Courses Infomation

Attachment Centered Play Therapy from Clair Mellenthin

Attachment Centered Play Therapy Repair Relational Trauma and Build Secure Attachment to Accelerate Family Treatment from Clair Mellenthin

Faculty:Clair Mellenthin

Duration:6 Hours 16 Minutes | Format:Audio and Video

Archive : Attachment Centered Play Therapy from Clair Mellenthin

Outline:

Advancing Family Treatment with Play Therapy

4 key concepts of attachment
Blending attachment theory with play therapy
Attachment patterns across the lifespan and impact on parent/child relationship
Risks and limitations

Invite Parents to Play

Engagement strategies to strengthen parent/child relationship
- Roadblocks and triggers – parent/child/therapist
- Shame and vulnerability – shame shields
- Build rappaport and make room for parent in the playroom
  - Sand tray, genograms, play-based treatment planning
- Establish boundaries and set expectations
- Encourage participation

Attachment Centered Play Therapy Strategies

Treatment of relational trauma – Attachment, wounding and ruptures
- Parent/child relationship cycle
- Generational attachment patterns –
  - Catch me if you can
  - Butterfly fly away
  - Two hands
  - Empowerment collage

Case Studies of Abuse; Healing Attachment Wounds

Challenging Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Defiance, ODD, moodiness, anger, aggressiveness and school refusal
Attachment injuries at root of undesirable behavior
Prescriptive play therapy interventions
Self-regulation, co-regulation
calm down jars, guided imagery

Case Studies of Extreme Defiance and School Refusal

Strategies to Promote Positive Attachment-Based Parenting

Maximize parent involvement to rebuild trust, repair injuries
Proactive vs reactive parenting
Get parent buy in

Case Study of Proactive vs Reactive Parenting

Description:

When trauma, grief, and loss disrupts the family system, a child may feel unprotected, unloved, or disbelieved, causing relational injury and at times rupture the attachment bond. Children, not having the words to express how they feel, display the hurt in maladaptive ways — aggression, rage, defiance, oppositional behaviors, shutting down, hiding away, or numbing. For the parent, shame is a factor. Shame that they can’t “parent away” the hurt and the misbehavior—that their love isn’t “good enough”.

How do we as therapists, help families begin repairing and rebuilding the lost connection/disruption?

Watch me in this interactive recording to discover an integrative therapeutic approach, Attachment Centered Play Therapy that includes the parents in the therapy process. The parent is integral in creating conditions of security and trustworthiness to address attachment wounds, trauma, grief and loss.

This developmentally appropriate, client-centered method brings a holistic, systemic approach to address:

Vulnerability to acknowledge the hurt, and the roadblocks
Challenging issues of shame, vulnerability, grief, and loss
Aggression and defiance and other maladaptive behavioral issues
Attachment centered and proactive strategies instead of reactivity or reactive responses
Repairing and strengthening the bonds of attachment between parent and child
Parents becoming a resource, as well as coregulator for their child
Rapport building with parents (this is a MUST in child and family therapy)

You’ll learn new and innovative attachment-centered play therapy techniques including hands on experiential activities, guided imagery, sand tray interventions, and expressive arts—practicing sand tray therapy, techniques assessing family relationships, bonds of attachment, and family dynamics.

We will explore difficult cases, ask questions, develop new assessment skills, and explore styles of attachment and how this plays out in therapeutic relationships with our clients.

Salepage : Attachment Centered Play Therapy from Clair Mellenthin