This next episode is so unbelievably important (maybe even critical) for you as a therapist to hear … Join Lisa for a conversation about this not so widely discussed topic - the impact of trauma exposure on therapists (or really for anyone in a helping role).

As a therapist (or helper of any kind), we've chosen a profession that puts us directly on the frontline. We are required to be right there in the midst of trauma exposure, day-in and day-out, session after session. We’re asked to listen, witness, play through the trauma, and experience the trauma alongside our clients. The old adage that the therapist stays an objective observer when facilitating someone else is, well, impossible. 

Ultimately, we can’t avoid being impacted by exposure to another’s trauma/crisis/challenge and, as a result, we’re susceptible to compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, or secondary traumatization. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How we always experience a secondary impact when working with clients who have/are experiencing trauma, crisis or challenge;
• What happens when we are impacted by the same trauma, crisis or challenge that our clients are experiencing;
• What happens when our own unresolved trauma comes into the playroom (guaranteed it happens more frequently than we give ourselves permission to be aware of); and 
• How to reconnect back to ourselves both outside the playroom and during those moments of activation in the therapy session. 

Listen and take a moment to connect/reconnect with yourself. Find some time to reflect on this extraordinary profession that you’re part of and the sacrifices you’re making; hear ways to help mitigate the impact (hint: it starts with learning how to be with ourselves through the impact); and then start to create a lifestyle that supports this career we’ve chosen. 

You are extraordinary! Much love on the journey 💕

Podcast Resources: 

• Synergetic Play Therapy Institute
• Synergetic Play Therapy Learning Website
• FREE Resources to support you on your play therapy journey 
• Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Integrating Intensity

Another pioneer in the field of play therapy joins Lisa for this next episode. Lisa is super excited to be joined by Dr. Risë VanFleet (learn about her amazing background below*) for a conversation about Filial Therapy and how parents and caregivers can become a change agent for their child.

Join Risë and Lisa in this insightful discussion that will enhance your child client’s therapy experience through their relationship with their parent/caregiver and deepen your commitment to the model.

You’ll also hear how Risë entered the field of play therapy and learn …

• The history of Filial Therapy and the theoretical elements that make the model successful;
• How Filial Therapy is a psychoeducational model (vs. a medical model)
• The 7 key aspects that make up Filial Therapy and create the elegance of the model;
• How parents/caregivers become the primary change agent for their child; and
• How to combine Filial Therapy with other therapeutic interventions.

*Dr. Risë VanFleet is a Licensed Psychologist (PA), Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor and specializes in Animal Assisted Play Therapy™, Filial Therapy, play therapy, chronic medical illness in families, disaster mental health, complex trauma and attachment issues, as well as animal welfare and behavior.  She’s also the President of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc., in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, an organization specializing in the training and supervision of child, family, and play therapy professionals. She is the founder and president of the International Institute for Animal Assisted Play Therapy®.

Podcast Resources: 

• Synergetic Play Therapy Institute
• Synergetic Play Therapy Learning Website
• FREE Resources to support you on your play therapy journey 
• Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Integrating Intensity

* If you enjoy this podcast, please give us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcast, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and invite your friends/fellow colleagues to join us.

In this episode, Lisa revisits the topic of parents and caregivers and discusses one of the most commonly asked questions that she is asked - how to support and offer parents and caregivers templates so they can regulate themselves and ultimately regulate with their child when their child is dysregulated. 

Imagine being able to offer parents in the therapeutic journey co-regulatory moments to help repattern their nervous system and that supports them in being their child’s external regulator - It’s really so powerful!!

Here’s what you will learn in this episode: 

• How the parent/caregiver can show up in the therapy process in some form of dysregulation and what they need;

• How to use the Synergetic Play Therapy concept of “The Set Up” or “Offering” to understand the parent at a deeper level;

• Why it’s important to not dismiss the felt sense of what’s arising inside ourselves and how to connect with our own activation first before becoming the external regulator for the parent; 

• What it looks like to teach parents/caregivers to become external regulators including how to develop within them regulatory templates they can use when in relationship with their child; 

• Key things to recognize when working with parents/caregivers to create new templates and templates they may not have for regulation; and

• Being able to support the parents/caregivers in shifting their perception of their child’s behavior in a way that allows for spaciousness and connection. 

Join Lisa and consider this important question - Are we willing to do what we can to create new templates for parents and caregivers, and based on our therapeutic approach, how might we do that? 

Podcast Resources: 

• Synergetic Play Therapy Institute
• Synergetic Play Therapy Learning Website
• FREE Resources to support you on your play therapy journey 
• Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach to Integrating Intensity

* If you enjoy this podcast, please give us a five-star rating and review on Apple Podcast, subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and invite your friends/fellow colleagues to join us.