Meehan Mental Health Services

What does it all mean?

You have a kid on your caseload that has been playing a battle where nobody ever seems to win for the last five sessions. Another client pushes sand around in the tray with construction equipment but never says a word.  You have another client who wants to set up the dollhouse but never really gets into any “real play”.  

Some sessions have a lot of movement and battles, sometimes you get put in handcuffs or time out, and yet others you are preparing 10 course meals.  Sometimes you feel like you are just acting out the latest Disney movie. 

You're left feeling overwhelmed and not sure how to put together the pieces of what happened during these sessions and why it is meaningful for therapeutic growth, progress, and healing.  Your not sure how to figure out what children are trying to communicate and express during play. 

How does playing in the kitchen link to a child's symptoms of difficulty with regulation and outbursts? 

Am I even doing anything here? 

You’re left feeling ineffective and like you're “just playing” with kids.  You’re not sure how to tell if what you are doing is really helping and if the kids in your playroom are making progress.  

Parents are wanting to know how your sessions are going and how this “play therapy thing” is even helping.  They might think that their child needs a different type of therapy where they can “talk it out”.  

You meet with parents who want concrete results and you’re not sure how to explain how playing with dinosaurs or in the kitchen is helping process and resolve the very big difficulties like anger, anxiety, and trauma that brought them into the playroom in the first place. 


You need a road map.

The specific steps to give you confidence, clarity, and understanding of how to identify a play theme, what the theme actually means, and how to use play themes to help with healing and growth, to assess progress, and bridge the gap between the playroom and the real world.  

What if you could feel confident in understanding and interpretation of play themes?

What would it be like for you to leave your play therapy sessions feeling like you had the most effective facilitative responses in session because you truly understood what was happening in the play? 

What would it be like to have a clear understanding of what the child was attempting to communicate during the session and know the specific play themes they were expressing?

How would that impact your confidence with children and parents? Confidence in yourself as a therapist? Belief that you are doing amazing work and the power of nondirective play therapy as an effective modality to heal children?

Now imagine this… 

• You come out of your play sessions with a clear understanding of what a child is communicating through play 
• You are able to have deeper connections and understanding with children during sessions due to higher levels of clarity and understanding of what their play means 
• You are able to understand and identify specific play themes
• You can clearly identify a child’s progress through play themes and play theme shifts 
• You have a clear understanding of how to use play themes to deepen the therapeutic experience both inside and outside of therapy 
• You are confident in explaining play themes to parents and explaining how what is going on in the playroom bridges to their functioning in real life 
• You have ideas of how to use play themes to inform interventions, parenting skills, and support outside of the playroom 

How would it change your practice to have clarity on play sequences and themes?  To answer the question "what does it all mean" with confidence? 

 This course Dinosaurs In The Dollhouse: Interpreting Themes in Play Therapy holds your hand and creates a concrete roadmap for the specific steps to identify and interpret play themes and how to use this knowledge to deepen the play therapy process. 

Inside the course you will learn:

• 7 frameworks and tools to help interpret specific play themes with clarity 
• How to use play themes to deepen the play therapy experience 
• Common play sequences and meanings 
• An understanding of how to identify a play theme shift, growth, and progression of themes 
• Tools and skills to use play themes to discuss therapy progress with parents and to bridge the gap with support, structure, and parenting skills to support a child’s growth 
• Over 10 in depth case examples of play sequences and interpretation 

Want to learn more? Check out the details below! 

CE Information:

This course is approved for 3.5 APT Non-Contact hours by Meehan Mental Health Services (APT Approved Provider 19-580).  

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the 5 factors in a child’s play that could indicate a play theme.
• List Benedicts 8 main play theme categories.
• Identify 6 frameworks for identifying and interpreting play themes.
• Identify 5 techniques to gain clarity when assessing for and interpreting play themes. 

Course Format:  Train when it works for you! This course is a pre-recorded online self paced course where the modules are broken up into smaller digestible chunks that can be completed during a client cancellation, on the weekends, early in the morning, late at night - whenever! You can login at your own pace, re-watch content, and have unlimited access to the course. This course is designated "Non-Contact" by the Association for Play Therapy.

Who should attend:  This program is a beginning to intermediate course for any Play Therapist who wants to increase confidence in theme interpretation in non-directive play therapy.

Cost: $87.00