Amy Flaherty – Play Therapy for Trauma: Brain-Based Strategies for Children & Adolescents

Outline

Overview of the Effect of Trauma on the Brain

• Age-appropriate play
• Environmental vs physical
• Long-lasting effects: ACES score
• Protective factors with trauma
• Importance of attachment research
• Five distinct symptoms of trauma within play therapy

Principles of Interpersonal Neurobiology in Play Therapy

• The Domains of Integration
• The divided brain and why it matters
• How play therapy is able to regulate and allow the person to move up and down the brain system as needed
• Case examples to demonstrate lack of integration

REPAIRING THE BRAIN THROUGH PLAY TECHNIQUES – OVER 30 TECHNIQUES

Techniques for dysregulation, rigidity, regression, trauma loops (targets cerebellum)

• Rhythm games and songs
• Attachment activities
• Touch in play – when appropriate, best practices

Techniques for emotional identification (targets the limbic system)

• Color my heart activity
• Name that feeling
• Angry balloon game
• Angry volcano experiment
• Butterflies in my tummy
• What’s different in the sand tray

Techniques for coping skills to address rigidity, trauma loops, and harmful behaviors (targets the cortex)

• Mad Libs assertiveness skill game
• I can calm down hand game
• Breathing games
• Calm down bottle/sensory bottle
• Positive self-talk
• Biblothearpy in the play room

Techniques to improve executive function for positive choices: After body is regulated and the whole brain is online (targets the pre-frontal cortex)

• Vision board
• Sandtray directives
• Draw headstone
• Carrying shame stones
• Board of directors

Best practices for parents/caregivers

• Name it to tame it
• ACT method
• What research says about the importance of parents working on their own stories