Expired “What happened?” Play Therapy for Traumatic Family Loss (4 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

Mary Anne Pare has worked with children and families in numerous mental health and therapeutic settings for thirty years. Her special interest and area of expertise is working with families, using an integration of play therapy and family therapy.

Having received weekly supervision in both play therapy and family therapy from1987 to 1994 at the PACE Therapeutic Treatment Center, Mary Anne have integrated the learning from both these theoretical models to develop an approach to working with young children and their parents within the playroom setting. She has been presenting workshops on this integrated approach both in Canada and the USA for fifteen years.

Mary Anne just recently retired, which means she has more time for being creative and gardening, writing, singing, story-telling, painting, and any other expressive arts she can get her hands into.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

Play therapists often receive referrals from families where there has been trauma to the whole family. The parent(s)’s priority may be to find help for the child(ren). However, the family’s emotional experience, especially in crisis, is closely interconnected. As well, young children are often resistant to leaving their parents’ proximity to enter the playroom. This workshop addresses the question of how to provide a therapeutic experience for all family members, using a play therapy approach that integrates family systems theory.

Videotape will be presented from one year of the family play therapy of a father and son who have witnessed the murder of their wife/mother. The challenges that this case presents are many:

– What does the child understand of the event he has witnessed?
– What can he comprehend about aggression and death at this early age?
– What would ‘making peace’ with this loss mean for a 3 year old?
– What does the father need in his grieving process?
– Is it appropriate for father and son to be together or separate for therapy?
– To what degree can father and son’s healing take place within the structure of play therapy?

Drawing on Jungian theory, family systems theory and child directed play therapy practices, this presentation will address the questions faced by therapist and parent as they work together to provide a safe environment for the child’s expression of both his inner and outer experiences of his mother’s death in play. The issue of developmental stages in trauma work with young children will be addressed. This workshop will also highlight the essential part played by the father and extended family in this child’s healing.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Play therapists, family therapists, psychologists, clinical social workers, school counsellors and other mental health professionals working with children, adolescents and families will benefit from this training. The workshop is designed for mental health professionals who already have basic play therapy training and experience including child-centered play therapy but is open to anyone who works therapeutically with children.

Mary Anne Pare flyer with registration