Description

Play is to the child what talk is to the adult. Play therapy is a medium for expressing feelings, exploring relationships, describing experiences, disclosing wishes, and self-fulfillment. Children express themselves and their needs, relive their past, and connect with others through play. The use of toys enables children to transfer anxieties, fears, fantasies, and guilt to objects rather than people. In the process, children are safe from their own feelings and reactions because play enables children to distance themselves from stressful events and experiences.

Therapeutic play is an evidence-based approach to help children with social or emotional deficits learn to communicate better, express underlying feelings they may be struggling with, change their behaviour, develop problem-solving skills, and relate to others in positive ways. It is appropriate for children undergoing or witnessing stressful events in their lives, those struggling with academic and social problems, learning disabilities, behavioural disorders, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, or anger; as well as those with attention deficit disorders, or who are on the autism spectrum. This training is aimed at introducing therapeutic play to parents, professionals, and caregivers. Participants will explore the basic theoretical foundations of therapeutic play, and will gain practical skills and strategies to work with children in order to begin integrating play into their work with children.

Therapeutic Play was designed by the Co-Founders of the Institute of Child Psychology, who are Registered Child Psychologists & Registered Play Therapists. They combine elements of Play Therapy, Theraplay, and non-directive exploratory-based play to create a model of interacting with children that is unique to the Institute of Child Psychology. This model is designed to increase connection, while facilitating emotionally therapeutic outcomes in children (i.e., reduced stress; processing of stressful experiences; increased confidence, empathy, pro-social behaviour, self-esteem, and attention span). It is especially useful in instances where play therapy is not accessible.

ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVES

• The role of the play facilitator
• Ethical considerations
• The stages of play and trajectory of therapeutic play
• A variety of therapeutic play techniques
• Introduction to coding and understanding play
• How to create a rich and diverse play room to work with children

COURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• ONLY COURSE OF ITS KIND: A course like this has never been created for BOTH professionals and* parents. Formerly this information only existed for mental health professionals.
• PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE: Offered by experts in the field of child psychology; both are Registered Psychologists & Registered Play Therapists (one whom is a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor: https://www.a4pt.org/), and most importantly are mothers to– with 5 children between them.
• CERTIFICATE OF COMPLETION with 8.0 educational hours endorsed by the Canadian Counselling and Psychotherapy Association.
• RESOURCES: Access to dozens of mental health and parenting resources
• SELF-PACED STUDY: No timeline for completion of the course.
• LIFETIME ACCESS: No rush to complete; the course will be available to you for as long as the course is hosted on our platform.

WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR:
This presentation is appropriate for parents, educators, child care professionals, caregivers, and mental health professionals.

DISCLAIMER:
This course does not give you accreditation in “Play Therapy” or a license to practice play therapy. It is a resource designed to help a child impacted by negative mental health outcomes when therapy is not accessible, or it can be used to supplement to mental health treatment.

All courses offered by ICP are for individual use only. Using them for corporate/group training, or shared purposes are a violation of copyright law. Furthermore, all products/services provided by the Institute of Child Psychology, along with all workshop materials, are strictly for educational purposes only and cannot be categorized as psychological or mental health services.

UNABLE TO AFFORD REGISTRATION?
We offer subsidized tickets to those who have limited income!
Please contact our administration team for further assistance at support@instituteofchildpsychology.com.

INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION

Tammy Schamuhn, R. Psychologist, R. Play Therapist
Co-Founder: Institute of Child Psychology
Tammy Schamuhn is a Registered Psychologist, Registered Play Therapist, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, and the Co-Founder of the Institute of Child Psychology. She has a Bachelors of Education from the University of Alberta and practiced as an Elementary Teacher in Canada before going on to do her Masters degree in Psychology. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Family Counselling Centres where she and her team treat children, adolescents, and their families through the use of a variety of types of therapies. Her clinic also utilized animals in their practice, as Tammy has developed a canine-assisted and equine-assisted therapy programs for treating children and teens.

Furthermore, she also runs an extensive clinical internship program at her clinic where she trains masters-level interns who are training to become child psychologists, and provides clinical supervision to newly licensed provisional psychologists in the province of Alberta.

She approaches her clinical and consultative work with parents and professionals with an attachment and neurobiological lens: all of her work is based on the neurology of the brain and how attachment is integral to adaptive functioning of both children and adults.

Tania Johnson, R. Psychologist, R. Play Therapist
Co-Founder: Institute of Child Psychology
Tania is a Registered Psychologist and a Registered Play Therapist. She completed her undergraduate studies in South-Africa before engaging in a one year, full time internship in Chicago at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. In 2012, she received my Masters of Counselling from City University of Seattle. During her Master’s degree, she worked both on the front lines and as a counsellor with foster and adoptive families who faced a range of emotional, behavioural, and cognitive challenges.

Since completing her degree, she has worked in a private practice setting with children, teens, adults and families.  She works primarily from an attachment based perspective. This means that she works with clients to explore how early relationships affect how we come to understand our self, other people and the world.

Tania endeavors to always approach her clients and professional work with respect, honesty, integrity and warmth

Eligible for CCPA Continuing Education Credits (CECs)

CCPA Members now just need to ensure the following:

Since you no longer submit credits automatically, you must maintain a “Professional Activity Record.” If selected for an audit, you must provide proof for each course that includes:

• Official Certificate of Completion: Must be issued by the provider.
• Proof of Instructional Hours: The certificate or course syllabus must clearly state the total hours of formal instruction.
• Source Signature: Certificates must be signed by the leader, speaker, or sponsor. Your own signature is not considered valid proof of attendance.

• • Course Description: Keep a copy of the course description or learning objectives to prove relevance to the counselling profession.