The Journey of Play Therapy with Children and Their Families

The Journey of Play Therapy with Children and Their Families

12 CE Hours

NBCC
APT

$298

Register

Presenter:
Lynn Louise Wonders, MA, LPC, RPT-S, CPCS

July 24-25, 2025

317 7th Ave SE, Cedar Rapids, IA

CE Hours: 12
Credit Type:  NBCC; APT
Difficulty Level: Beginner

This course is designed for graduate-level pre-licensed and licensed mental health professionals for continuing education purposes.

Program Description

This 2-day, 12-hour training event, The Journey of Play Therapy: With Children and Their Families: From Takeoff to Landing, uses the metaphor of a flight journey to guide mental health professionals through the phases of play therapy. Just as a pilot manages takeoff, turbulence, and landing, therapists will learn to navigate the therapeutic process from intake to termination with mindfulness, precision, and care. Participants will explore assessment, case conceptualization, and treatment planning using attachment theory, family systems, and Mindfulness-based Play Therapy®. They will also learn to handle challenges like ethical dilemmas, complex family dynamics, and ongoing treatment adjustments. The training concludes with ethical termination practices, preparing clients for life after therapy. Mindfulness practices, both for therapists and clients, will be integrated throughout to enhance therapeutic presence and resilience.

Learning Objectives

  1. Preparing for Takeoff: Intake Process
    By the end of the training, participants will be able to conduct a comprehensive intake process, gathering essential information to ensure a smooth start to the therapeutic journey.
  2. Know your Theories, Initial Assessment and Case Conceptualization
    Participants will be able to assess the child’s emotional and cognitive needs and develop a case conceptualization that lays the foundation for an effective therapeutic plan.
  3. Mapping the Route: Case Conceptualization through a lens of systemically informed Theoretical Orientations
    Participants will be able to apply play therapy theoretical frameworks that include a mindfulness-based and attachment-systems approach to guide the treatment plan, ensuring interventions are tailored to the child’s specific needs.
  4. Creating the Flight Plan: Treatment Planning
    Participants will create individualized, developmentally appropriate treatment plans based on a solid understanding of play therapy techniques and theoretical foundations.
  5. Ethical Documentation Practices: The Pilot’s Logbook
    Participants will document sessions accurately, ensuring clarity, confidentiality, and compliance with professional standards.
  6. Building the In-Flight Experience: Therapeutic Alliance and Play Therapy Skills and Methods
    Participants will enumerate skills for strengthening the therapeutic alliance with child clients and families, ensuring trust and connection throughout the therapeutic journey, and will be able to name 10 play therapy interventions.
  7. Landing the Plane: Navigating Termination
    Participants will describe the termination phase of therapy, naming 5 elements of the closure of therapy, ensuring the family is prepared for life post-therapy, and will be able to name 5 play-based closure activities.
  8. Integrating Mindfulness into the In-Flight Experience
    Participants will apply mindfulness-based techniques within play therapy to help children manage their emotions and stay present in the therapeutic experience.
  9. Turbulence Control: Mindfulness for the Therapist
    Participants will name 5 mindfulness practices for therapist self care to manage emotional demands of providing play therapy for children and families, ensuring they remain grounded and present during the therapeutic process.
  10. Self-Care for the Pilot: Care for the Therapist
    Participants will be able to demonstrate 5 mindfulness-based self-care techniques to prevent burnout and compassion fatigue, ensuring their well-being throughout the journey.
  11. Mindful Treatment Planning: In-Flight Adjustments
    Participants will name 5  mindfulness techniques to include in treatment planning to ensure adaptability and emotional regulation for both the therapist and child client.
  12. Assessing the Landing: Evaluating Progress and Ethical Termination
    Participants will assess therapeutic progress and determine the appropriate timing for termination, ensuring the family’s readiness for a successful transition after therapy.

Registration can be found on Lynn's website, here.

About the Presenter

Lynn Louise Wonders, MA, LPC, RPT-S, CPCS

Lynn has over 20 years of experience working in the field of mental health having specialized in child and family therapies including play therapy, family systems-based therapy, and relationship counseling. She has advanced training and experience with the Gottman method, Adlerian Couples Counseling, and Imago Relationship Therapy. She has over 30 years of experience teaching mindfulness-based classes. She authored and published the book When Parents Are at War after many years of supporting children and families in high conflict divorce and custody disputes and serving as an expert witness in numerous court cases. Wonders has authored multiple academic chapters for professional texts in the field of child and family therapy and she has served as the national spokesperson for Primrose Schools and as their Early Childhood Expert and blog article author. She is co-editor and author of Nature-based Play and Expressive Therapies for Children and Families and Play Therapy Treatment Planning with Children and Families. She is the author of Mindfulness-based Play Therapy, The Midlife Self-Discovery Handbook and numerous therapeutic children’s books including the Miss Piper’s Playroom Series. Lynn is the founder and Chief Instructor of The Mindfulness-based Therapy Training Institute® and the creator of Mindfulness-based Play Therapy®. She has been providing continuing education, supervision, and consultation since 2010. She is a certified Synergetic Play Therapist®, certified AutPlay® Therapist, and a certified Pure Presence® Practitioner. Wonders is currently a doctoral student in the Humanistic Psychology department at Saybrook University where she is conducting research on the topic of mindfulness-based practices and mental health outcomes. You can learn more at www.WondersCounseling.com and www.MindfulnesBasedTherapyTraining.com

Contact You Need A Training

ADDRESS:
Colleen Grote, PhD, LMHC, RPT-S
Heart and Solutions, LLC
PO BOX 233
Grundy Center, IA 50638

PHONE: 800-531-4236
FAX: 319-483-6661
EMAIL: [email protected]
WEBSITE: https://heartandsolutions.net

ACEP LogoMindfulness-based Therapy Training Institute, LLC A subsidiary of Wonders Counseling Services, LLC. Mindfulness-based Therapy Training Institute, LLC has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7421. Programs that do not qualify for NBCC credit are clearly identified. Mindfulness-based Therapy Training Institute, LLC is solely responsible for all aspects of the programs.​

apt-approved-logo

APT Approved Provider 12-321
This training event meets the definition of an APT contact training.

Contact Us:
Heart and Solutions, LLC
PO BOX 233
Grundy Center, IA 50638

800-531-4236
[email protected]