Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

Send us Fan Mail A New Year Is a Chance to Stop Doing Play Therapy Alone. A new year begins…  and for many play therapists, your caseloads are already full. Same questions about what you should be doing in play therapy sessions to “get it right.” Same feeling of wishing there was someone who truly understood your play therapy work so you could share ideas and support. If you ended last year feelin...

Send us Fan Mail Helping Neurodivergent Kids Thrive in the Playroom: A Conversation with Dr. Robert Jason Grant Every month inside Play Therapy Academy and the Play Therapy Elevation CIRCLE, I hear the same heart-wide-open question: “What’s the best way to support neurodivergent kids in play therapy so they can truly thrive?” And honestly? Same.  It’s a big, beautiful question — and the kind of qu...

Send us Fan Mail 🎁 Pulled from the Vault: An Oldie but Goodie I’m officially taking a break this holiday season — slowing down, soaking up family time, and sipping something warm by the tree. ✨ But I didn’t want to leave you hanging! So I dug into the vault and pulled out one of the most-loved livestream episodes I’ve ever done. And honestly? It’s still 🔥 relevant today. Over the last 15+ years...

Send us Fan Mail Happy holidays!!  I’ve decided to take two weeks off to spend the holiday season focusing on my family. So – I went back into my livestream vault and found this oldie but goodie! Check out this podcast discussing some interesting information I gleaned from research and what it means for play therapists. How does being trained to use a specific play therapy model influence clinical...

Send us Fan Mail 🎶 This Week’s Podcast: How Music Helps Kids Heal — A Heartfelt Conversation with Crystal Luk-Worrall If you’ve ever watched a child hum softly during play… tap a rhythm while they’re telling a story… or light up when you mirror the beat they’re creating… …you already know music has its own kind of magic in the playroom. This week, we’re going deeper into that magic with a guest w...

Send us Fan Mail If you’ve ever wondered how to set up a sand tray during play therapy sessions in a way that feels intentional, grounded, and supportive of your client’s nervous system, this episode is your new BFF. We’re diving into the essentials — starting with how to introduce the sand tray using child-centered, non-directive prompts and when to lean into thoughtful directive prompts that sti...

Send us Fan Mail If I say play therapy treatment plans , what’s the first thing that pops into your brain? “Aaaaagh! I hate writing treatment plans! They’re just more paperwork to make insurance happy.” “Ugh, they’re so complicated and confusing.” “Treatment plans are pointless. I never use them and they take forever.” “I get why we need them… but writing them for play therapy clients? Overwhelmin...

Send us Fan Mail When kids can’t find the words, the sand tray speaks for them in play therapy sessions . In this week’s podcast episode, we’ll look at how sand tray therapy taps into the implicit memories stored beneath language —  The attachment patterns, emotional imprints, and unspoken stories that surface symbolically before they ever become verbal. If you’ve ever felt goosebumps watching a c...

Send us Fan Mail Sand Tray Therapy vs. Sandplay Therapy: What’s the Difference—And Why It Matters for Play Therapists Ever find yourself wondering, “Wait… am I doing sandplay therapy or sand tray therapy?” 👀 You’re not alone — and it’s way more than a semantics thing. In this podcast episode, we’re unpacking the fascinating roots and modern applications of both approaches — from Dora Kalff’s Jung...

Send us Fan Mail I love love love using sand tray therapy in family play therapy sessions! Watching how families approach and complete the activities provides a wealth of information about interaction patterns and how each family member sees the world and their family relationships. When I use sand tray activities in family play therapy sessions, I like to use activities that allow me to observe i...

Send us Fan Mail 🌪️ Family Play Therapy + Sand Tray = Chaos or Connection? Ever had a family play therapy session turn into a sand-flinging circus? 🙃 One minute it feels like magic, the next like total mayhem. The truth is—the sand tray can be one of the most powerful tools for family healing… but only if you know how to guide the process with purpose. 👉 In this week’s episode, I’ll show you how...

Send us Fan Mail 3 Hidden Mistakes Sabotaging Your Family Play Therapy Sessions “Let’s invite the parents in…” Sounds simple, right?  But if you’ve ever had a family play therapy session dissolve into chaos—or worse, sit in painful silence—you know it’s anything but simple. Here’s the secret nobody tells you: those messy moments aren’t proof you failed.  They’re actually your biggest opportunities...

Send us Fan Mail 🚨 The Big Miss in Traditional Play Therapy (And Why It’s Holding Back Progress) We talk a lot about helping kids heal using play therapy… But here’s the truth no one wants to say out loud: Most traditional play therapy approaches treat the child like they exist in a vacuum. 👀 Reality check: What kid do you know is paying their own rent, making their own dinner, and handling life...

Send us Fan Mail 🚨 5 Signs You Might Be Accidentally Sabotaging Your Play Therapy Progress (and What to Do Instead) If you’re a play therapist who’s tired of getting those frantic mid-week parent calls, texts, or emails saying “nothing is working”—even though you see real progress in the playroom—this week’s free livestream is for you. Here’s the hard truth: sometimes our best play therapy effort...

Send us Fan Mail The norm in play therapy, and the mental health profession in general, is to meet with a child or teen every week for individual counseling sessions and meet with parents as an adjunct to treatment. This format has been around for decades and is the approach taught in most universities.   I’ve always been a believer that this isn’t the best way to help children heal. Don’t get me...

Send us Fan Mail If you’re a play therapist – either a newbie, got some experience under your belt, or full on seasoned play therapist – this is bound to happen more than once. To be honest I’ve had this happen so many times, I’ve lost count. You get frantic phone calls, emails, or texts between sessions telling you all the “bad” things your client is doing at home or school. You can hear the conc...

Send us Fan Mail How many of you have had this happen with play therapy clients (raise your virtual hand in the Comments) – You greet your client in the waiting room and your client looks at you with an eager face and asks, “Can my mom/dad come with us?” 🙄 Or … When you meet with parents for the first time and they ask you why you only meet with their child.  Why don’t they get to join the sessio...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever had this happen with a play therapy client? You greet your young client in the lobby and your client asks – “Can my mom/dad come with us today?” Or maybe you’re talking with a parent who asks you what you do in their child’s play therapy sessions and why do you only work with their child?  Why aren’t they (parents) allowed in the play therapy session? What do you say...

Send us Fan Mail Raise your virtual hand and shout YES! if you never make mistakes and you are the perfect play therapist who does everything right all the time. Do you hear those crickets? 🦗🦗🦗 The sound of silent voices, well, except for the crickets.  😂 That’s because no one is perfect.  The good news is that we don’t need to be perfect. If you have been doubting yourself and thinking about...

Send us Fan Mail What’s one of the biggest struggles play therapists say causes them to feel anxious, incompetent, frustrated, and generally overwhelmed on a regular basis? If you guessed working with parents – winner, winner, chicken dinner! It’s one of the most common challenges I hear from play therapists. Do any of these sound familiar? “I can’t get parents to schedule a parent only session wi...

Send us Fan Mail When I talk with play therapists about reasons they avoid having difficult conversations with parents/caregivers, here's the most common worry they tell me 👇 “What if I say something and they pull their kid from play therapy?” It can feel awful when parents terminate play therapy before real change can happen. We feel like giant failures and then start listing all the ways w...

Send us Fan Mail How does being trained to use a specific play therapy model influence clinical decision-making vs clinical decision-making of child/adolescent therapists using play in therapy?   Hmmmmm.  What the heck does that question even mean?   Essentially clinical decision-making involves our expertise and training in a play therapy model and how play therapists engage in the decision-makin...

Send us Fan Mail What do you do when you keep getting frantic phone calls from caregivers between play therapy sessions telling you all the things going wrong with their child? You feel the weight of these phone calls and the pressure to make everything better- quickly. You’ve tried many times to get these caregivers to schedule an appointment with you but there’s always a reason they can’t meet w...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever thought to yourself when it’s just you and you’ve had a hard day - “I wish I had someone to help me process what just happened in that play therapy session.” If you’re like most play therapists that I’ve met, you’re probably the only one in your agency or group that works with kids and uses play therapy (or is aspiring to learn play therapy). Being a play therapist c...

Send us Fan Mail If you’re a play therapist -  Do you find yourself doing any of these?  👇  🙄 Constantly searching for new activities online  🙄 Have folders full of saved play therapy interventions  🙄 Still feeling uncertain about client progress  🙄 Wondering why 'perfect' activities aren't creating lasting change If you're like most play therapists I know, you probably ha...