floor. Then he chose three bears that he named dad, mom, and Jenny (his sister), keeping them close to him. Jake began to express himself through play, safely displacing his feelings of fear and powerlessness onto the doctor bear. He controlled the bear’s actions making certain that the doctor bear took good care of the other bears, listening to what they had to say. As Jake began to make choices for himself, he felt heard and supported by Ms. Kimika, who observed and tracked his actions without asking questions or disparaging him. The counselor also invited Jake to choose whichever expressive activities (play, art, and music) he wanted to use in order to help him feel confident and empowered. Color my feelings. Ms. Kimika helped Jake create a color legend for his feelings (Goodyear-Brown, 2010). He chose sad, frustrated, lonely, and happy and selected a color that expressed each feeling. Jake colored half of a heart with brown for sad and the other half with orange for frustrated. He outlined the heart and each part with blue for lonely. Ms. Kimika asked Jake what could help the orange part become smaller to make space for a happy part that he could color green. Jake expressed his wish to play more with his friends, and they agreed to practice relaxation techniques that could help him play even when his head hurt. Color my body. Jake created another legend and selected a


color to represent the amount of his pain (i.e., no pain, a little pain, much pain, and too much pain). After Ms. Kimika made


RMPTI


Play Therapy Training


an outline of Jake’s body on paper, he colored the parts of his body in the outline to show how much pain he felt. Jake colored his head and hands purple to represent too much pain; his shoulders, stomach, and heart were orange for much pain; his neck was dark green for a little pain; and his legs were yellow for no pain. When Jake showed Ms. Kimika how he clenched his fists when his head was pounding to hold back the pain, they practiced progressive muscle relaxation focusing on his head and hands. Ms. Kimika played different tunes so that Jake could select music he enjoyed to help him relax and ease the pain. Ms. Kimika loaded them on his iPod to use in school, at home, or in the hospital and suggested sharing his picture with the treatment team so they could see where he hurt the most during his headaches. Relaxation station. When Jake returned to the playroom,


he gathered the animals representing his family and took them to the same place on the floor. Tying a cape around his shoulder, he called himself “Superhero Jake” and created a tent with chairs and a sheet exclaiming, “I am building my relaxation station all by myself!” Ms. Kimika photographed him in his new place of relaxation and uploaded the photo onto his iPod so Jake could use it to relax with his music. Puppets and plushies (stuffed toys). Jake chose a puppy


puppet to represent him and a dragon puppet to represent his doctors. In his play, the puppy tried to tell the dragon where he hurt and how this pain kept him from being with his


GREEN STREAM: FOUNDATIONS OF PLAY THERAPY 9 day program with online component On-site class: July 14 - 22, 2015 at RMPTI - Calgary, Canada


RED STREAM: ADVANCED THEORIES & TECHNIQUES IN PLAY THERAPY


9 day program with online component On-site class: August 14 - 22, 2015 at RMPTI - Calgary, Canada


Combined, the Green and Red Stream programs provide 150 hours of  


The Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute (RMPTI) is internationally recognized as a facility dedicated to training child and play therapists.


APT Approved Provider 06-179 CACPT Approved Provider 09-104


1318-15th Avenue SW Calgary, AB Canada


admin@rmpti.com www.a4pt.org


Check our training calendar for upcoming Yellow Stream specialized  with on-line components:     


         training? See our calendar for workshops in Hong Kong & Croatia.


Register online: www.rmpti.com March 2015 | PLAYTHERAPY 13


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36