Attachment-based Expressive and Embodied Trauma Treatment for Children and Families within Play Therapy Sessions – Janet A. Courtney, PhD, RPT-S

About the webinar:

This past year has been a watershed of crisis emergency for children and families across the globe—the pandemic of COVID-19, loss of loved ones, unemployment, financial downturn, displacement of families, homelessness, increased natural disasters, racial discrimination, among others. For children and caretakers, these trauma experiences can have a lasting impact encoding deep within their bodies and cognitive and emotional processes. Mental health practitioners have seen a dramatic upsurge in clients suffering from increased anxiety, depression, isolation, somatic symptoms, domestic violence, and suicidal ideation. Many of these issues can cause disruptions in parent-child attachment relationships and within intergenerational family systems.

Presented from an informed neuroscience perspective, this webinar will examine attachment-based expressive and body-oriented play therapy approaches to heal the complex and shock traumas facing children and families. Participants will learn several resiliency focused approaches to repair relational trauma and disconnection. Drawing upon the wisdom of the body, participants will learn how nurturing touch parent-child play therapy interventions can enhance and repair attachment relationships, increase a neuroception of safety, decrease anxious states, and foster co-regulation. Specifically, participants will be introduced to an embodied Ericksonian-based therapeutic approach developed by Dr. Courtney, called FirstPlay® Kinesthetic Storytelling. Additionally, through experiential engagement, participants will learn several play therapy and expressive arts strategies to interrupt trauma-reactive patterns and to formulate new narratives of connection and healing. Creating a holding space of presence, practitioners will learn ways to stimulate the Vagus Nerve impacting the parasympathetic nervous system by guiding parents and children in self-soothing and mindfulness activities to regulate arousal states.

*Note, as many practitioners are now seeing clients virtually, the interventions presented will include a discussion on how they can be adapted to tele-health or in-person sessions.

Participants are invited to have available some colored pencils, crayons, or markers and paper for the expressive arts interventions.

Learning objectives:

• Evaluate the impact of the current global emergencies related to child and family stress and relational trauma.
• State three (3) ways that the neurobiology of touch supports secure attachment relationships.
• Describe how to implement at least one (1) FirstPlay Kinesthetic Storytelling intervention into a child and family play therapy session.
• Implement at least three (3) mindfulness skills and practice in child family play therapy that stimulates the vagus nerve and parasympathetic nervous system to promote self-soothing and to regulate arousal states.
• Demonstrate three (3) different expressive arts interventions in practice with children and families in play therapy to repair and build connections in relationships.

Teaching method:

The live webinars will be held online, through the video conferencing platform Zoom.us, which is free and easily accessible. Before the webinars, participants will receive detailed instructions about how to download the software (on PCs, MAC computers, tablets or mobile phones) and how to access the online meeting.
Participants will also be able to interact with the Speaker and ask questions, as well as to download teaching materials, as if the event was held in person. The only requirements to participate in the live webinars are the following: having one of the electronic devices noted above (and, if possible, using headset), as well as a good Internet connection, ideally a fibre broadband one. Attendance certificate:

ISC International will email an attendance certificate to every participant a few days after completion of the webinars.

About Dr. Courtney

Janet A. Courtney, PhD is Founder of FirstPlay Therapy®, a Registered Play Therapy-Supervisor, TEDx Speaker, and past Chair of the Association for Play Therapy Ethics and Practice Committee, and past President of the Florida Association for Play Therapy. She is author and editor of the following books: “Healing Child and Family Trauma through Expressive and Play Therapies: Art, Nature, Storytelling, Body & Mindfulness,” “Infant Play Therapy: Foundations, Programs, Models and Practice,” and “Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy: An Ethical and Clinical Guide.” Her research into practitioner experiences of touch and Developmental Play Therapy is published in the American Journal of Art Therapy, and the International Journal of Play Therapy. She is also published in the Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture. She is a contributing author in the book, “Play-based Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders;” as well as a chapter on Eco-psychology Play Therapy in, Environmental Expressive Therapies.

Dr. Courtney offers a certification in FirstPlay Therapy® for two different developmental stages including infant mental health up to pre-teens. She provides training to professionals in FirstPlay Therapy®, ethical and clinical competencies of touch, expressive child and family play therapies, and nature-based play therapies. She has been invited to speak nationally and internationally including Bali, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, England, Ireland, Morocco, Russia, and the Ukraine. She is a provider through the Florida state boards of Mental Health and Massage Therapy, and an approved provider through the Association for Play Therapy. She specializes in Infant Mental Health and Infant Play Therapy, Attachment, and Trauma related issues. Dr. Courtney’s new form of attachment-based Kinesthetic Storytelling® can be found in her children’s book, The Magic Rainbow (also in Spanish). Website: www.FirstPlayTherapy.com