Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence Cathi Spooner, LCSW, RPT-S

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 it helpful to ...

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 therapy case co...

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 sessions. ...

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, and s...

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, I...