Clair Mellenthin – The Power of Play: Proven Strategies for Trauma and Attachment in Children & Adolescents

• Interactive day of case examples, videos and hands-on techniques
• Rebuild trust in parent-child relationship
• Create developmentally appropriate trauma narratives
• Tools to decrease nightmares, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts

Play Therapy is a powerful tool for children who’ve experienced trauma. It is a safe space where they can feel in control, learn how to identify and manage distressing symptoms and give language to what they are feeling within their body and mind.

In this innovative workshop, we will explore how trauma impacts the brain, the resulting impact on the parent-child relationship, as well as how to effectively treat and resolve trauma symptoms utilizing attachment-centered play therapy techniques.

By giving children opportunities to work in a child-centered setting, you will observe and document how children:

• Utilize gradual exposure
• Regulate affect
• Gain knowledge of their traumatic experiences
• Manage their experiences that can feel overwhelming or frightening

This trauma-anchored model teaches you powerful play therapy interventions. It deepens metaphor work by amplifying the child’s ability to explore the material they externalize, and provides the child with a safe, predictable environment for processing interpersonal trauma. You will learn theory and techniques that values children’s pacing, respects defensive strategies, and seeks to help children build alternative skills to cope with difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviors.