CHILD CENTERED PLAY THERAPY (CCPT) BASICS AND HEALING TRAUMA

*** This training is scheduled to take place in person. The location is 975 Foot Hills Rd Greenville at the Charles E. Shipman Center. ***

Children typically struggle to bridge the gap between concrete experience and abstract thought. Additionally, trauma impacts the brain in ways that inhibit cognitive processes and behavior. Play therapy helps children process these abstract experiences through concrete means (Landreth et al., 2009; Ray, 2004; Ray, 2005). Materials and toys are therefore used to directly or symbolically play out emotions, thoughts, or experiences that occur in their concrete and active world. Play provides an opportunity for the counselor to enter the world of children and for children to communicate at their level of understanding (Landreth et al., 2009). Play therapy has also been proven to be a statistically effective means of treating externalizing and internalizing problems in children regardless of setting, diagnosis, and cultural background (Bratton, et. al, 2005; Ray, 2011). This presentation will review these concepts and allow participants to practice basic CCPT skills.

 Objectives: 

1. Participants will be able to describe research, rationale, and theoretical base for using child centered play therapy (CCPT)

2. Participants will be able to identify the effects ACEs/trauma have on child behavior and the brain and how CCPT can help heal from trauma.

Participants will be able to describe the essential skills of child-centered play therapy (CCPT) as well as applications to their setting.

Dr. Jennifer Geddes Hall, LPCS/LCMHC, RPT is an associate clinical professor at Clemson University. She has experience as a child/teen therapist, school counselor, and clinical supervisor in rural and urban areas. Dr. Hall has provided counseling services in a variety of settings including schools, group practice, and agency settings where she practiced child-centered play therapy (CCPT). She has presented on play therapy at several local, regional, and national conferences. Dr. Hall is currently on the board for the South Carolina Association for Play Therapy (SCAPT). She has also published an article in the International Journal of Play Therapy in 2019 titled, Child Centered Play Therapy as a Means of Healing Children Exposed to Domestic Violence, which was the fourth most downloaded article of the year according to the APA.

Credit: 6 Hours

Audience:  Art Therapists, Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselors, Licensed Professional Counselors, Social Workers, Mental Health Counselors, School Counselors, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Medical Professionals

Fee: Subject to agency of employement. See below.

Employees of agencies not part of Region 1: Please purchase a Standard $75 Ticket

Employees of Region 1 301 Agencies: Please purchase a Region 1 Employee Ticket (A/OBHS, BHSPC, CCCADA, The Forrester Center, HealthyU, ReGenesis, Phoenix Center, Cornerstone, Westview, Gateway, Spartanburg Area Mental Health Center and Anderson/Oconee/Pickens Mental Health)

Payment options:

Offline payment (Preferred):

Checks made out to BHSA Region 1 and mailed to:

Attn. Mandy Hadsell PO Box 1948 Greenville, SC 29602.

Pay online with credit card

(refunds subject to 2.9% + 0.30 processing fee and will be refunded via check)