Day 1:

Presenter: Brandy Rogers, LPC, RPT-S, CPCS, ACS

APT content areas: 6 hours Special Topics

This workshop offers a comprehensive exploration of trauma in children, focusing on developmental and complex trauma, and the diagnosis and manifestation of PTSD across various age groups. Participants will gain practical knowledge of evidence-based treatments for children with trauma histories, with special attention to the nuances of treating sexual abuse allegations. Additionally, the workshop will emphasize the importance of cultural and social justice considerations in providing equitable and trauma-informed care.

Learning Objectives:

1. Define and differentiate developmental and complex trauma with a child development lens.
2. Identify and apply DSM-5-TR criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in children.
3. Describe how PTSD manifests across the developmental stages.
4. Identify common evidence-based treatments for children with trauma histories.
5. Recognize nuances in using play therapy with children facing sexual abuse allegations.
6. Engage and Support Parents in Play Therapy for Children Facing Sexual Abuse Allegations.
   

Day 2: Morning Session

Presenter: Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S

**Note: Paris will join all participants via Zoom from The Nurture House in Tennessee. All in-person participants will receive contact CE credit if they are in-person at the 1818 Club.**

APT content areas: 3 hours Skills and Methods

The stories we are told are the stories we become…until we write a new story. Play therapy provides the perfect environment for transforming narratives that hurt us into narratives that heal us. TraumaPlay therapists work to hold the hard stories of families in distress, scaffolding an understanding of the neurobiology of trauma, the neurobiology of play, and the power of one to heal the other. Ongoing person of the play therapist work includes stretching our abilities to lean into, instead of away from, hard things. Play therapists are constantly nuancing narratives for children, attempting to tell the truth in a developmentally sensitive way while avoiding colluding with a family’s silence in the wake of trauma. This workshop will address multiple play therapy interventions for storytelling and story-keeping with children, their parents, and the whole family system.

Learning Objectives

1. List the three roles embodied by play therapists when they are using TraumaPlay™.

2. Define the phrase continuum of disclosure.

3. Describe three forms of Storykeeping that play therapy offers.

4. List five immediately useful play therapy interventions that facilitate narrative work in TraumaPlay™.

5. Name four mitigators listed on the play therapist’s palette.

6. Utilize five play therapy interventions aimed at integrating somatic or sensory experiences into trauma narrative work.

Day 2: Afternoon Session

Presenter: Brandy Rogers, LPC, RPT-S, CPCS, ACS

APT content areas: 3 hours Cultural and Social Diversity

Panelist:

Jennifer Mejias, LMFT, RPT

Mary "Terry" Freeman-Walters, MAC, LPC, CPCS

Additional panelists pending

This workshop will delve into the cultural and social diversity considerations in treating childhood trauma through play therapy, with a focus on how religion, cultural norms, and parent involvement influence therapeutic outcomes. Participants will gain valuable perspectives from a panel of diverse speakers, equipping them to deliver culturally responsive and trauma-informed care.

Learning Objectives

1.    Explore how religious beliefs and practices influence the experience of trauma in children and how to respectfully incorporate these beliefs into play therapy.

2.    Identify cultural norms associated with shame, modesty, and touch, as discussed by a diverse panel of speakers, and integrate these considerations into trauma-informed play therapy practices.

3.    Discuss how cultural differences impact parent involvement in play therapy, and develop strategies to effectively engage parents from various backgrounds in the therapeutic process.