Access to language is rarely neutral or equal.  All over the world, children are facing circumstances that impact their ability to process and share lived experiences.  Regardless of their situations, children will work to make sense of things through play, and this is a gift that adults can recognize and hold with care.

Grounded in the core principles of Child Centered Play Therapy, this 2-day training explores how collective trauma and childism influence children’s play, nervous systems, and relationships with adults. Participants will reflect on how play carries both personal and shared histories, and how therapists can remain child centered while adapting practice across cultures, languages, and systems.

Skills such as therapist presence, structuring, reflection, imaginative play and limit setting will be viewed through the lens safety and transformation as participants explore what it means to create protective therapeutic spaces for children in chaotic times.

Set in Helsinki, Finland, a city renowned for its child centered practices, this training offers a unique setting for reflection on how therapists can hold safety, dignity, and care for children when play is the common language.