desire to make a difference in the lives of children. Over the last 15 years supervising new play therapists, I’ve witnessed four things that are 🔑for your success using play therapy so you can accomplish your dream. Learning to use play therapy takes dedication to take risks and overcome challenges. Join me for this weekly podcast, ...

If you’re a child/adolescent mental health professional, then you probably have children and adolescents on your caseload who are reluctant to engage in therapy. These children can be overwhelming and frustrating, even for seasoned therapists. What can you do to engage them in sessions so you can help them? Knowing how to use play therapy strategies effectively can make a huge difference to engage your young clients in the change process. Join me for this week’s podcast episode with my guest,...

How do I know what’s happening in my clients’ play therapy sessions? How do I know what’s important to notice and what’s not important in play therapy sessions? How do I know what my clients’ behaviors in play therapy sessions mean? These are often the questions asked by new play therapists.   Anyone new to play therapy will have asked these questions at some point when learning to use play therapy with their young clients. There’s a deeper level of learning needed underlying these...

One of the biggest struggles for play therapists is understanding and recognizing themes in play therapy. Play therapists use themes in play therapy sessions to help them understand what’s going on with their clients and how they are progressing in play therapy. But, I’ve always wondered who decided what themes represent or how we recognize them in play therapy sessions. So, I went on a journey of looking into what research has to say about themes in play therapy.  (My journey is more...

What can neuroscience tell us about creating a strong therapeutic relationship that allows our clients to feel safe during the change process? 🤔 Congruence in play therapy is the ability to align our internal experiences with our external expressions of unconditional positive regard and empathy. Our resonance circuits, as termed by Daniel Siegel in his book Mindsight, discusses the role of resonance circuitry when connecting in sessions with clients to facilitate change. Learning to use...

Congruence is such a nice sounding therapy word when thinking about how to be the best version of yourself in play therapy sessions.   (I have visions of unicorns and happily ever after music playing in my head 🦄 🎶) Sounds so easy, right? But it’s easier said than done. No one can be 100% congruent with their clients (or their kids, or their partners, or their friends - you get the point) all of the time.  It’s impossible. What are things that interfere with being congruent with...

Have you ever had a client that just didn’t seem to make any progress in play therapy even with all  your best efforts? What can you do to figure out what’s going on with your clients? Assessment is one of the core competencies in play therapy. There are some forms of assessment we can do as child/adolescent therapists, and some types of assessment require more formal training. Sometimes, formal assessment can provide a wealth of information to better understand your young clients so...

Fundamental to the therapeutic process is a strong therapeutic relationship. This requires the ability to understand congruence and how to use congruence as part of your therapeutic use of self in sessions. This is also true in play therapy.   In fact, therapeutic use of self and congruence in play therapy are core competency skills in play therapy. How do you use congruence in play therapy? What does congruence in play therapy look like? Several play therapists examined...

Adolescents have their own unique needs in the treatment process. Play therapists often struggle with knowing how to help their adolescent clients access the therapeutic powers of play for healing. Using expressive arts with adolescents provides an excellent way to help them process and explore painful emotions and experiences. But, many therapists don’t use expressive arts due to their misconceptions about this powerful modality. I’m going to discuss three misconceptions about using...

What mistakes in play therapy with traumatized children and teens are critical to avoid? No one wants to provide terrible play therapy services. I’ve never heard a play therapist say - “I’m okay with providing mediocre play therapy services to my clients, especially clients with traumatic experiences.” That would be terrible, right?! And yet, sometimes we don’t really know how to provide play therapy to traumatized children and teens so they get the most benefit from the experience. So,...

Have you heard of a condition called alexithymia? Probably not because most mental health professionals are not familiar with this term. I wasn’t until I came across the term while looking at research about trauma. What does alexithymia have to do with trauma and working with children and teens in play therapy? That’s an excellent question! Alexithymia is a condition that can be found in people with depression, PTSD, schizophrenia, and autism. Have you ever had a client in sessions who...

Have you ever had an adolescent client sitting across from you during therapy sessions who was not opening up despite all your best rapport building efforts? They sit there across from  you slumped in their chair (maybe hood on their head) or looking at you with a blank face? It can be challenging working with youth who can’t (or won’t) open up and talk about what’s causing so much pain and distress in their lives. If you’re a play therapist, how do you provide play therapy services to...