The Association for Play Therapy Italia (APTI) organizes training activities in Italian and English languages related to Play Therapy and Filial Therapy.

TRAINING ACTIVITIES: general overview
The Association for Play Therapy Italia (APTI) applies to all education activities the same criteria as APT with regard to quality and professionalism. .

All educational activities are therefore performed by expert registered as Play Therapy Supervisor-RPT/S (either in Italy or United States) and recognized from the Association for Play Therapy as approved provider.

As approved training all the activities herewith presented are eligible for mental health professionals as credit hours to request the registration in the RPT or RPT/S registers either of APT or APTI (see the section “who practice the play therapy”).

APTI organizes in Play Therapy:

APTI organizes in Filial Therapy:

The APTI main location for training is Roma. Nevertheless, workshops and seminars can be organized anywhere else whenever a minimum of participants is granted.

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PLAY THERAPY

Full-day Workshops performed by Athena A. Drewes, MA, PsyD, RPT-S

Play Therapy Techniques Across the Ages
This training will be experiential along with didactic material, giving participants an opportunity to try out and learn directive play therapy techniques that they can use with the children and adolescents they work with. By the end of the training participants will be able to: 1) identify three play therapy techniques for use with children and adolescents, 2) have experienced and be able to replicate 5 play-based techniques, and 3) understand when and how to utilize directive play therapy techniques in treatment. There will be opportunity for questions and sharing of cases.

Play Therapy Techniques to Help Children Identify, Express and Integrate Angry and Aggressive Feelings
This training is a combination of didactic instruction and experiential demonstrations. It will offer an overview of the latest neuron-developmental research on anger and aggression, along with various play therapy techniques to be used as interventions. Participants will be helped to differentiate between “hot” and “cold” aggression and understand the impact of trauma and poor attachment on children’s angry and aggressive behaviors. Cognitive-behavioral, directive, invitational, and play-based techniques will be shared. Participants will be able to: 1) understand and identify 3 precipitants to angry and aggressive behaviors; 2) identify two different categories that angry and aggressive behaviors fall into; 3) be able to apply five play-based techniques in their work with children. There will be opportunity for questions and sharing of cases.

How to Respond to the Child’s Play Through Metaphor
Play therapy can provide children with the opportunity to be seen, heard and understood in a way that facilitates emotional, intellectual and social development. Much of the child’s actions, play, story-telling and talk can convey strikingly accurate commentary and perceptions about the therapy process itself as it mirrors or diverges from expectations and experiences beyond the play therapy context. Participants will: 1) begin to develop a different way of listening to a child’s efforts; 2) adapt clinical material presented for their practice; 3) practice two different ways of responding to children’s communications. There will be opportunity for questions and sharing of cases.

Play Therapy with Developmentally Delayed and Disordered Children
This workshop will focus on ways to look at play skill levels in delayed, PDD and Asperger’s children, and how to help expand and develop play skills. Normal play development (Piaget’s stages), red flags to play development and assessment measures will be addressed. Specific play therapy techniques and approaches such as Theraplay, Floor Time and Object-Focused Play will be reviewed. This training will be a combination of didactic and experiential components, along with video clips. Participants will be able to: 1) identify three of Piaget’s levels of normal play development, 2) learn and be able to demonstrate knowledge of four play therapy techniques, 3) will identify three play therapy approaches that can be utilized with PDD, delayed and Asperger’s children. There will be opportunity for questions and sharing of cases.

Working with the Difficult Child: Use of Directive Play Therapy Techniques
This training will focus on a variety of play therapy techniques that can be useful to help move treatment along when the more traditional non-directive approaches seem not be effective. Participants will have the opportunity to share difficult cases and explore ways to further their work with children dealing with difficulties in modulating or expressing anger and feelings in general, dealing with difficulty emotional issues (e.g. death of loved one, sexual abuse and trauma) and controlling impulsivity. There will be a combination of didactic and experiential exercises and practical techniques that the play therapist can utilize with their special population.

 

Full 2-day workshop presented by Dr. Risë VanFleet, Ph.D., RPT-S

Child-Centered Play Therapy
The field of play therapy has been growing rapidly during the past 25 years, and research support for its effectiveness is considerable. There are many types of play therapy, representing most psychological theories. In general, play therapy can be divided into three main categories:

Nondirective play therapy – the therapist provides a variety of toys or items that can elicit many different feelings and issues. The therapist then follows the child’s lead, permitting the child to decide what toys to use and how to play with them. The therapist creates a safe and accepting environment and responds in ways that children feel free to express themselves and to work through many of their own problems.

Directive play therapy – here, the therapist plays a more active role in guiding the therapy toward more specific goals. Playful interactions or activities are used to help children overcome problems. The therapist usually selects the toys and the ways in which they will be used.

Family play therapy – although parents should always be included in the play therapy process, family play therapy involves parents, and often the entire family, much more fully and collaboratively. There are many types of family play interventions.

Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT) is considered a nondirective form of play therapy. The therapist creates a safe play session climate where children can openly express their feelings and wishes through play. Similar to humanistic client-centered approaches, CCPT assumes that children will grow and develop in healthy ways if we provide them with the right environment. Therefore, the therapist concentrates on establishing a relationship of acceptance of the child while permitting the child to select the toys and activities for the session. The therapist-child relationship, based upon genuineness and unconditional positive regard, is vital for providing the sense of safety and acceptance for children to “do their work” through their play.

Child-Centered Play Therapy is truly an empowerment approach. A child-centered play therapist trusts children’s ability to solve their own problems in their own ways, and the therapist shows this trust by refraining from directing the content of children’s play. For those professionals trained initially in more directive intervention methods, this approach may seem a bit foreign at first; however, many therapists become convinced of its power after using CCPT with several children and seeing the results.

Child-Centered Play Therapy has been used since the 1940s, when it was developed by Virginia Axline. Today, CCPT is taught and practiced widely, and although there are minor variations in the methods used, most practitioners of this type of play therapy share strong agreement in the basic assumptions and principles underlying this approach.

Although CCPT is just one of a wide range of play therapy approaches, it is generally considered an important foundation for play therapists. It is probably the most widely practiced form of play therapy, and it is an excellent place for professionals who are new to play therapy to begin their studies. With a base in CCPT, many play therapists learn the full range of approaches to apply to diverse and challenging child and family problems. CCPT also forms the basis of Filial Therapy, a very effective form of family therapy that uses parent-child play sessions as its primary intervention.

There is a considerable and growing body of research that demonstrates the effectiveness of Child-Centered Play Therapy. The reference below describes a meta-analysis of play therapy and filial therapy approaches.

Bratton, S.C., Ray, D., Rhine, T., & Jones, L. (2005). The efficacy of play therapy with children: A meta-analytic review of treatment outcomes. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 36 (4), 376-390.


Dr. Risë VanFleet training in child centered skills in Anchorage, Alaska.

 

Play Therapy Trainings offered by Claudio Mochi RPT/S

Foundations of Play Therapy
The seminar is aimed at defining the foundations of Play Therapy starting by introducing the concept of play an its therapeutic principles. Different approaches and applications of Play Therapy will be also presented. During the day will be studied and practiced various basic techniques.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: evaluation and treatment (with Natasa Ljubomirovic)
In the seminars specific focus will be given on children post traumatic reactions in the various ages from preschool to adolescence. It will be also presented and practiced evaluation and treatment techniques appropriate for the various ages.

Group Play Therapy activities
The seminar aims at setting up the basis of Group Play Therapy focusing on the main group models and the underlying dynamics. The study is also directed to clarify the role of play therapist and to give the necessary elements to support the professional in structuring a group and choosing the proper intervention. Various group activities will be presented and practiced.

Evaluation and Diagnose through Play therapy (with Natasa Ljubomirovic)
The seminar is dedicated to explain how to evaluate and diagnose through play. It will be presented and practiced various techniques related to various ages and problems.

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Claudio Mochi co-leading an Intensive Filial Therapy Training Program
with Dr. Risë VanFleet in Anchorage, Alaska; parent training role-play


FILIAL THERAPY

Filial Therapy was conceived in the early 1960s by Drs. Bernard and Louise Guerney, and it has been extensively developed and researched for over 45 years. Filial Therapy is a psychoeducational family intervention in which the therapist trains and supervises parents as they hold special child-centered play sessions w ith their own children, thereby engaging parents as partners in the therapeutic process and empowering them to be the primary change agents for their own children. Filial Therapy represents a theoretical integration of a number of orientations into a comprehensive approach to eliminate presenting problems, improve parent-child relationships, and strengthen the family system as a whole. It has wide applicability with very consistent research results indicating significant improvements in (a) child problems, (b) parents’ skills, (c) parents’ acceptance of their children, (d) parent satisfaction, and (e) gains maintained up to 5 years, as well as significant decreases in (a) parents’ stress levels, (b) therapy drop-out rates, and (c) excessive utilization of services.

Filial Therapy has been used successfully as a preventive program to strengthen families as well as a therapeutic intervention for many child/family problems: anxiety, depression, abuse/neglect, single parenting, adoption/foster-care/kinship-care, attachment disruptions, high conflict divorce, family substance abuse, traumatic events, oppositionality, anger/aggression problems, chronic medical illness, step-parenting, relationship problems, multi-problem families, and so on. It also has very high multicultural applicability and has been rapidly growing in use throughout the world. Other adaptations include its use with Head Start families, elementary teachers, high school students, and paraprofessionals.

Filial Therapy is a relatively short-term intervention with demonstrated long-term results. It can be used with groups of parents or with individual families. The basic phases of the therapy are listed below.

Usual Sequence of Filial Therapy:

Key References on Filial Therapy:
Filial Therapy: Strengthening Parent-Child Relationships Through Play, VanFleet, 2005 (2nd ed.); 1994; Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Press. (also translated into Japanese)

Filial Play Therapy DVD featuring Dr. VanFleet, 2008, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association (2 hours).

Introduction to Filial Play Therapy--DVD workshop, VanFleet, 2006; Boiling Springs, PA: Play Therapy Press (4-1/2 hours).

A Parent’s Handbook of Filial Play Therapy, VanFleet, 2000; Boiling Springs, PA: Play Therapy Press. (several translations are available or in process)

Casebook of Filial Therapy, VanFleet & Guerney, Eds., 2003, Boiling Springs, PA: Play Therapy Press.

Filial Therapy: A Critical Review, VanFleet, Ryan, & Smith. (2005), in Reddy, Files-Hall, & Schaefer (Eds.). Empirically-Based Play Interventions for Children (241-264). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Hundreds of other chapters, articles, and research studies on the application and efficacy of Filial Therapy are also available.

For more information about resources and professional workshops, contact the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center at the address, phone, or website below.
www.play-therapy.com
Risevanfleet@aol.com
PO Box 613, Boiling Springs, PA 17007
717-249-4707
© 2009, Play Therapy Press. All rights reserved.

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INSTRUCTORS

Dr. Athena A. Drewes
Dr. Drewes is a NYS licensed child psychologist, NYS certified school psychologist, and Registered Play Therapist–Supervisor. She holds a Master’s in Clinical Psychology from NYU, and a PsyD in Child Clinical-School- Community Psychology from Pace University. She is Director of Clinical Training and the APA–Accredited Doctoral Internship Program, and sees foster children in therapy, at The Astor Home for Children, a full range, multiservice, nonprofit mental health agency with over 750 employees serving Dutchess, Bronx, and Orange counties in New York. Dr. Drewes is adjunct professor of play therapy at Marist and Sage Colleges, past Board of Director of the Association for Play Therapy (2001–2007), Founder and Past President of the New York Association for Play Therapy, and Director of the Play Therapy Institute.

She is Secretary for the Child and Adolescent Special Interest Group of Division 56 Trauma of the American Psychological Association. She is on the editorial board for Training and Education in Professional Psychology, and the International Journal of Play Therapy. Drewes has written and lectured extensively about play therapy nationally and internationally. She is co-editor and chapter author of School-based Play Therapy (Drewes, Carey, & Schaefer, 2001), Cultural Issues in Play Therapy (Gil & Drewes, 2005), and Supervision can be Playful: Play-based Techniques for Child and Play Therapist Supervisors (Drewes & Mullen, 2008). She is editor of Blending Play Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Evidence-based and Other Effective Treatments and Techniques (Wiley, 2009) and co-editor of School-based Play Therapy. Second Edition (with Schaefer, Wiley, 2009).

She is also a Supervisor on the Disaster Mental Health Leadership Team of the Red Cross in Greater New York, and a member of the Disaster Response Network of the New York State Psychological Association. She has worked for over 25 years across all settings with children and adolescents, specializing in treatment involving sexual abuse, trauma, attachment disorder, foster care children, supervision, and play therapy in the schools.


Dr. Risë VanFleet
Dr. Risë VanFleet is the Founder and President of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc. in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, an organization specializing in the training and supervision of child, family, and play therapy professionals as well as the provision of mental health services for children and families. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and The Pennsylvania State University. A licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania, Dr. VanFleet is also a certified Filial Therapy therapist, supervisor, and instructor, and a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. She specializes in strengthening family relationships through play, and has subspecialties in chronic medical illness, disaster mental health, child/family trauma and attachment interventions using play therapy and filial therapy, and the use of canines in play therapy.

Dr. VanFleet brings 35 years of clinical, supervisory, and leadership experience in community mental health, health care, education, and independent practice settings to her workshops. She has trained and supervised thousands of clinicians internationally.

She is the author of Filial Therapy: Strengthening Parent-Child Relationships Through Play, A Parent’s Handbook of Filial Play Therapy, coeditor with Dr. Louise Guerney of the Casebook of Filial Therapy, and author/photographer of The Faces of Play. Her most recent book (2008) is Play Therapy with Kids and Canines. Her materials have been used by professionals and families in over 60 countries, and her writings have been translated into several languages. She is featured on three best-selling play therapy DVD workshops: Child-Centered Play Therapy, Overcoming Resistance: Engaging Parents in Play Therapy, and Introduction to Filial Therapy, as well an American Psychological Association DVD, Filial Play Therapy.

Dr. VanFleet has been the inaugural honoree for three major play therapy awards: the Bernard G. and Louise F. Guerney Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice and Training in Filial Therapy (The Association for Filial and Relationship Enhancement Methods), the Play Therapy Professional Education and Training Award (The Association for Play Therapy), and the Louise and Bernard Guerney Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Play Therapy (Pennsylvania Association for Play Therapy). She is a cofounder of the International Collaborative on Play Therapy and a Past President/Board Chair of the Association for Play Therapy. Risë is also involved in the research, development, and practice of canine assisted play therapy, and regularly works with one of her dogs in CAPT. She is the Director of the Playful Pooch Program, an Approved Evaluator for the American Kennel Club’s Canine Good Citizen program, a member of the Dog Writers‘ Association of America, and a frequent contributor to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers‘ Chronicle of the Dog. Her Play Therapy with Kids & Canines book was the 2008 winner of the Planet Dog Foundation’s Sit-Speak-Act Canine Service Award given by the Dog Writers Association of America. One of her articles was a finalist in the 2008 DWAA writing competition as well. In addition to her work in the play/family therapy field, Dr. VanFleet is President of VanFleet Associates, an organizational development and training firm, an accomplished pianist, and an award-winning nature photographer specializing in Alaskan wildlife.

She can be contacted at:
Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc.
PO Box 613, Boiling Springs, PA 17007 USA
Phone 717-249-4707 • Fax 717-249-9479
Risevanfleet@aol.com • www.play-therapy.com • www.playfulpooch.org

 

Claudio Mochi
Claudio Mochi is a licensed Psychologist and expert in emergency and disaster mental health, including the use of clinical/community psychology and play therapy in post-disaster situations. As a Psychologist, he has worked in Italy in various rehabilitation and foster care programs for children. In the emergency field, he earned a Master’s in Psychological Disaster and cooperated for a long time with the Italian Red Cross as supervisor of the Roma and Orte psychological emergency teams which he coordinated during the earthquake of Molise in 2002.

Since 2001 he has worked with several organizations such as the Italian Red Cross, Croix Rouge de Belgique, Doctors without Borders, and Terre des Hommes Foundation (CH). In this capacity, he has created and developed psychosocial programs addressing the needs of disaster survivors and trained local professionals in several countries such as Kosovo, Serbia and Montenegro, Iran, Palestine, Pakistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka.

In the play therapy field, Mr. Mochi is a Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor with the Association for Play Therapy (United States) and has achieved the certificate in advanced training in play therapy through the Play Therapy Training Institute (USA). Claudio has also received intensive training in Filial Therapy by the Family Enhancement and Play Center (USA), directed by Dr Risë VanFleet, and is in the final stages of becoming certified as a Filial Therapy Instructor.

He is also faculty member of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc., Boiling Springs, PA. Providing professional training in play therapy, Filial Therapy, and disaster mental health for one of the leading professional education organizations on child/family therapy in the U.S. and abroad.

Mr. Mochi is Founder and President of the "Associazione per la Play Therapy Italia" (www.apt-italia.org), an organization designed to develop and support the practice of play therapy in Italy.

Claudio can be contacted at: claudio.mochi@yahoo.com
www.apt-italia.org

 

Dr. Natasa Ceribasic´-Ljubomirovic´
Dr. Natasa Ceribasic´-Ljubomirovic´ is a child psychiatrist with Master and PhD in social psychiatry (University of Belgrade).

In the field of child psychiatry she has received extensive training and supervision in United Kingdom where she also received the training in group therapy and group work with children and adolescents.

From 1993 Dr. Natasa Ceribasic´-Ljubomirovic´ works in field of Psychiatry. She has been instructor in the Universtity of Belgrade and Sarajevo in the division of Psychiatry and she worked as specialist in Adolescent and Child Psychiatry at the Institute of Mental Health of Belgrade and for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Service in Northampton. In this major she is currently training students at the Faculty of Social Science in Belgrade.

Natasa Ceribasic´-Ljubomirovic´is member of International Early Psychosis Association – Australia, the International Institute of Mental Health - Northampton (UK),Medicines sans Frontieres - Belgium and The Association for Play Therapy Italia and the EERC -Budapest.

She worked extensively in conflicts regions cooperating with several national and international organizations such as Unicef, Save the Children -United Kingdom and Medicine Sans Frontieres -Belgium.

She worked extensively in conflicts regions cooperating with several national and international organizations such as Unicef, Save the Children (United Kingdom) and Medicine Sans Frontieres (Belgium) focusing in particular on child and adolescents refugee traumatized by war.

At the time being she is working for CIDA-Group 484 as coordinator of the project "Developing Sensitivity of the Primary Health Care System to the Issues of Gender and Marginalized People", in Serbia and cooperates with APTI as vice president and training instructor. She is also board person in the project “Social and economic integration of the refugees and IDPs living in Collective centers in Serbia” financed by UNIDEA- Italy.

Dr Natasa Ceribasic´-Ljubomirovic´ is author of several articles and monographs among which:

Radojkovic´ D., Vuletic´-Peco A., Rudic´ N., Ljubomirovic´ N. (1997): Adolescents with problems adapting to boarding school - group work. Journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists, Vol. 12, Suppl. 2:S197, Geneva.

Ljubomirovic´ N. (1997): Psychic consequences of stresses of war in adolescence. Gledista 1-2, pp. 143-159, Beograd.

Ljubomirovic´ N. (1998): Group work with mothers and infants in preventing early developmental disorders. Psychiatria Danubina Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 19-22, Zagreb.

Ljubomirovic´ N. (1998): Therapeutic group work with adolescent refugees in the context of war and its stresses. The Mental Health Refugees, Return to Psychiatry On-Line Contents, http://www.priory.com/psych/refugee.htm

Monographs

Ljubomirovic´ N. (1997): Psychic reactions to stresses of war in adolescents. Master’s theme, University of Belgrade, School of Medicine.

Ljubomirovic N.(2001): Stress and Youngs,Published by Andrejevic co,Belgrade,Yugoslavia.

Ljubomirovic N.(200l): Psychic reactions of adolescents on stress of war in Psychosotial consequences of war research in ex Yugoslavia,UNICEF,Sarajevo,Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Ljubomirovic´ N.(2006): The Outcome of Group Work with traumatized Children and their Families in the Southern Serbia and Kosovo region in Responses to traumatized children, Palgrave, UK.

Ljubimirovic´ N.(2005):Are you feeling good?, MSF-Belgium

Ljubomirovic´, Volarevic´ (2007): Developing sensitivity of the primary health care system to the issue of gender and marginalised people

 

Virginia Ryan, PhD
Virginia Ryan, PhD, trained in the US and has lived in England for many years. She is a Chartered Child Psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and a qualified Play Therapist and Play Therapy Supervisor with the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT). She also is a Certified Filial Therapist and Filial Therapy Instructor with the Family Enhancement and Play Therapy Center, USA.

Her clinical practice is Ryan Children’s Services Ltd in Hull, East Yorkshire, UK (See www.playandfiliatherapy.co.uk). Virginia was Senior Lecturer (i e Associate Professor) and Director of the MA/Diploma in Non-directive Play Therapy, SPSW Dept, University of York, UK, which led to a professional qualification as a play therapist with the British Association of Play Therapists (BAPT) for several years.

Virginia has published books and journal articles on play therapy, filial therapy and statutory issues. Her two books are Case Studies in Non-directive Play Therapy (2000) and Play Therapy: A Non-directive Approach for Children and Adolescents, 2nd Edition (2005), both with Kate Wilson. Virginia regularly gives international and national conference addresses, workshops, and papers and training on play therapy and related topics.

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