Course Description

Learn to recognize, access, and build cooperation among self-states of children in the playroom applying key principles to guide treatment. We will practice two play-based interventions utilizing sand tray and drawing. Use the lens of dissociation to understand the themes in child-centered play therapy with young children. For older children, participants will practice a scripted intervention called “The Play Room Parts of Self Process” useful with drawing or sand tray which is a version of Frasier’s Table for children. The workshop—led by Annie Monaco, LCSW, RPT and Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S—teaches safety and gradual exposure in the playroom to allow self-states to emerge during preparation for EMDR.

* Please note that this program is not approved by the American Psychological Association for CE for psychologists.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to identify at least 5 atypical problem behaviors in children that manifest as dissociative strategies and self-states and utilize guiding principles for treatment.
2. Participants will be able to utilize 2 different play therapy approaches to identify and access self-states in children with complex trauma and dissociation.
3. Participants will be able to initiate internal cooperation between the self-states using a scripted, imaginative intervention which adapts Fraser’s table for young children.

Presenter(s)

Annie Monaco, LCSW, RPT

Annie Monaco, LCSW, RPT, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Registered Play Therapist, and a faculty member of both the Child Trauma Institute and of University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Annie travels throughout the US and internationally providing trauma-informed trainings and agency and therapist consultation. She is a trainer of EMDR, Progressive Counting, and Attachment & Dissociation, and is the Chair of the EMDRIA Child and Adolescent Special Interest Group. She has extensive training in complex trauma, family therapy, play therapy, and restorative justice, and over 25 years’ experience in serving children, teens, families, and adults.

Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S

Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S, has a private practice in Buffalo, New York specializing in attachment and child trauma, and she also works with adult survivors. She is a Registered Play Therapist and supervisor and Approved Provider of play therapy continuing education, an EMDRIA-Approved Consultant, and a faculty member of the Child Trauma Institute, in addition to serving as the training chair for the EMDRIA Special Interest Group for children and adolescents. She has given trainings around the US and Asia. Her primary interest is in the intersection of play therapy and EMDR and has previously published on this topic.