Expired Play Therapy with Groups and Families (12 CEUs)

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:

Greg Lubimiv, MSW, CPT-S, is the Executive Director of the Phoenix Centre for Children and Families, a children’s mental health centre in southeastern Ontario. The Phoenix Centre provides a wide range of services including, day treatment, respite care, intensive services, early year’s programs, outpatient and prevention.  Greg has over 30 years of experience in children’s mental health and child welfare where he has been involved as a clinician, trainer and administrator. Greg has specialized in the field of play therapy and family therapy and has authored a number of books and articles on this and other topics including Wings for Our Children: The Essentials of Becoming a Play Therapist and My Sister Is An Angeline, a book helping children cope with a sibling’s death. He is well known for his engaging style and making his content practical and easy to apply.

Greg was presented with the Monica Hebert Award for contributions to the field of Play Therapy. In 2007, he was identified as one of the top 5 Play Therapists in Canada. In 2006 he was recipient of the Liz Manson Award for contributions to the field of children’s mental health. In 2012 he received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal for contributions to improvements in military mental health across Canada.

ABOUT THE 2-DAY WORKSHOP:

Day 1 will be on play therapy with groups:

Group work can be challenging, but it also is extremely interesting and rewarding. Many Mental health issues (trauma, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, etc) have been found to be effectively treated through group models rather than individually. This session will help participants strengthen their knowledge and skills in being able to run effective groups involving children and adolescents. Participants will learn how to make critical decisions when forming groups and to establish what their role should be to maximize impact. Participants will also learn how to deal with conflict and utilize group issues as “learning moments”.

A wide range of creative activities, tools and strategies will be introduced which help group goals to be achieved in fun and engaging ways.

Learning Objectives: Participants will:

1. Have a clear understanding of the research supporting group treatment;
2. Know the ingredients for a group to have the best outcome;
3. Know the group phases and group interventions to be used in each phase;
4. Be able to achieve group cohesion more readily;
5. Be clear on the various roles a group leader can take and know which role fits which groups.
6. Be able to apply techniques to deal with group conflict and other problems that often occur in groups;
7. Identify specific activities/tools/games to use with groups to meet various group goals (ie engagement, team building, self awareness, peer support, problem solving, etc);
8. Be better able to create activities/tools/games for use in groups when needed;
9. Increase their confidence in leading/facilitating a group.

Day 2 will be on play therapy with families:

The use of play based activities, tools and strategies in family therapy sessions provides a medium for all members to participate, promotes positive family interaction and improves achievement of positive outcomes.   This interactive and experiential workshop will outline innovative techniques to engage, assess, and treat families. Effective interventions to manage common family session issues will be presented as well. (ie. “Why do I have to be here, when Sally is the problem?

Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to:

1. Understand the rationale for using play-based techniques in family therapy and how to effectively introduce the use these into family sessions;
2. Have a wide range of tools, activities and strategies to help families meet a wide variety of therapeutic goals;
3. Utilize special activities to improve communication, expression and management of feelings and self regulation;
4. Be able to create clear, concrete goals which provide a sharper focus for family work;
5. Be able to decrease resistance and increase engagement and motivation;
6. Effectively use home activities and dramatically reduce “failure”;
7. Utilize an effective termination process to reduce regression after therapy ends.

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.

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.