2019 Annual Conference

Play Therapy on a Dime: Practical Techniques for Everyday Use

Presented by:
Sharolyn Wallace, Ph.D., LCSW, RPT-S

Workshop Overview

Gadgets, gizmos, cool new stuff, latest must haves! Very exciting and potentially very costly! This workshop will revive your creative spirit without breaking your piggy bank! Material, broken toys, old puzzles, foil, cardboard rolls, and everyday junk can be turned into fabulous play therapy activities and successful therapeutic techniques. This workshop will focus on the difficult challenges facing children from school age through adolescence. Sexual abuse, bullying, ADHD, emotional and physical abuse, divorce, substance abuse are just a few of the traumas we will explore in the context of play therapy methodologies. Research indicates that play therapy modalities are effective with these complex issues. Evidenced and empirically based methodologies with corresponding experiential play therapy techniques will assist the play therapist in developing a strength and empowerment model for our clients. CBT, Gestalt, CCPT, and Adlerian therapeutic models will be the foundation of this workshop. These techniques will assist therapist in empowering our clients to become stronger, assertive, courageous, and efficacious. This workshop will provide many experiential activities that engage the creativeness and curative factors of the therapeutic relationship in play therapy.

Workshop Objectives

1.      Participants will be able to create 4 new play therapy activities with Gestalt theoretical orientation.

2.      Participants will be able to identify and create 3 new play therapy activities with Adlerian theoretical orientation and for CBT theoretical orientation.

3.      Participants will be able to apply 2 theoretical models to 3 new creative play therapy activities.

4.      Participants will learn new play therapy activities costing less than $20 to less than $5.

5.      Participants will apply cost saving strategies to play therapy interventions.

ABOUT SHAROLYN WALLACE                                      
Sharolyn Wallace, PhD. LCSW, Registered Play Therapist Supervisor has been the Professor of Human Services at Tulsa Community College for over 20 years. She is also the director for TCC’s Center for Addiction Prevention and Recovery Support. Dr. Wallace received the 2014 C.V. Ramana award for Outstanding Contribution to the Mental Health of Oklahoma’s Children and the 2016 NASW-OK Social Worker of the Year.  She is the Past-President for OK NASW.  She is a Board Member for the Association for Play Therapy and the National Association for Social Workers.  Dr. Wallace has been in private practice for over twenty years specializing in child sexual abuse and trauma.  Dr. Wallace led a team of mental health workers providing crisis intervention and play therapy in Sri Lanka one month at the Tsunami.  She has also provided crisis relief work in Alaska, New York, Miami, San Francisco, and Scotland, and two separate tours of duty in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Dr. Wallace has published articles on play therapy and relapse prevention with child welfare families. She is the author of a series of children’s books, “The Adventures of Bruce, Ben & Gerry.”