May 13 - 14, 2022

Hybrid Location:

Edinburgh, Scotland & Virtual

EB-ACA 2022 Spring Learning Institute

- Event Schedule -

Day 1

Those who are attending in person, once registered online, please look for the EB-ACA table at the hotel in order to check-in and receive name-tags.

Treating T/trauma Through Play Therapy

Presented by: Dr. Jill VanHorne

With the increase in mental health needs worldwide and variations of trauma experienced (Cullen, Gulati, & Kelly, 2020), how do we address these issues which can be mild, moderate or severe (Imran, Zeshan, & Pervaiz, 2020)? Play Therapy can be an extremely effective tool (Bratton, Ray, Rhine, & Jones, 2005) with children…. and others! Participants will learn (and perhaps for some a brief review) play therapy basics through provided personal example-videos, presentations and interactive seminar. This will be followed by the afternoon activities which will provide beginner, intermediate, and advanced demonstrations, illustrations and experiential learning opportunities in which participants can walk away with having experienced play therapy as it applies to children and adults. Participants will have a greater understanding of how these techniques penetrate trauma responses, negative self concept, and enhance appropriate decision making and increase self reliance.

Participants will have an understanding of the principals and use of play therapy. Participants will have a greater understanding of how play therapy is used with clients who have experienced trauma. Participants will participate in and have various techniques to use in their practice

Jill Van Horne PhD (LCMHCS, NCPSC, NCC, RPTS, EAGALA certified)- is Director of the Professional School Counseling Program/Associate Professor at Appalachian State University. Her 20+ years of experience includes school counseling, hospitals, outpatient treatment, and consultation in community & schools. Her interests include multi-sensory techniques with children and adolescents and extending dialogue between professional school counseling & clinical mental health around the world. Prior to her position of President-Elect she served on the Board of Governors of the EB-ACA and the North Carolina Association for Play Therapy.

SPEAKER INFORMATION

Participants of the EB-ACA Learning Institute Day 1 will have the opportunity to learn and practice the fundamental principles of Treating Trauma Through Play Therapy while utilizing several of the Creative/Expressive Arts interventions as outlined above. Participants of the Institute will aim to achieve the following learning outcomes:

Participants will have an understanding of the principals and use of play therapy.
Participants will have a greater understanding of how play therapy is used with clients who have experienced trauma.
Participants will participate in and have various techniques to use in their practice.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE

SCHEDULE

9 - 10:30 AM

In-Person: Opening, networking, and tea/coffee

Virtual: Check-in and enjoy music

10:45 AM - 1 PM

Opening and speaker introduction

Treating T/trauma Through Play Therapy part 1

1 - 2:15 PM

Lunch

2:15 - 5:30 PM

Treating T/trauma Through Play Therapy part 2

Close of the day

Day 2

Trauma & Expressive Arts

Dr. Alessandra Sax, Ed.D., L.M.S.W.

As mental health conditions are continuously on the rise, in particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, children are more than ever at risk with compromised overall well-being. Child Play Therapy is an effective approach to support children struggling with trials and tribulations in life, as play is the central ingredient of intervention and intended to be creative.

According to Landreth (2012), play in Child Play Therapy is voluntary, intrinsically motivated by the child, child-directed and involves flexibility of choice in how play items are used. Play as carried out in Child Play Therapy, involves the child’s physical, and emotional self in creative expression (Landreth, 2012). Landreth (2012 postulated that “play” is the child’s symbolic language of self-expression and can reveal: 1) what the child has experienced, 2) reactions to what was experienced, 3) feelings about what was experienced, 4) what the child wishes, wants, or needs, and 5) the child’s perception of self.

The Creative Art Therapies or Expressive Arts additionally are interventions utilized by mental health professionals, that offer children (and adults) the opportunity to access and express one’s trauma (sever or not) by creating corrective experiences in the brain and body (Perryman, K., Blisard, P., Moss, R., 2019). Creative/Expressive Art Therapies include movement, drawing, painting, music and writing and many more, to support one’s process in discovering oneself (Rogers, 2022).

Alessandra Sax holds a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Child Development from Hampshire College (USA). She graduated from New York University (USA) with a Clinical Master’s degree in Clinical Social Work, Children, Adolescents and Adults and completed her doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology and Supervision in Counselor Education at Argosy University (USA). She has been an instructor in Clinical Interviewing and Consultation, Child Psychology, Life-Span Development, Cultural Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Advanced Psychopathology, and Group & Music Therapy. She is also a licensed psychotherapist who has been in private practice for over twenty-five years, working with children, adolescents and adults. From 2006 until 2019, she was working at the American Community Schools of Athens (ACS), as the Elementary School Counselor and then School Psychologist, and additionally, was the coordinator of the Psychology Intern Program within the Department of Student Affairs. She is an editorial board member and peer reviewer for the International Journal for Elementary Education for SciencePG, the American Journal of Applied Psychology and the International Journal of Progressive Education. She has published several book chapters and articles, and regularly presents her clinical work and research at international conferences both in Europe and the USA. She is a member of EB-ACA and ACA. At Hellenic American University Dr. Sax is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Psychology Department, including the University Counseling Center.