When experiencing dysregulation, many children react in physical ways – through physical aggression, destruction, running away, pacing, etc.  When we look at all behavior as serving a purpose and as a means of communication, we can look at this as a message from children that, simply put, moving their body helps them feel better.  This is a message to adults from children that physical movement is an effort to regulate their bodies and their nervous systems.  In this workshop, you will learn and practice ways to incorporate movement into play therapy sessions to support client regulation (in and out of sessions), you will gain skills to support yourself and your clients within play therapy to increase body awareness and resilience, you will gain insight into the power of movement from a neurological perspective within play therapy, and finally, you will be challenged to take this knowledge into the world to advocate for changes to systems to support best practices for all children.

Learning Objectives:

1. Learn what effect movement has on the brain and nervous system, specifically related to trauma in the context of play therapy.
2. Learn and practice various ways to incorporate movement into your play therapy sessions.
3. Learn skills, vocabulary, and exercises to increase body awareness of self and clients to build resilience in play therapy.