“Windows to Our Children”

by Violet Oaklander

Eligible for 11 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand the foundational principles of Gestalt therapy as applied to children, as outlined by Violet Oaklander in “Windows to Our Children“.
2. Describe the significance of the therapeutic relationship in Gestalt therapy with children, as elucidated by Oaklander, and analyze its role in facilitating emotional growth and healing.
3. Examine the concept of “windows” as metaphors for exploring children’s inner experiences and emotional worlds, and discuss how these windows manifest in therapy sessions.
4. Describe at least 4 of Oaklander’s projective techniques used to foster self-awareness, self-expression, and emotional integration in children.
5. Discuss the role of creativity and imagination in Gestalt therapy with children, and analyze how Oaklander utilizes these elements to engage with and support young clients.
6. Explain how Oaklander uses games in therapy with children.
7. Describe Oaklander’s approach to working with resistance in children, and discuss strategies for creating a safe therapeutic environment conducive to exploration and growth.
8. Explain how Oaklander structures therapeutic sessions for children and their families.

Book Description: 

Windows to Our Children is a seminal work in the field of Gestalt therapy, specifically focusing on children and adolescents. Published in 1978 and revised in later editions, the book outlines Oaklander’s innovative approach to therapeutic practice with young people. At its core, Oaklander’s approach integrates principles of Gestalt therapy with play therapy techniques, emphasizing the importance of creative expression and the therapeutic relationship in facilitating healing and growth in children. The book provides practical insights and techniques for therapists, educators, and parents alike, offering a framework for understanding and addressing issues such as anxiety, trauma, behavioral challenges, and emotional regulation in children. Oaklander’s approach encourages therapists to engage authentically with children, using play, art, and metaphorical language to explore and resolve underlying issues. This book remains a foundational text in child therapy, renowned for its compassionate approach and enduring relevance in helping children and adolescents achieve emotional well-being and personal growth.

“Hidden Treasure: A Map to the Child’s Inner Self (1st Ed.)”

by Violet Oaklander

Eligible for 6 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify foundational principles of Gestalt Play Therapy 
2. List the steps of the therapeutic process in working with children and adolescents in Gestalt Play Therapy 
3. Describe the importance of contact in Gestalt Play Therapy and the ways that contact is disturbed 
4. Discuss the Oaklander method for working with aggressive energy 
5. Describe at least 4 expressive activities used with children and adolescents according to the Oaklander model. 
6. Discuss the use of the Oaklander model with the specific populations of groups, young children, adolescents, children with grief and loss, and children with ADHD.

Book Description: 

Hidden Treasure is a follow up to Oaklander’s first book, Windows To Our Children. Most of the books available in working with this population are written from a traditional ‘play therapy’ point of view. The Gestalt Therapy-based approach provides a more effective method for psychotherapeutic work with children of all ages. The focus is on the relationship between the therapist and client, rather than observation and interpretation. It is a vigorous, dynamic approach.Violet Oaklander uses a wide variety of creative, expressive and projective techniques in her work, and each chapter reflects and exemplifies the use of this work in the service of therapy. The approach is applicable to a wide variety of ages, as well as individual, family and group settings. The book will interest child and adolescent psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, counselors, interns, school personnel as well as graduate-level students. Parents may also find it helpful, as well as adults who are interested in the child within.

“Healing Through Play Using the Oaklander Model:

A Guidebook for Therapists and Counselors Working with Children, Adolescents and Families (1st Ed.)”

by Karen Fried

Eligible for 2 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $20 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the specific components of Violet Oaklander’s model of Gestalt play therapy. 
2. Describe at least four Gestalt Play Therapy interventions.

Book Description: 

This guidebook was created to serve as a companion to the Oaklander Training Program that Violet developed after publishing Windows to Our Children. Child and adolescent therapists came from all over the world to attend her life-changing two-week intensive workshops in Santa Barbara, California. This training continues in Santa Monica, California (led by Karen Fried) and in other United States and international venues by facilitators whom Violet trained, including Lynn Stadler and Peter Mortola. While this guidebook is meant to be used by therapists who have participated in Violet’s training process, that experience is not a requirement. Here, they outline Violet’s thinking as well as some of her classic experiential exercises for you to use when a child or adolescent comes to therapy. Introduction to the model includes how to conduct a first session and how to take developmental factors into account. The guide then explains key elements of Violet’s signature focus on a young client’s ability to contact (inwardly and outwardly), and details how you can enable youngsters at any developmental stage to develop healthy contact functions and to strengthen their sense of self. In addition, this guidebook outlines Violet’s approach to the emotions-including the universal but often-misunderstood ones of anger and aggressive energy that can be challenging to handle in a therapy session. To support you in doing so, the guidebook leads you, step by step, through many of her most effective projective techniques, such as the Safe Place and Rosebush drawings and working with clay, sand tray, and puppets. Finally, it lays out the self-nurturing process, often arising at the end of therapy, and explicates Violet’s insights on developmental issues impacting termination for you to apply in your own practice.

“Aggression in Play Therapy:

A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity (1st Ed.)”

by Lisa Dion

Eligible for 5 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Recognize the importance and therapeutic value of aggressive play
2. Identify at least 3 strategies for staying regulated while working with aggression in the playroom
3. Define “emotional flooding”
4. Examine the concept of “The Setup” in the playroom as a way to understand what the child is trying to communicate
5. Explain the significance of authentic expression from the therapist in the play therapy process

Book Description: 

With an understanding of aggressive play based on brain function and neuroscience, this book provides therapists with a framework to work authentically with aggressive play, while making it an integrative and therapeutic experience for the child. Through the lens of neuroscience and interpersonal neurobiology, therapists are taught how to integrate the intensity experienced by both the child and the therapist during aggressive play in a way that leads towards greater healing and integration. The book explains the neurological processes that lead kids to dysregulation and provides therapists with tools to help their clients facilitate deep emotional healing, without causing their own nervous system to shut down. Topics covered include: embracing aggression; understanding the nervous system; understanding regulation; developing yourself as an external regulator; authentic expression; setting boundaries; working with emotional flooding; supporting parents during aggressive play.

“Sandtray Therapy: A Practical Manual (4th Ed.)”

by Linda E. Homeyer and Daniel S. Sweeney

Eligible for 5 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how to set up a sandtray therapy room with a sand tray and specific categories of miniatures.
2. List a six-step protocol for conducting a sandtray session.
3. Explain at least two ways to process the sandtray session with a client.
4. Discuss at least 4 different therapeutic approaches that can be integrated with sandtray therapy.
5. List at least 3 reasons why sandtray therapy can be beneficial for clients with trauma.
6. Describe at least 2 interventions with sandtray therapy that can be used with couples and/or families.

Book Description: 

Sandtray Therapy is an essential book for professionals and students interested in incorporating this unique modality into work with clients of all ages. The fourth edition includes important discussion of the neurobiological aspects of trauma and sandtray therapy, further exploration of sandtray therapy in the context of the DSM-5, and a renewed review of the sandtray therapy literature. Readers will find that the book is still replete with handouts, images, examples, and resources. The authors’ six-step protocol guides beginners through a typical session, including room setup, creation and processing of the sandtray, cleanup, post-session documentation, and much more.

“Advanced Play Therapy:

Essential Conditions, Knowledge, and Skills for Child Practice (1st Ed.)”

by Dee Ray

Eligible for 8 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify two key historical figures in play therapy and their contributions to the field.
2. Explain the developmental rationale of utilizing play therapy with children.
3. List three questions to ask when considering toy and play material selection.
4. Demonstrate three verbal response skills.
5. Describe the difference between play themes and play behaviors.
6. Examine common beliefs of play therapists.
7. List two benefits of group play therapy.
8. Determine appropriate considerations for termination in play therapy.

Book Description: 

Current play therapy resources offer details on how to conduct play therapy, but are limited in addressing the challenges that develop when therapists conduct play therapy with real-life clients. Using the Child-Centered Play Therapy Approach, Ray has written the first book to address these complex play therapy subjects. Topics covered include: integrating field knowledge of play, development, and theory into the advanced play therapist’s knowledge base; working with difficult situations, such as limit-setting, aggression, and parents; addressing modern work concerns like measuring progress, data accountability, and treatment planning; differentiating play therapy practice in school and community settings; and addressing complicated skills, such as theme work, group play therapy, and supervision. Ray also includes her Child Centered Play Therapy Treatment Manual, an invaluable tool for any play therapist accountable for evidence-based practice. This manual can also be found on the accompanying downloadable resources, along with treatment plan, session summary, and progress-tracking worksheets.

“Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship (4th Ed.)”

by Garry Landreth

Eligible for 11 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the development and history of play therapy.
2. Explain the function of play within the therapeutic process.
3. Identify key concepts and principles of Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT).
4. Categorize types of facilitative therapeutic responses provided in play therapy.
5. List the seven principles that rationalize the use of therapeutic limit setting.
6. Assess the therapeutic intention of playroom logistics and material selection.
7. Describe personality characteristics of the play therapist that are conducive to the play therapy process.
8. Evaluate therapeutic progress and indicators for termination within play therapy.

Book Description: 

This book details Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT), an evidence-based model, which stresses the importance of understanding the child’s world. Professors who have taught a course based on the previous editions will be pleased to find the core message intact but updated with a comprehensive review of rigorous contemporary research demonstrating the strong evidence base for CCPT across cultural groups and presenting issues. Expanded to cover additional topics of interest, this new edition includes a model of the change process in CCPT and 13 new Rules of Thumb that help clarify the CCPT relationship, and discusses deeper issues in CCPT, such as recognizing emotional blocks in play therapy, being culturally responsive, discovering meaning when there seems to be no meaning, and more.

“The Guide to Play Therapy Documentation and Parent Consultation”

by Linda Homeyer and Mary Morrison Bennet

Eligible for 4 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $40 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Explain the Golden Thread metaphor as it relates to the importance of clinical play therapy documentation and parent consultation.
2. Discuss the process of beginning play therapy with a client from the initial inquiry through the initial parent consultation session.
3. Identify the steps to developing a treatment plan and give examples based on at least two different treatment models.
4. List the essential components of a play therapy session note.
5. Discuss the skills required to conduct effective parent consultations including dealing with difficult topics and situations.

“Assessing and Treating Suicidal Thinking and Behaviors in Children and Adolescents: A Play Therapy Guide for Mental Health Professionals in Clinical and School-Based Settings, 1st Edition“

Edited By Leslie W. Baker, Mary Ruth Cross

Eligible for 5 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss Direct and Covert Indicators of Youth Suicidality
   Examine explicit verbal statements and covert metaphoric expressions of suicidal ideation (e.g., play themes, artwork, behavioral shifts) across varied child and adolescent developmental stages.
2. Review Prescriptive and Expressive Play Therapy Interventions
   Analyze how evidence-based models (Prescriptive Play Therapy, CCPT, CBPT, DBT skills) utilize expressive media to help suicidal youth externalize pain, build distress tolerance, and improve emotional regulation.
3. Evaluate Culturally Responsive and Adapted Assessment Protocols
   Discuss adaptations to suicide risk screening, safety planning, and therapeutic approaches for diverse and special populations, including Black, Latine, Native American/Alaska Native, LGBTQ+, and neurodivergent youth.
4. Examine Systemic Safety Planning and Means Restriction Strategies
   Review protocols for collaborating with families and multidisciplinary teams to conduct lethal means counseling, establish visual safety plans, and coordinate school re-entry and crisis intervention.
5. Analyze Legal, Ethical, and Countertransference Dynamics
   Discuss ethical standards (including Zero Suicide guidelines and media reporting principles) while exploring clinician countertransference and emotional reactions when working with suicidal youth.

“Play in Family Therapy, Second Edition

by Eliana Gil“

Eligible for 5 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss Systemic Rationale for Expressive Family Interventions
   Examine the theoretical justification for combining family systems theory with play techniques to bridge the communication gap between verbal adults and symbolic children.
2. Analyze Obstacles and Resistance in Family Systems
   Identify systemic defenses, parental ambivalence, and engagement challenges that arise when introducing play media into multi-generational family therapy.
3. Review Expressive Assessment Tools for Family Dynamics
   Evaluate specialized diagnostic exercises—such as the Family Play Genogram, Family Aquarium, Scribble Drawings, and puppet stories—used to assess boundaries, roles, and communication patterns.
4. Explore Symbolic Communication and Metaphorical Storytelling
   Discuss strategies for tracking, processing, and expanding family metaphors without imposing premature intellectual interpretations.
5. Examine Neurobiological and Relational Principles in Family Play
   Review contemporary research on trauma, brain development, and attachment as it applies to sensory-rich family play interventions that promote co-regulation and systemic change.

“Sandtray Therapy: A Humanistic Approach“

by Stephen A. Armstrong

Eligible for 4 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $40 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the Application of Person-Centered Theory in Sandtray Practice
   Examine how Rogerian principles—such as unconditional positive regard, empathetic attunement, congruence, and non-directiveness—are applied to create a “free and protected space” that fosters client-led self-actualization.
2. Explain the Phenomenological View of Symbol Selection and Spatial Arrangement
   Analyze how clients use sand and miniatures to externalize their inner worlds, emphasizing that symbolic meaning and spatial placement derive exclusively from the client’s subjective frame of reference rather than rigid, pre-determined interpretations.
3. Examine Non-Leading Facilitation and Process Exploration Strategies
   Review humanistic facilitation techniques—including non-evaluative reflections of feeling and content, active witnessing, and perspective-building tools (such as the silent walk-around)—that support client self-discovery without therapist imposition.
4. Evaluate Ethical, Relational, and Practical Considerations Across the Lifespan
   Identify best practices regarding non-judgmental containment, respectful post-session cleanup protocols, photographic documentation, and the application of humanistic sandtray principles across different developmental age groups.

“Play Therapy with Traumatized Children: A Prescriptive Approach“

 by Paris Goodyear-Brown

Eligible for 9 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss Prescriptive Clinical Decision-Making
   Analyze the theoretical rationale for matching specific play modalities strategically to a child’s unique trauma history, developmental stage, and presenting symptoms rather than relying on a single, rigid model.
2. Review Neurobiological Effects of Trauma and Tri-Phasic Treatment
   Examine how traumatic stress alters lower-brain (autonomic) and higher-brain (cortical) functioning, evaluating Judith Herman’s tri-phasic treatment framework (Safety/Stabilization, Trauma Processing, Integration) within play therapy contexts.

1. Differentiate Post-Traumatic Play from Healthy Play
   Discuss the characteristics of rigid, repetitive, non-resolving post-traumatic play versus adaptive pretend play, exploring how play themes signal internal distress and coping mechanisms.
2. Explore Containment, Somatic Regulation, and Exposure Techniques
   Review Phase I grounding interventions (containment boxes, proprioceptive tools, safe place visuals) alongside Phase II titrated exposure techniques (sandtray, storybooks, doll play) for safe memory processing.
3. Discuss the Development of Emotional Literacy in Traumatized Youth
   Examine play-based strategies used to increase affective vocabulary, assist children in identifying physical cues of emotion, and differentiate complex feelings (such as fear vs. anger) as a prerequisite for trauma processing.
4. Analyze Cognitive Restructuring and Thought Life Interventions in Play
   Review techniques for identifying, externalizing, challenging, and reframing faulty attributions, self-blame, and trauma-induced cognitive distortions through play-based cognitive-behavioral tools and metaphor.
5. Examine Developmentally Sensitive Trauma Narrative Construction
   Evaluate methods for integrating somatosensory memories and linguistic narratives through creative media (such as trauma storybooks, play-based timelines, and sandtray scenes) to build a coherent trauma story.
6. Evaluate Post-Trauma Meaning-Making and Positive Self-Concept Integration
   Discuss Phase III strategies for helping children shift from a trauma-defined identity to a post-trauma self centered on resilience, personal mastery, and healthy post-traumatic growth before termination.
7. Examine Caregiver Involvement, Special Populations, and Secondary Trauma
   Evaluate parent-child co-regulation strategies alongside specialized interventions adapted for medical trauma, sexual/physical abuse, domestic violence, complicated grief, and secondary traumatic stress in clinicians.

“Supervision Can Be Playful: Techniques for Child and Play Therapist Supervisors”

Edited by Athena A. Drewes and Jodi Ann Mullen

Eligible for 8 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the Rationale for Integrating Play and Expressive Media in Clinical Supervision
   Examine the theoretical and developmental justification for applying playful, expressive, and experiential techniques in supervision to enhance supervisee self-awareness, bypass intellectual defenses, and deepen parallel process dynamics.
2. Evaluate Supervision Models Adapted for Child and Play Therapy
   Analyze how developmental, systemic, and integrative supervision models (such as the Integrated Developmental Model) inform supervisor interventions across various supervisee experience levels.
3. Examine Techniques for Cultivating Supervisee Self-Reflectivity and Countertransference Awareness
   Review expressive strategies—including sandtray, drawing, collage, and movement—used to help supervisees identify implicit emotional reactions, somatic responses, and countertransference triggers with child clients.
4. Analyze the Parallel Process in Play Therapy Supervision
   Discuss how dynamic themes, attachment patterns, and struggles present in child-therapist relationships mirror and manifest within the supervisor-supervisee supervisory alliance.
5. Review Creative Assessment and Case Conceptualization Tools
   Evaluate non-traditional assessment methods—such as visual case mapping, metaphoric storytelling, and puppet-based case presentations—to assist supervisees in conceptualizing child clients and family systems.
6. Discuss Ethical, Legal, and Risk Management Considerations in Expressive Supervision
   Analyze boundary management, informed consent, competency standards, and evaluation protocols specific to utilizing creative and experiential media within supervisory relationships.
7. Explore Group Supervision Dynamics and Peer-Led Expressive Techniques
   Review strategies for structuring playful group supervision formats that build peer cohesion, facilitate multi-perspective feedback, and maintain psychological safety.
8. Examine Culturally Responsive and Diversity-Informed Supervisory Play
   Discuss adaptations to expressive supervision tools that honor cultural diversity, address power differentials, and foster culturally attuned play therapy practice.
9. Evaluate Methods for Managing Supervisee Anxiety, Resistance, and Burnout
   Analyze expressive and playful techniques designed to reduce evaluative anxiety, process vicarious traumatization, and promote long-term resilience and professional wellness in child therapists.

“The Interpersonal Neurobiology of Play: Brain-Building Interventions for Emotional Well-Being”

by Theresa A. Kestly

Eligible for 5 APT Non-contact CE credits

Fee: $50 (assessment only)

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the Evolution and Neurobiology of the PLAY System
   Examine Jaak Panksepp’s primary affective circuits—specifically focusing on the evolutionary PLAY system—and analyze how playful engagement stimulates Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) to promote neuroplasticity, learning, and neural integration.
2. Evaluate Polyvagal Theory and the Social Engagement System in Play
   Analyze Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory as applied to play therapy, evaluating how safe, reciprocal play activates the ventral vagal complex to down-regulate survival defenses (fight/flight/freeze) and foster social engagement.
3. Examine Hemispheric Integration, Right-Brain Attunement, and Co-Regulation
   Discuss the differential roles of the right and left cerebral hemispheres in processing implicit memory and emotional states, examining how nonverbal, right-brain-to-right-brain attunement and mirror neurons support co-regulation between therapist and client.
4. Review Sandtray, Metaphor, and Expressive Media through an IPNB Lens
   Examine how sandtray, metaphor, and visual arts provide a 3D externalized landscape that bridges implicit somatic experiences (right brain) with explicit narrative processing and linguistic meaning (left brain).
5. Analyze IPNB Applications for Emotional Dysregulation and the Window of Tolerance
   Discuss how play-based interventions help clients navigate hyperarousal and hypoarousal, expand their window of tolerance, promote secure attachment, and facilitate neural integration across the lifespan.