Exploring Aggression and Intensity in the Playroom: A Book Discussion Series

APT Approved Provider (#25-761) This workshop offers 6 APT non-contact CEs*.

Join us for a 4-part series of book discussion and case consultation!

***3rd Monday of the month: May 19, June 16, July 21, August 18th from noon-1:30pm

Exploring Aggression and Intensity in the Playroom: A Book Discussion Series

Based on the book Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity by Lisa Dion (2018)

This four-session workshop series offers a space for thoughtful conversation and professional reflection on the themes presented in Lisa Dion’s Aggression in Play Therapy. While we are not offering Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) training, we’ll be using Dion’s book as a launching point to explore how aggression and intensity show up in our work as play therapists and child clinicians. Our aim is to engage with this material in a grounded, accessible way—drawing connections to clinical work through the lens of various approaches, including Child-Centered Play Therapy, Gestalt Play Therapy, AutPlay, and somatic/sensory-informed practices. We’ll look at how nervous system regulation, therapeutic presence, and safe engagement with intensity can support our clients, and also explore how our own experiences as therapists influence our responses to aggression in the playroom. This is not a training or certification in any specific model. Instead, it’s an opportunity to reflect, connect, and think deeply about how we can hold space for intensity in our work with children.

📘 Please note: Participants will need to purchase their own copy of Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity by Lisa Dion (2018).

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this six-hour book discussion series, participants will be able to:

• Identify and reflect on at least three core themes from the book related to the neurobiology of aggression and intensity in play.

• Explore two indicators of nervous system dysregulation in children and consider co-regulation approaches from multiple play therapy perspectives.

• Discuss at least three clinical examples or interventions for working with aggression in the playroom in a way that supports safety and emotional processing.

• Reflect on how aggression can both support and hinder therapeutic progress, using case discussion and shared clinical experience.

• Consider at least two ways to set therapeutic limits that preserve both safety and expressive freedom during play.

• Increase self-awareness of personal responses to aggression in the playroom and explore self-regulation strategies that support therapeutic presence.

Cancellation and grievance policy: Registration is required. Please let us know if you are unable to attend. There is a cost for participation, and so, therefore, no refund if canceled within 7 days of the event. A $25 cancellation and refund fee applies. If you have questions or concerns about this or any training provided by the presenters, please email info@jamiewatsonconsulting.com. There will be an evaluation and post-test to complete at the conclusion of the workshop to obtain CEs.

Registration Fee: $375

Equity pricing for graduate students and QT-BIPOC clinicians: $325

About the Presenters:

Jamie Watson, LMFT, RPT-S™: Jamie is a neurodiversity-affirming child and family therapist, clinical supervisor, and private practice consultant based in Clackamas, Oregon. As an attachment-focused play therapist, Jamie integrates expressive therapies, systems thinking, and trauma-informed care to support children and families navigating big feelings, complex needs, and identity development. She is a Mental Health Therapy Director at a local non-profit, and teaches Play Therapy and clinical courses at the University of Western States. Jamie is a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor™ and an Approved Clinical Supervisor recognized in Oregon and Washington and through the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists. Through Jamie Watson Consulting, she helps therapists launch and grow values-driven private practices, offering supervision, practice-building support, and guidance through the maze of licensure, credentialing, and clinical identity. Jamie currently serves as President of the Oregon Association for Play Therapy and has been an active advocate and board member for over a decade. She lives just outside Portland with her two wild-hearted boys, her husband, and their goldendoodle therapy dog, who often sneaks into her meetings looking for snuggles. You can find more information about her and her consultation and supervision services at www.jamiewatsonconsulting.com

MereAnn Reid, LPC, RPT™: MereAnn is an attachment-focused play therapist, parent coach, and founder of Raising Family Resilience, LLC, hosting a series of workshops and retreats for parents who want to feel more connected to their kids without losing themselves. She is a contributing author of The Embodied Brain and Sandtray Therapy: Stories of Healing and Transformation, on the power of play therapy in healing grief and attachment in adoption. She practices a brain-body approach to play therapy, drawing on an in-depth study of relational neuroscience, Theraplay (Level I), certified Synergetic Play Therapist, polyvagal theory, and certified Safe & Sound Protocol facilitator (music-based listening therapy for retuning the nervous system), brain-based parent coaching, and offers assessments using the Neurosequential Model of Assessment (Level I-trained). MereAnn lives in Portland, Oregon, where she runs a small private practice in a big yellow bungalow, with stuffed animals, puppets, art materials, and a coffee-table sandtray keeping her company. You can find her parent coaching work at https://www.familyzest.com/, and her child therapy practice at https://mereannreid.com/

*The Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers (OBLSW) has placed the Association for Play Therapy (APT) on its list of Accepted Credentialing Bodies. Social workers who take courses approved by an APT Approved Provider can count the hours toward their continuing education requirement. This is for the state of Oregon ONLY. This is not an NASW-approved workshop.