- The Power of Play with PDA: An Introduction to Play Therapy with Pathological Demand Avoidant Clients
May 30, 2026
9:00 am - 5:00 pm
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.
6 Non-Contact Continuing Education Hours (NON-Contact CEs/NON-Contact CEUs for APT)
6 LIVE WEBINAR CEs/CEUs for CAPT
For BCPTA credentialing or renewal this training can be counted as 6 Contact CE Credit Hours.
In order to receive CEs (continuing education credits), you must be visibly present for at least 90% of the workshop, complete an evaluation, and you must also complete a post-test. Please contact us if you require accommodations.
EARLY BIRD PRICING – Prices are listed at 15% OFF until April 22nd, 2026
The Power of Play with PDA: An Introduction to Play Therapy with Pathological Demand Avoidant Clients
Live ONLINE Workshop
Presented by Julie Brenneise, MA, LMHC, RPT™
6 NON-CONTACT CEs/CEUs for APT
6 LIVE WEBINAR CEs/CEUs for CAPT
For BCPTA registration or renewal this training can be counted as 6 Contact Continuing Education Credit Hours
One-Day Online Workshop
Saturday, May 30th, 2026, 9:00am – 5:00pm (PST)
BCPTA’s AGM will take place at 12:45pm during the 1.5 hour lunch break. We would love for you to join us!
A Zoom link will be emailed to you the day before the event
Workshop Description:
Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), also described as a Pervasive Drive for Autonomy, is a neurodivergent profile long recognized in the UK and increasingly explored by play therapists. Understanding PDA often brings a “lightbulb moment” for therapists, reframing clients previously seen as resistant, oppositional, or difficult to engage. Patterns such as power struggles, attendance challenges, abrupt termination, and intense limit testing are understood not as defiance, but as nervous-system-driven responses to perceived demands.
While PDA is commonly associated with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing differences, it has distinct underlying drivers that require a different therapeutic stance. Play therapy is uniquely positioned to support PDA-affirming work, offering relational, experiential, and nervous-system-based approaches that help therapists move with the client rather than against them.
This presentation explores how play therapy and related nervous-system-informed models can be adapted to support PDA clients. It includes in-depth discussion of assessment in both child and parent sessions, guidance for helping parents shift toward a PDA-affirming, low-demand approach at home and school, and strategies for reducing demands within the therapy space to prevent overwhelm and early termination.
Particular attention is given to the complex balance between demands, limits, and boundaries, integrating concepts from Child-Centered Play Therapy (ACT limit setting) and Synergetic Play Therapy to support both PDAers and their caregivers in developing sustainable, respectful boundaries.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Describe 1-3 approaches of lowering demands in PDA affirming play therapy
- Explain to parents the specific benefits of nondirective play therapy for PDA
- Gather and assess information in both parent and client play therapy sessions for symptoms of PDA, and differentiation from common misdiagnoses
- Identify 1-3 aspects of PDA that make healthy limits and boundaries challenging
- Identify 3-5 play therapy strategies and techniques to support PDA clients and their parents in building a healthy relationship to boundaries and limits
- Explain how the idea of “limit testing” from play therapy is connected to increasing a sense of agency and safety for PDAers, and identify 2-3 ways it can show up in the play room”
Who May Benefit From Attending:
Play therapists, children’s counsellors, family therapists, family counsellors, psychologists, social workers, school counsellors, and other mental health professionals working with children, adolescents, and families may benefit from this training. A basic understanding of play therapy would be beneficial.
About the Presenter:
Julie Brenneise, MA, LMHC, RPT™, is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Registered Play Therapist™ in the state of Washington, USA. She integrates specialized professional training as well as personal lived experience with Autism, ADHD, and Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) in her approaches to supporting child, teen, and adult clients with challenges related to neurodivergence. She weaves together knowledge and techniques from the relational neurosciences, Internal Family Systems, and neurodivergent affirming perspectives with the expressive therapies of play, art, and sandtray therapies. Julie runs her private practice, Heart Centered Therapy, PLLC in Tacoma, WA, and provides teletherapy services throughout Washington State.
Julie has extensive experience supporting kids and teens across educational, recreational, and therapeutic environments. From the beginning of her therapeutic career she has been drawn to the clients that struggled with extreme behaviors and emotions and that were labeled ‘resistant’ by traditional behavioral therapies. This led naturally to specializing in supporting clients with a PDA profile. Due to the increasing need for therapists who are able to provide PDA affirming services she is excited to share with other therapists what she has learned about working with this unique population. She offers individual and group consultation services focused on PDA affirming practices, and is excited to start presenting to larger communities including a Summer Series on PDA for the Washington Play Therapy Association in 2025. Outside of her professional endeavors, Julie enjoys spending time with her cat, Shawn, nurturing her indoor garden, creating art, exploring nature, and traveling.
Schedule for the Workshop:
CANCELLATION POLICY:
- 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.
- Please note that all payments received and/or processed on workshop day will be processed at manual registration rates.
Should you have any questions about this workshop, please don’t hesitate to contact us at info@bcplaytherapy.ca
Continuing Education Information:
APT Approved Provider 95-019 – BCPTA is approved by the Association for Play Therapy to provide continuing education specific to play therapy.
CAPT Approved Provider 09-103 – BCPTA is approved by the Canadian Association for Play Therapy to provide foundation training and continuing education training specific to child and play therapy. This training cannot be used for Foundation Play Therapy Training towards Certification with CAPT as a Certified Play Therapist (CPT).
For APT 6 – Non-Contact CEs/CEUs
For CAPT 6 – Live Webinar CEs/CEUs
For BCPTA registration or renewal this training can be counted as 6 Contact Continuing Education Credit Hours.
*Play therapy credits may not be awarded to non-mental health professionals.*
A certificate of completion will only be provided based on attendance with your video on for the duration of the workshop and successful completion of a post-test and evaluation component.