BC Play Therapy Association holds workshops throughout the year to help advance the education of Play Therapy Practitioners and related professions. These usually revolve around a specialized speaker teaching a subject of importance to the advancement of play therapy as a therapeutic practice.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

Peter Mortola, Ph.D. is Professor of Counselling Psychology at Lewis and Clark’s Graduate School of Education and Counselling and the Co-Director of the Educational Specialist degree program in School Psychology. He is the author of Windowframes: Learning the art of Gestalt play therapy the Oaklander way (Routledge/Gestaltpress, 2006), the culmination of 10 years of inquiry and research on Violet Oaklander’s methods of both child therapy and adult training. Windowframes has been translated into German, Spanish and Korean language editions. He is also the co-author of BAM! Boys Advocacy and Mentoring: A leader’s guide to facilitating strength-based groups for boys (Routledge, 2008).

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:

From the start, playfulness was at the heart of this serious business of psychotherapy. Freud’s game-like use of associations was intended to get his patients thinking laterally and not literally. Perl’s use of the “empty chair” was intended to help his clients engage in “as if” scenarios, akin to the make-believe play of children. Yet playfulness has lost ground over the years to the bullying forces of logic, language, and outcome-based measures that permeate our therapeutic field. In this article, the work of Gestalt Play Therapist Dr. Violet Oaklander is analyzed to provide a much-needed model of how play helps therapy become real for both adults and children. … read more

Five Learning Objectives

1) After participating in this workshop, and viewing a video example, participants will be able to describe 3 aspects of the Oaklander approach to therapy that builds relationship and contact with an adolescent client.

2) After participating in this workshop, participants will be able to list three defining characteristics of how play is considered important, for both children and adults, from a developmental and/or evolutionary perspective.

3) After participating in this workshop, participants will be able to demonstrate in practice the four-step Oaklander approach to therapy using multiple expressive media.

4) After participating in this workshop, participants will be able to implement two “indirect” approaches (i.e. a drawing and the use of picture cards) to therapy that can help the client speak more authentically about their experience.

5) After participating in this workshop, participants will be able to describe 3 aspects of the Oaklander approach that have been found to be relevant and helpful across diverse linguistic and cultural contexts.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:

Play therapists, family therapists, psychologists, social workers, school counsellors, and other mental health professionals working with children, adolescents and families will benefit from this training. A basic understanding of play therapy would be be beneficial.

CANCELLATION POLICY:

1. To cancel your registration, please send us a cancellation notice via email at [email protected] no later than 2 weeks before the start of an event for a full refund less a $25.00 cancellation fee. No refund is issued if you cancel your registration within 2 weeks of the event.
2. Please note that all payments received and/or processed on workshop day will be processed at manual registration rates.
3. If you have any questions about the workshop, please contact us at info@bcplaytherapy.ca.