Free Resources
Integrate your knowledge and step into your therapist identity for a sustainable future in children’s psychology with our professional development workshops, clinical supervision, and consultancy options
“The work with the kids is the easy bit! It’s working with the adults and systems arounds kids that’s exhausting! I don’t know how long I’ll be able to do this work.”
Sound familiar?
You’re not the only one thinking this way.
We hear it all the time from psychologists, counsellors, play therapists, social workers - in fact all mental health clinicians working with kids.Â
Let’s face it. When you choose to work with children, you’re not just working with one client.
You’re working with the child, the parents or carers, the school, and any other support services.
You’re acting as an advocate, helping others to get that glimpse into the child’s internal world that you’re so privileged to have. Trying to help them understand the need that drives the behaviours.
You also have to manage the disappointment of the adults when they realise you don’t have a magic wand.
And you’re often defending your therapeutic approach when it’s criticised or minimised because you dare use play in your interventions.
Is it any wonder you might be feeling full of self-doubt? Or overwhelmed? Or exhausted, dissatisfied, and isolated?
Before you know it, you’re lost in a cycle of grasping for the next PD workshop, searching for more tools and strategies that might somehow make things better.
But you’re not alone.
And it doesn’t have to be this way.
We’re at the forefront of integrating best practice psychological and play therapy approaches that are structured in a neurobiologically sensitive manner to meet the specific therapeutic needs of individual children.
This means we can give you the means to integrate child development and attachment theory with neurobiology and play therapy to provide the cornerstone of your practice with children.
And we weave in the latest research of the neuroscience of psychotherapy - the hidden keys that will help you truly unlock the art of the therapeutic process.
Free Resources
Child & Play Therapy: Essentials for Effective & Sustainable Practice
This free workshop will explore topics such as understanding your system and how it shapes your practice, conceptualising children’s therapeutic needs, the role of parents/caregivers in child therapy, the principles of child therapy and structuring services to support sustainability into the long-term as a clinician working with children.
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Child and Play Therapist Reflective Practice Program
A 6 Month Program for Child and Play Therapists
Receive therapist reflection prompts to engage with weekly.
Themes covered:
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Our Therapist Self
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Our Practice Frameworks
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Process of Child Therapy
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Working with Parents/Caregivers/Systems around the Child
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Self-Care
Dynamic Case Conceptualisation Framework eBook
Download this free eBook to learn more about the Dynamic Case Conceptualisation Framework.
The Dynamic Case Conceptualisation Framework was developed to broaden and deepen therapists’ capacity to understand their client, and consider, with greater nuance, the:
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Factors that have brought the individual to therapy
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Function and context of presenting concerns, and therapeutic needs
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Key changes processes for the individual, informing therapist selection of therapeutic procedures to support positive movement in the change processes
Cognitive Reprocessing of Maladaptive Self-Schemas in Play Therapy with Traumatised Children Journal Article
Download my recently published article around cognitive reprocessing in play therapy with traumatised children.
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Therapeutic Endings in Play Therapy eBook
Download this free eBook to learn more about Therapeutic Endings in Play Therapy.
Endings are a natural part of life, but for many children they are anything but simple.
In play therapy, endings hold profound meaning, often echoing a child’s past experiences of grief, trauma, separation or instability. As therapists, we have the privilege and responsibility to create endings that heal rather than perpetuate harm. This is particularly relevant for our endings of sessions with children, whether that ending is planned or unplanned.
The topic we will explore in this eBook is: How do we bring a therapeutic lens to therapy endings?
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Play Therapy and the Therapeutic Dance in Supporting a Child’s Meaning-Making in Trauma Therapy
Learn more about the Play Therapy Dimensions Model–Revised (Olejniczak, 2013, 2019) by watching Katherine Olejniczak’s presentation at the 2018 International Childhood Trauma Conference.
WATCH HERE
Towards Development of Australian Play Therapy Supervisor Competencies eBook
In 2024, PPTA delivered Australia’s first competency-based play therapy supervisor training program. However, no specific supervisor competencies have yet been defined by Play Therapy associations in Australia.
This paper explores play supervisor competencies internationally, and what the broader helping professions in Australia have to offer (i.e. psychology, counselling, social work).
DOWNLOAD FOR FREEOr to discuss a customised training workshop or conference keynote presentation for your organisation, please email us at katherine@psychologyandplay.com.au or call 0408 773 783.
