Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence
Join me on Next Level Play Therapy, a podcast for child and adolescent therapists seeking to elevate your play therapy services. Hosted by Cathi Spooner, LCSW, RPT-S, at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training. Â Each episode delves into the nuances of play therapy, exploring innovative techniques, evidence-based practices, and practical strategies for providing exceptional therapeutic experiences. These engaging discussions cover a wide range of topics, including building rapport with children, how to make sure you get great outcomes for clients, therapeutic toys and tools and strategies to use in sessions, addressing trauma and attachment issues, engaging parents, promoting emotional regulation, and n...
Second-guessing? / STOP
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Do you feel like a fraud as a play therapist?Â
Imposter syndrome in play therapy is one of the most common struggles for new play therapists and child therapists, and it's usually a lie your brain is telling you.
If you're overwhelmed, second-guessing every play therapy session, and worried your clients are suffering because you're not good enough, you're not alone.Â
Every play therapist I've trained has felt this way.Â
<...Play Therapy Not Working? 4 Ways to Get Unstuck
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Is play therapy working for your client, or are you stuck in the "I don't know if this is helping" loop?Â
In this free weekly podcast episode for play therapists and child and adolescent therapists, you'll learn 4 practical ways to tell if play therapy is working and what to do when nothing seems to help.
You've tried the play therapy activity books, searched Pinterest for play therapy ideas, and used what you learned at your last play therapy training.Â
...
Family Play Therapy: 3 Signs a Parent Is Ready (and 3 Signs They're Not)
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In family play therapy, the caregiver's readiness matters as much as the child's. Because the parent-child relationship is the vehicle for healing, a parent has to be emotionally and mentally prepared to enter their child's world without taking it over.
In this free weekly podcast, we break down how to assess parent readiness for family play therapy sessions, so you can decide when to bring a caregiver into the playroom and when more preparation is needed first.
You'll learn:
âś” 3 signs a pa...
Family Play Therapy: Why Treating Just the Child Limits Outcomes
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If you're a play therapist or child therapist meeting with kids weekly while updating parents on the side — this episode is for you.
Individual play therapy is powerful. But when the family system stays the same, even the best playroom work has a ceiling.
In this free weekly podcast, we're exploring one of the most important clinical questions in play therapy: when does individual work hit its limits — and what changes when you bring the family into the room?
...
Congruence & Co-Regulation in Play Therapy
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Congruence & Co-Regulation in Play Therapy: How Nervous System Attunement Heals Kids
What does it really mean to use "therapeutic use of self" in the playroom? In this podcast episode, we go beyond the buzzwords to explore how congruence and co-regulation actually help children build their own capacity for emotion regulation.
This is part three in our series on the nervous system in play therapy — and why oversimplifying this concept can get in the way of the deep, lasting healing our clients need.
In this po...
Window of Tolerance in Play Therapy: Why Kids "Bail" on Deep Play
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You're 20 minutes into a play therapy session. The child is in it — deep in the sandtray, the story, the metaphor. And then, without warning, they bail. Silliness. A different toy. A total tonal 180.
If you've ever second-guessed yourself in that moment — wondered if you lost the thread, if they're avoiding, if the work "didn't land" — this episode is for you.
That shift isn't resistance. It isn't disengagement. It's regulation happening in real time.
A child's nervous system was never built to sustain 45 straight minutes in emotional intensity — and clin...
Explosive Emotions in Kids: A Brain-Based Approach for Play Therapists
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Free Podcast Training for Play Therapists: How the Brain Constructs "Explosive" Emotions in Kids
Join Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training with Cathi Spooner, LCSW, RPT-S podcast as we go beyond simple redirection strategies to explore how the brain actually constructs emotional experiences in dysregulated children and why it matters for play therapists.
If you're a child and adolescent therapist working with kids who have "explosive" emotions — the "angry tornado" in your playroom, or desperate parents asking "what do I do when this happens at home?" —Â
This weekly podca...
Stop Guessing: 3 Keys to Decode Behavior in Play Therapy
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What do you do when your 6-year-old client is kicking things in the lobby or a 7-year-old starts using cursing in a family session?
If you've ever felt like your play therapy questions are falling flat or a client’s behavior is spiraling out of control, you aren't alone.Â
After 30+ years as a child and adolescent psychotherapist, I’ve learned that these moments aren’t failures—they are data.
In this podcast, I break down a 3-step framework to help you decode dysregulated behavior using neuroscience and attachmen...
Stop Processing Your Hardest Play Therapy Sessions Alone
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Have you ever finished a challenging play therapy session, watched the child walk out the door, and then just sat there — processing everything alone with no one who truly understands what happened in that room?
If that feels familiar, this free weekly podcast episode is for you.
Most play therapists think of community — a membership, a consultation group, a peer network — as emotional support that’s optional. A nice-to-have. A place to vent. More of a luxury than a necessity
But...
Stop Guessing: 3 Indicators Play Therapy is Working
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Tired of feeling like you’re just "playing" without a clear way to track progress in play therapy?
As play therapists, we often hear the same question from parents: "How is my child actually doing?"Â
And maybe you’re struggling to answer that question yourself, let alone explain it to parents.
If you find yourself unsure how to tell if your clients are progressing in play therapy or if play therapy is working, this free weekly podcast episode is for you.
In this episode, we’re divi...
How to Stop Dreading Your Complex Play Therapy Cases
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Are you dreading that "challenging" case on your schedule? Â
The client who wreaks your room or doesn’t talk during their play therapy session? Or the parent session with a parent that seems to avoid you yet calls you frequently between sessions telling you everything that’s not working?
As play therapists, we often define a challenging case by the severity of the trauma, the intensity of the behaviors, or the complexity of the family system.Â
But what if the...
5 Ways Community Improves Play Therapy Results, Especially When Clients Wreck Your Playroom
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Stop clinical isolation and help your play therapy clients progress faster. What does that mean?
A classic example of working in isolation and figuring things out on your own is figuring out what do you do when your client “wrecks” your playroom? Â
Do you set limits? Do you let them wreck your playroom week after week after week? Do you refer them to someone else?Â
Are you a play therapist or RPT feeling the weight of clinical isolation? This epis...
The Dangerous Lie Every Isolated Play Therapist Believes
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Do you ever feel like the only play therapist who hasn’t figured it out? You’re not alone—and that thought might be exactly what’s keeping you stuck.
In this week’s podcast episode, we’re exposing the "dangerous lie" of play therapy isolation.Â
When you're the only kid therapist in your building, it's easy to look at social media "wins" and conclude that everyone else has it together while you're struggling.Â
I’m here to tell you: that feeling isn’t a "you" problem; it’s a structural...
The #1 Mistake Play Therapists Make on Parent Calls
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Getting frantic phone calls from parents about meltdowns, outbursts, and behavior problems is a stressful reality for play therapists.Â
When a parent says, “My doctor (or therapist) said play therapy isn’t working,” it’s easy to feel the weight of responsibility to fix everything immediately.
In this week’s podcast episode, Cathi Spooner of Renewing Hearts Training teaches you how to handle these "dreaded" calls with confidence, even when you don't have all the answers yet.Â
You’ll learn how t...
More Years of Experience Won't Fix What's Actually Making You Doubt Yourself as a Play Therapist
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I want to talk about something that a lot of play therapists are silently betting their entire career on — the idea that *more time and more experience* is what's going to eventually make them feel confident and capable in the play therapy room.
That one day they'll hit some magic number of years and the self-doubt will just... disappear.Â
The second-guessing will stop.Â
The anxiety before parent calls will go away.Â
They'll finally feel like they know what they're doing.
And I want to lo...
5 Signs You’re a Play Therapist Struggling with Clinical Isolation
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Do you find yourself replaying play therapy sessions on your drive home, wondering if you made the right clinical decision? You aren't alone.
In this free weekly podcast episode, we’re diving into the 5 signs you’re second-guessing yourself as a play therapist and why clinical isolation might be your biggest hurdle.Â
Being the only play therapist in your building can be incredibly lonely.Â
When you don't have a peer group who speaks the language of sand trays and metaphors, it’s easy for "reflective thinking" to turn int...
Why Play Therapists Shouldn't Work Alone: Overcoming Clinical Isolation
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Are you the only play therapist in your agency? Or perhaps you're in private practice and feel like you're navigating complex cases entirely on your own?
Many play therapists accept isolation as "just the reality" of the field.Â
We push through, hoping that with enough time and experience, we’ll eventually "figure it out."Â
But here is the honest truth: Clinical isolation is a liability—for you and your clients.
In this free weekly podcast, we’re breaking down why the "solo endeavor" mindset is holding...
The Isolated Play Therapist Syndrome: Why You’re Feeling Burned Out
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If you're a play therapist — especially in your first few years — and you're the only one in your agency or you're in private practice figuring this out by yourself, this is for you.
You went into this work because you genuinely believe in the power of play therapy to heal kids. You're passionate about this.Â
You're not here because it was easy — you're here because it matters to you
And the reality is that you’re probably the only “kid therapist” in your agency or maybe you’re in private p...
Jungian Play Therapy 101: Symbols, Archetypes & Clinical Ideas
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What is Jungian Analytic Play Therapy, and how does it actually work in the playroom?Â
In this podcast, we dive deep into the symbolic world of Jungian theory with guest Jared Andes, LCSW, RPT-S.Â
We explore how Jungian Analytical Play Therapy uses archetypes and other concepts to facilitate healing, and we compare this model to other popular play therapy approaches.
Join us for an insightful conversation as we explore the transformative power of Jungian Play Therapy!Â
The Trauma Roadmap: Using Neuroscience & Attachment in Play Therapy
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Are you tired of leaving your play therapy sessions wondering if you’re actually helping or just "playing"?
You’ve invested in the play therapy training, you’ve gathered the strategies, and you have a playroom full of tools.Â
But if you’re like many play therapists, having more information has only led to more confusion.Â
When you’re in the middle of a play therapy session with a traumatized child or teen, it’s easy to second-guess your decisions...
Is Trauma Really Stored in the Body? New Science for Play Therapists
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Is trauma actually "stored" in our organs, or have we been looking at it all wrong?
For years, play therapists have repeated the mantra that "trauma is stored in the body," but a groundbreaking 2026 peer-reviewed article is challenging this foundational belief. If you’ve ever felt like the "storage" explanation didn't quite click, this episode is for you.
Join me, Cathi Spooner, for this week’s podcast as we explore the evolution of trauma research and what it means for your playroom interventions.Â
...
Beyond Labeling: Why Emotional Granularity is the Key to Resilience in Play Therapy
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Helping children and teens identify and label their emotions is a core therapeutic goal in play therapy, but simply naming a feeling isn't enough.Â
In fact, an overfocus on "feeling good" can sometimes hinder the healing process. To build true resilience, we need to help clients move from basic affect to high emotional granularity.
In this free weekly podcast, we dive into the science of how emotions are constructed and how play therapists can move beyond simple labeling to help traumatized children differentiate b...
The Missing Piece: How to Include Parents in Play Therapy for Children with Trauma
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Using play therapy with traumatized children and teens is complex, and many play therapists find themselves asking:Â
"Where do the parents fit in?"
“What do I do if my client is in foster care? How do I include parents?”
Too often, parents or caregivers are left out of the process or integrated without a clear plan. This can lead to missed healing opportunities or accidentally triggering trauma.
In this free weekly podcast, we’re diving deep into the critical role of...
Play Therapy Case Conceptualization: Trauma, Attachment & Behavior
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If you’ve ever left a play therapy session thinking…
 “I see the behaviors—but what’s actually driving them?”
You’re not alone. And more importantly—you’re not supposed to stay stuck there.
In this podcast episode, we break down how to use case conceptualization in play therapy through a neuroscience and attachment lens so you can finally understand what’s at the root of a child’s behavior — not just what’s showing up on the surface.
Using a case stu...
Polyvagal Theory Is Being Challenged… What Play Therapists Need to Know
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Is Polyvagal Theory still valid? And what does the latest scientific debate mean for your play therapy practice?
Polyvagal Theory (PVT), developed by Stephen Porges, has become one of the most widely used frameworks in trauma-informed therapy. But recent critiques from neuroscientists and researchers are challenging key assumptions about the vagus nerve, autonomic nervous system hierarchy, and the evidence behind PVT.
If you’re a play therapist using Polyvagal Theory — or teaching it to parents — you’ve probably felt that quiet question in the back of your mind:
 “Am I explai...
Sand Tray Therapy: Should You Interpret a Child’s Play? (3 Things to Consider)
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You just know what your client’s sand tray means… but should you say it?
In this episode, we dive into one of the biggest clinical dilemmas in play therapy:
 👉 Do you share your interpretation of a child’s sand tray scene—or hold it?
If you’ve ever felt that pull—the moment where everything clicks and you want to connect the dots for your client—this conversation is for you.
Because here’s the truth:
 What you say (and when you say...
Virtual Play Therapy Explained: Tools, Tips & Platforms for Play Therapists
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Virtual play therapy isn’t the future anymore… it’s already here.
But let’s be real for a second—
Most platforms weren’t built for play therapists.
They weren’t designed to engage children using play therapeutically.
 For expressive play.
 For the kind of symbolic, relational work you do every single day.
So what happens when a platform is built with play therapists in mind?
That’s exactly what we’re diving into in this special podcast episode with Brendan Herjave...
Sand Tray Therapy: How to Identify Themes in a Play Therapy Session
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How do you identify themes in sand tray therapy sessions?
One of the most important skills for play therapists is learning how to recognize themes in play therapy, especially when working with sand tray therapy.Â
Themes reveal the deeper emotional experiences children are trying to process through symbolic play.
In this week’s free weekly podcast episode, you’ll learn how to identify themes in sand tray therapy sessions and what to look for when a child creates a sand...
Play Therapy Assessment Explained: How to Know If Your Play Therapy Sessions Are Working
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You can have the most beautiful playroom… the best toys… even strong rapport…
But if you’re not assessing what’s actually happening beneath the play, you might be missing the very thing your client needs most.
In this episode of Next Level Play Therapy, we’re breaking down one of the most overlooked (and misunderstood) skills in play therapy: assessment—and why it directly impacts your case conceptualization, treatment planning, and outcomes.
If you’ve ever wondered:
→ “How do I know if play therapy is actually working?”
Case Conceptualization in Play Therapy: Why You Feel Stuck (and How to Fix It)
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Are you feeling stuck in your play therapy sessions… unsure what to do next or why your play therapy interventions aren’t working?
You might be missing the most important step in the entire play therapy treatment process: case conceptualization in play therapy.
In this episode, you’ll learn what case conceptualization actually is (without the grad school confusion) and how it becomes your clinical roadmap for helping children and teens heal.
Because here’s the truth—when you skip this step, you’re not just guessing… you’re treatin...
How to Use Attachment-Based Sand Tray Therapy with Teens
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What do you do after you’ve identified the symptoms in a struggling teen?
Failing grades. Emotional withdrawal. “I don’t care.”
High-conflict divorce. Estrangement from a parent. Identity confusion.
It’s one thing to recognize the patterns.
It’s another to know how to turn that understanding into a clear, effective plan to help your teen clients heal.
In this week’s podcast episode, I walk through a case example of “Ethan,” a 16-year-old navigating academic decline and emotional shutdown in the aftermath o...
Play Therapy with Adolescents: Why Teen Symptoms Are Easy to Misread
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What do you do when a 16-year-old walks into your office, shrugs, and says, “I don’t care”?
Low motivation. Failing grades. Emotional shutdown. Estrangement from a parent after divorce. On the surface, it can look like depression, defiance, or typical teen apathy.
But what if those symptoms are telling a much more layered story?
In this free livestream episode, I’m walking you through a real-world adolescent case study to demonstrate why case conceptualization is the backbone of effective play therapy with teens.Â
Without a clear f...
Sand Tray Therapy with Teens: How to Use It Effectively in Play Therapy
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Can you really use sand tray therapy with adolescents?
Absolutely—and when you understand how to adapt it developmentally, sand tray becomes one of the most powerful expressive arts tools to use with teens.
In this podcast episode, I’m diving into how to use sand tray with teens in a way that respects their autonomy, supports emotional regulation, and deepens therapeutic insight.Â
If you’re a play therapist who has ever wondered whether sand tray feels “too young” fo...
How to Use Poetry with Teens in Play Therapy for Self-Expression
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This week I’m sharing one of my favorite ways to help teens access the therapeutic powers of play using poetry.
Yes - poetry!
If you’re rolling your eyes and remembering your high school English class feeling tortured by reading poetry, then rest assured - this is not your high school English class version of poetry.
Poetry is an expressive arts modality that allows clients to use words and language for expression - like the lyrics of your favorite songs.
This week I’m sharin...
Best Strategies to Use Play Therapy with Teens
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Play therapy isn’t for adolescents. It’s just for little kids.
There’s a misbelief in the mental health community that play therapy is only for little kids.
Maybe you’ve wondered that yourself.
Play therapy can be an amazing way to help adolescents engage in healing and in a way that meets their developmental needs.
Rather than asking IF play therapy works for adolescents –
Ask –HOW is play thera...
Can Play Therapy Work with Teens?
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Ever sit across from a teen in session, clock ticking, silence screaming… and your nervous system quietly panicking?
Yeah. This episode is for that moment.
In this week’s podcast, we’re naming the thing no one warned you about in grad school: why play therapists feel stuck with teens—and why it’s not because you’re doing it wrong.
Here’s the hard truth (said with love):
 👉 Trying harder to get teens to ta...
What’s the Difference Between Play Therapy and Using Play in Therapy?
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Happy International Play Therapy Week! 🎉
What is play therapy—and how is it different from simply using games and activities in therapy sessions?
This is a common and critical question for mental health professionals working with children. While games, art, and activities are often part of therapy, play therapy is a distinct, evidence-based clinical approach grounded in child development, theory, and the therapeutic relationship.
In this special International Play Therapy Week conversation, I’m joined by four play therapists who share their personal journeys into play th...
How to Increase Play Therapy Impact & Reduce Burnout
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More Impact. Less Burnout. isn’t a cute slogan. It’s a line in the sand.
Because here’s the truth most play therapists won’t say out loud:
Burnout doesn’t come from caring too much.
It comes from doing this work alone.
In this week’s free livestream episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on why being part of a strategic play therapy community isn’t optional if you want sustainable impact in play therapy.Â
Not another...
How to Get Better Results in Play Therapy Without Doing More
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What if better results in play therapy didn’t come from more play therapy activities, more games, or more play therapy training — but from clearer thinking?
In this week’s free livestream episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on the real secret sauce: case conceptualization.
Because if you don’t know what’s driving the behavior, how do you decide what to do in play therapy sessions without guessing? 👀
We’ll t...
How Does Consultation Improve Play Therapist Growth?
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If you’re a mental health professional, including play therapy, we’ve all heard this said and probably even said it ourselves:
consultation is a clinical and ethical part of providing effective play therapy (and therapy in general).
Truthfully – I have mixed feelings about this statement.
From a clinical and ethical standpoint, consultation is an important part of providing quality mental health services to our clients, including play therapy.
I’m a firm believer...
