Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute Presents

attachment across the lifespan: play therapy approaches to assessment and treatment

3rd International Conference October 30, 2009 - 9 am to 4 pm
*A lunch is provided, as well as a morning and afternoon refreshments.

This is the 3rd bi-annual international conference focusing on issues related to attachment and relational trauma. Each conference has featured renowned international speakers who are knowledgeable in play-based and expressive interventions for working with children, adolescents and adults. This year the attachment across the lifespan conference features reaching out to school aged children. The pre-conference training includes a Certificate in Portable Play-based School and Outreach Counseling. Participants who attend the pre-conference will be offered a 4 day certificate (28 hours of certified play therapy training) which involves a 3 day pre-conference and a one-day credit for conference attendance. This is a unique opportunity for those working in school and/or outreach settings.

Key Presenter – Athena Drewes, PsyD, RPT-S

This year well-known author and clinician Athena Drewes will be presenting on key issues of attachment specific to school aged children who are in foster care or those children with attachment difficulties identified by the school system. Other conference presentations examine topics such as specialized Theraplay groups in the school setting, relational trauma and bullying, and how trauma affects attachment in adult relationships.

Dr. Athena A. Drewes is a NYS licensed child psychologist, NYS certified school psychologist, and Registered Play Therapist–Supervisor. She holds a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from NYU, and a PsyD in Child Clinical-School-Community Psychology from Pace University. She is Director of Clinical Training and the APA–Accredited Doctoral Internship Program, and sees foster children in therapy, at The Astor Home for Children, a full range, multiservice, nonprofit mental health agency with over 750 employees serving Dutchess, Bronx, and Orange counties in New York. Dr. Drewes is adjunct professor of play therapy at Marist and Sage Colleges, past Board of Director of the Association for Play Therapy (2001–2007), Founder and Past President of the New York Association for Play Therapy, and Director of the Play Therapy Institute.

Athena is the co-editor and chapter author of School-based Play Therapy (Drewes, Carey, & Schaefer, 2001), Cultural Issues in Play Therapy (Gil & Drewes, 2005), and Supervision can be Playful: Play-based Techniques for Child and Play Therapist Supervisors (Drewes & Mullen, 2008). She is editor of Blending Play Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Evidence-based and Other Effective Treatments and Techniques (Wiley, 2009), and co-editor of School-based Play Therapy. Second Edition (with Schaefer; Wiley, 2009).

Main Presentation (October 30, 9 am): Athena Drewes

Helping Foster Children to Heal Broken Attachments

Children placed in foster care often suffer from poor attachments due to early experiences of neglect, sexual abuse, loss, and multiple placements. This workshop, combining didactic material and practical techniques, will address how clinicians and other involved professionals can help these children form safe attachments in individual therapy, as well as with their foster parents and future adoptive carers.

Your Choice of Afternoon Sessions - 1 pm to 4 pm

1. Teachers as Secondary Attachment Figures
Presenter - Athena Drewes, PsyD, RPT-S

Teachers are often the first person children form attachments with outside of their biological family. Children often will first go to teachers when they are in experiencing an abusive or traumatic event. This training will focus on ways to help teachers and other professionals in the school become aware of and foster healthy relational attachments with children; how to be sensitive and respond to possible trauma and abuse and support mental health practitioners in their work; and how to build therapeutic relational connections through their role as secondary figures.

2. Interventions in Schools: Theraplay Strategies
Presenter - Gail Smillie, M. Ed. RCC CCC

Theraplay involves the playful interaction between persons which is intended to reduce anxiety and stress while remaining in relationship. The challenge is the combination of these two elements – relaxation while in the context of a relationship. Initially this is done within a therapeutic relationship however the long term goal is to have the child become able to interact in all relationships in healthier ways.

The school environment is a most likely place for a child with difficulties to be noticed and it is a wonderful place to begin the process of repair using theraplay strategies. This presentation will go into the neuroscience of child development, provide an overview of theraplay as a treatment option and offer examples of group and individual theraplay strategies.

3. The Attachment Dance: Working with Couples and Trauma
Presenter – Donna Dupuis MSW, RSW, Tep

This workshop will focus on unique issues and interventions for couples that present for counselling when one person or both have a background of trauma. Through psychodramatic techniques participants will explore ways to help them “see’ what gets in the way of them having the relationship they want. A discussion of different forms of attachment and how it impacts the relationship will occur. Participants will also explore some of the pitfalls that therapists fall into when working with both the “coupleship” and trauma. This workshop will be both didactic and experiential.

4. The Attachment Dance in Bullying: Change the Internal Music - Change the Dance
Presenter - Ann Reilly, M.S.W., R.S.W., B.A., CPT

This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of the bullying attachment dance from a developmental derailment perspective. The workshop will present information on the child’s internal rhythm in this dance and how this influences the bullying dance. Participants will learn specific techniques to teach children awareness of their internal rhythms and further to develop healthier attachment style dances.

Who would benefit from attending this conference?

• Psychologists
• Social Workers
• Child Care Workers
• Teachers
• Caregivers (Specialized Foster Care Providers)
• Family Support workers
• Child Protection Family Law Lawyers
• Court Workers
• Judges

3-Day Pre-conference
Certificate in Portable Play-based School and Outreach Counseling
October 27,28,29 – 2009
9 am to 12 pm and 1 pm to 4 pm
*A lunch is provided, as well as a morning and afternoon refreshments.

This program is now full and no further registrations will be accepted.

The 3-DAY PRE-CONFERENCE program is a unique opportunity for those working with children and families to gain some hands-on play-based intervention experience and add a number of skills to their therapy repertoire. If participants enroll for the pre-conference and the 1-DAY CONFERENCE they will receive a 4-day certificate in Portable Play-based School and Outreach Counseling.

Participants will have the option to attend the whole conference or to attend the one-day program.

Program Description

Participants will have the opportunity to engage in experiential activities that are easy to implement in school and outreach settings. The “portable play therapy kit” will be introduced and participants will receive training on the use of play objects and a number of play modalities such as art making, puppets, games, playdough and sandplay. The goal of this program is to introduce play-based expressive activities as a way to work with children in school and outreach settings. Case vignettes focus on ways to work with a variety of presenting issues such as anxiety, bullying, transitional and attention issues.

Learning Objectives

To provide counselors portable tools for working in school and outreach settings and to assist them to work with mild to moderate problems. Upon successful completion of the course each participant will have gained:

•An introduction to play-based activities suitable for use in the school and outreach settings
• An opportunity to work with play objects in the portable play therapy kit
• An introduction to working with play-based groups
• An introduction to working with whole classrooms using play-based activities
• An appreciation of ethics and guidelines
• Engagement skills
• Ways to connect and work with classroom teachers and other third parties

Methods

• Experiential activities
• Video clips
• Case examples
• Reading assignments
• Written case conceptualization

Awards

Participants will receive a Certificate in Portable Play-Based School and Outreach Counseling from Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute. This 28 hour training is approved by APT (APT # 06-179).

How can I apply these skills? Participants will be able to utilize play-based activities with students in school and outreach settings. Participants will be able to design individual case plans and group activities. Additionally, participants will more effectively communicate with and include classroom teachers and/or other third parties about the counseling process and client progress.

Conference Location

Best Western Village Park Inn
1804 Crowchild Trail NW
Calgary, AB

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Cancellation Policy

No refunds of pre-conference or conference fees will be provided for any reason whatsoever unless there is illness or a death in the family. RMPTI will require a doctor's certificate or funeral information. Participants meeting this criteria will be provided with credit to attend an equivalent course (time, content, fee). This credit will be available to the participant for a period of one year from date of issuance. Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute reserves the right to cancel any course in the event of unforeseen circumstances. In such an event, an attempt will be made to notify registrants at least two weeks prior to the course start date and the full registration will be returned. In all instances, RMPTI's liability is limited to refund of registration fees only.

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