Educational and Mental Health professionals are invited to join us in engaging and practical workshops designed to expand their knowledge base and develop skills in working with children and families. For the 2010-2011 school year, the offerings begin with an essential overview of attachment-based Child Therapy and then offer programs focused on specific interests.

Workshops for Fall 2010

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Attachment-Based Child Therapy: An Introduction to Theraplay®

• This is the core workshop and a prerequisite for the other workshops.

In the past fifty years Bowlby’s Attachment Theory has reframed our view of how parents and children interact to influence a child’s development. Advances in Neurobiology have clarified and supported this view. Theraplay is a method of enhancing attachment, engagement, self- esteem and trust in others. It is based on the natural patterns of healthy interaction between parent and child. It is personal, physical, engaging and fun. Child therapists and counselors now have available a powerful frame of reference for understanding behavior and relationships. This workshop provides an overview of the theory and demonstrates exciting and powerful strategies for helping clients. Video examples and role playing opportunities bring the work home. Content:

• History, Attachment roots and basic assumptions of Theraplay
• Theraplay and current attachment and neurobiology research
• Jernberg’s Four Dimensions of Parent-Child Interaction: Structure, Engagement, Nurture, Challenge
• Overview of the Marschak Interaction Method for assessment and treatment planning
• How Theraplay sessions are individualized to meet children’s needs
• Methods for Involving parents or other caregivers
• Adapting Theraplay for different populations
• Overview of Group Theraplay
• Determining when Theraplay should be used

Download registration form here

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Group Theraplay®

Group Theraplay is an adult-directed, structured play group that incorporates playful, cooperative and nurturing activities that enhance the emotional well-being and prosocial skills of children. Group Theraplay is beneficial to all children, not just those with behavioral, emotional or developmental problems. Leaders create an atmosphere of fun, caring, acceptance and encouragement which allows children to grow socially, emotionally and often intellectually as well.

Theraplay groups are used primarily in pre-schools, elementary school classrooms, and residential treatment programs. They have been adapted for parent-child dyads in groups, institutionalized adults, adolescents and other populations. (With Introductory, meets requirement toward Group Theraplay Specialist Certification)

Teachers, counselors and mental health professionals use Theraplay groups to:

• Create an atmosphere that is warm, nurturing, engaging and challenging
• Meet the basic needs of children so they can be freed up emotionally to learn
• Engage hard-to-reach children
• Bring fun and exuberance into the lives of children
• Promote classroom bonding
• Place emphasis on cooperation
• Help children with speech-language delays
• Help regulatory disordered and tactilely defensive children
• Simultaneously address cognitive, social and emotional development
• Encourage children to learn and practice self- control and the internalization of rules and structure
• Enhance self-esteem and increase trust of others through concrete, personal and positive experiences

Download registration form here

Workshops planned for Spring 2011:

Working with Children Who Have Aspergers Disorder

Working with Withdrawn and Depressed Children