Education and Training
at the Redwood Center
Is your agency seeking to deepen its understanding of Child Centered Play Therapy approaches and enhance services for children and families?
As an experienced psychotherapist and seasoned educator, Jen brings a wealth of knowledge, warmth, and practical experience to her trainings. Her engaging, experiential workshops can be tailored to meet your team’s needs - whether you're new to play therapy or looking to expand your overall toolkit for working with children.
With a strong emphasis on cultural humility, social justice, and developmentally appropriate practices, Jen equips mental health professionals with the skills and confidence to create safe, empowering spaces for children to heal through play. Informative and deeply inspiring, her trainings leave clinicians energized and ready to implement meaningful, evidence-based strategies in their work.
About Jen
Jennifer Sims is a Licensed Professional Clinical
Counselor and Registered Play Therapist™ with nearly
20 years of experience as a psychotherapist, including
over a decade specializing in working with children and
families. She is known for her engaging, experiential
training style and her ability to bring play therapy
concepts to life in both clinical and everyday settings.
Jen has advanced training in Child-Centered Play
Therapy, Filial Therapy, Gestalt Play Therapy, EMDR for children, and AutPlay. Her work integrates deep clinical knowledge with a strong commitment to accessibility, cultural humility, and social justice for children.
Jennifer regularly creates and presents CEU-compatible trainings about non-directive play
therapy techniques and practice. She will be featured as a guest expert at the Sixth Annual Innovative Child Therapy Symposium (06/2025) and has been a lead presenter for
organizations such as Hearts and Solutions and The Redwood Center for Children and
Families. She is also a sought-after podcast guest, featured on My Child is Not a Monster and
Ten More Minutes with Maria Arias.
Jen’s background includes extensive work as a School-Based Mental Health Specialist
(2015–2023), where she developed and led trainings for school staff, teachers, and students.
Earlier in her career, she served as a Prevention Education and Training Specialist with
Pittsburgh Action Against Rape, presenting at local, statewide, and national levels on the
prevention of sexual abuse. She was also a statewide trainer for the Pennsylvania Commission
on Crime and Delinquency, teaching advocacy and counseling skills to victim advocates.
In addition to live trainings, Jennifer brings play therapy education to a global audience through her highly engaged social media platforms, where her content reaches millions and promotes insight into the field of play therapy, parent support, and advocacy for children’s rights. You can find her online work @redwoodcenterforchildren across all platforms.
Jennifer is passionate about creating training spaces that are meaningful, embodied and grounded in empathy. She welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with organizations to develop customized trainings that meet the unique needs of your staff, clients, or community.
