Play Therapy Education
Play Therapy Education Program
The Firefly Institute is one of the approved United States centers for play therapy education through the Association for Play Therapy. The underlying philosophy draws upon relational theories and embraces the therapeutic powers of play for supporting children and family systems. Play is the language of children and the toys are words (Landreth, 2002). The art of play in therapy enables children to communicate with therapists by projecting their inner world onto the media, materials or toys. Provided with carefully selected toys, children integrate their emotions with the narrative, giving them the opportunity to process complex experiences and adversity. Children learn self-regulation through the relationship which contributes to growth, healing and supports a stronger sense of self.
The play therapist is trained to interpret the language and words of toys, translating the content and child's worldview to all systems involved. Firefly provides ongoing training, engages the community through clinical practice, and supports the play therapist through supervision for play therapy certification.
Our philosophy and approach is the child and family have unique experiences, physiology, combinations of intersecting identities, and perspectives which shape their worldview and behaviors. Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this work. Instead, play therapists need a diverse set of skills and depth of understanding for theory. Play therapy becomes the vehicle which moves theory into direct practice. The selection of theories, techniques and interventions are intentional, neurosequential by nature, and assessed through careful clinical observation and evaluation. Play therapists act as informed researchers, analyzing outcomes to determine if the prescribed treatment plan created an autocatalytic outcome, thereby balancing all systems involved to become self-sustaining.
Innovative Approaches to Children's Mental Health
The Firefly Institute believes that creating lasting change includes supporting the play therapy community in supporting children who face adversity, disrupted attachment, and/or acute and chronic mental health issues. Therefore, we have developed a comprehensive program to support therapists locally and through distance learning in achieving certification as a registered play therapist. The program hosts several certification programs integrating art, movement, animal assisted human health and play in creative and innovative ways. This work and approach stands on the shoulders of giants. All programs include the fundamental theory in which the expressive arts approach draws upon and dovetails cutting edge research to continue to advance the field of children's mental health and traumatic stress study.
Education and Certification Programs we have developed include:
Animal Assisted Human Health
Animal Assisted Play Therapy
Play Therapy Education, Training and Supervision
Children's Yoga and Play Certification
Clinical Supervision
Trauma Informed Care
