In this dynamic workshop, Liana Lowenstein shares directive play therapy interventions designed for ages 4–12.

You'll learn:

• How to boost attention and impulse control through play
• Strategies to transform restlessness into mastery and focus
• Practical tools for parents and teachers to reduce power struggles
• And more!

As digital platforms, video games, and immersive technologies become central to children's lives, clinicians are increasingly asked to interpret digital behavior as relational behavior.

You'll learn how to:

• Evaluate digital environments
• Incorporate co-play strategically
• Support caregivers in shifting from polarized “screen time battles” toward relationally mindful digital practices.

Leave with a practical framework for interpreting digital play, strengthening connection, and using technology as a therapeutic tool that supports co-regulation and secure attachment.

Drawing from his social-emotional learning framework, NowMaps, Dr. Dan Siegel shares concrete play-based tools for teaching kids and tweens to:

• Create space between impulse and action through imaginative play
• Observe their inner experience using play therapy activities that make feelings visible and tangible
• Assess their internal state of being with sensory-rich games
• Direct their attention and energy in helpful ways through movement, storytelling, and creative expression

Behaviors in autistic children often draw attention—whether they appear unusual, socially misunderstood, aggressive, isolating, or involve meltdowns.

In this session, you'll learn:

• The difference between distress-driven and dysregulated behaviors in autistic children
• Underlying causes of behavior, including sensory and emotional factors
• The AutPlay® therapy model supports regulation and reduces behavioral challenges
• Play therapy interventions that affirm neurodivergent play and foster emotional resilience
• Strategies to turn moments of dysregulation into opportunities for healing and connection

This presentation highlights the clinical advantages of broadening treatment to include the entire family system, arguing that this approach significantly enhances a play therapist's effectiveness and fosters more durable, long-lasting positive change for the child.

You'll learn practical play therapy strategies for inviting families to participate in this treatment and assessment shift, as well as concrete methods to support and strengthen family relationships and communication dynamics.

This presentation introduces an integrated child-centered play therapy approach—blending developmental, medical, and therapeutic frameworks to create meaningful, healing play therapy experiences.

Dr. Tapia will teach you:

• How to adapt play therapy environments and modify play therapy interventions for physical limitations
• Strategies to support autonomy and empowerment through play therapy
• Ways to collaborate effectively with medical teams and families
• Tools to address internalized ableism and promote inclusion
• And more!

Play is universal—but its meaning, expression, and interpretation are deeply shaped by culture.

Leave with tools to create play therapy spaces where every child feels seen, valued, and understood.

• Recognize how your cultural identity shapes play therapy interactions and decision-making
• Identify implicit bias and moments of cultural disconnection in the play therapy room
• Select toys and materials that reflect diverse identities and cultural narratives found in play therapy
• Collaborate with families to maintain cultural integrity and therapeutic safety

This session introduces an Attachment-Centered Play Therapy framework for assessing suicidal ideation and behaviors in middle childhood.

You'll learn to:

• Recognize signs of suicidality through play-based sessions
• Interpret symbolic play and nonverbal cues to uncover emotional states
• Understand attachment patterns and how they appear in play therapy
• Identify when children are struggling with suicidal thoughts

This session offers a corrective lens, inviting participants to reimagine play therapy supervision as a space of co-regulation, mutual learning, and community care.

You'll learn to use play and embodied presence to foster trust, curiosity, and collaboration in supervision, and leave with practical, play-based tools to integrate cultural humility and nervous system awareness into their supervisory relationships.

This workshop invites play therapists to rediscover the joy and depth of creative connection with adolescents by reconnecting with their own inner teen.

You'll learn how play therapy and expressive techniques can illuminate strengths, foster emotional resilience, and open space for genuine growth and healing. By tuning into the expressive language of movement, art, story, and metaphor, play therapists can help teens transform overwhelm into understanding and self-protection into self-expression.

This training invites play therapists to explore how sandtray therapy and attachment-based play therapy can be used to access and heal intergenerational trauma.

You'll learn to:

• Identify generational trauma as it shows up in sand scenes during play therapy, using the symbolic language of play to decode family patterns and unconscious themes
• Implement both directive and non-directive play therapy techniques to help children heal and repair attachment disruptions, facilitating safe, co-regulated play that rebuilds trust and connection

As therapists, we play a pivotal role in not only supporting LGBTQ+ youth, but also in helping youth and their families navigate the questions and uncertainty that may come with being who they are.

In this session, we will explore:

• Common Play Therapy themes with gender diverse youth,
• Identify Play Therapy and family interventions to foster communication and growth within the family system
• Work through case scenarios of Play Therapy interventions to address other mental health considerations to be aware of when working with this population

This workshop is a heartfelt endeavor to infuse cultural humility into the nurturing realm of play therapy. It's about cultivating a safe haven where BICPOC children can truly see themselves reflected, fostering a deeper understanding of themselves, others, and the intricate tapestry of our world.