Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

4 Sand Tray Activities for Family Play Therapy Sessions

• Cathi Spooner, LCSW, RPT-S • Episode 95

Share episode

Send us a text

I love love love using sand tray therapy in family play therapy sessions!


Watching how families approach and complete the activities provides a wealth of information about interaction patterns and how each family member sees the world and their family relationships.


When I use sand tray activities in family play therapy sessions, I like to use activities that allow me to observe interaction patterns.


As play therapists working with children in family systems, we recognize the importance of children experiencing secure attachments with parents as well as developing healthy relationships with siblings.


I would even include helping children to develop healthy relationships with extended family members and family friends who are “family” in a different way.  


Healthy connection and support is vital for all humans, and as play therapists we have an opportunity to help our young clients develop a strong network of support with family and other important people in their lives.


Using sand tray in family play therapy sessions is an awesome way to get a peek inside their family system and circle of support.


Interested in getting some ideas to use sand tray in family play therapy sessions?  Join me for this week's podcast! I’m sharing four of my favorite family play therapy activities using sand tray and tips for using these activities effectively.  


So — If you love using sand tray in play therapy like I do and you’ve been wondering how to use it effectively in family play therapy sessions, then you don’t want to miss this episode!

Join my free Facebook Community Play and Expressive Arts Therapy Playground.

Check out my free resources for mental health professionals working with children, adolescents, and families who want to integrate play therapy and expressive arts into their clinical work.

I work with individuals and agencies to develop successful strategies and meet the treatment needs of your child and adolescent clients and their families using play therapy & expressive arts.

Contact me to schedule a free 30-minute video call if you're ready to level up your skills

Cathi Spooner:

Welcome to Next Level Play Therapy. A weekly podcast dedicated to supporting the next generation of child and adolescent therapists to provide exceptional play therapy services. We'll explore all things play therapy. To elevate your work with children and adolescents using the therapeutic powers of play. I'll discuss practical tips and ideas so you can provide a transformative experience for your young clients and make a real difference in their lives. So get ready to take your play therapy skills to the next level and make a lasting impact in the lives of children, adolescents, and families. There. Hello, play therapist. Welcome to this week's episode of Next Level Play Therapy, where we talk about all things play therapy. And today we are gonna talk about one of my favorite, favorite, favorite, favorite things to do in family play therapy sessions. And that is using the sand tray. In your family play therapy sessions? Usually when I'm doing San Tray trainings or I am, um, doing my attachment focused family play therapy trainings, this usually comes up about using the San Tray. So I thought, and it also comes up in Play Therapy Academy all the time. Over the years we've talked about this. So I thought this would be a perfect episode for my weekly live stream, which then gets repurposed into my weekly podcast. So those of you watching live, you're probably watching on LinkedIn or my YouTube channel. Which is Kathy Spooner renewing hearts or maybe you're watching on Instagram.'cause I, I use my streaming platform to stream live on LinkedIn and YouTube. And then I also will simultaneously stream on Instagram, which is why you'll see me go back and forth between cameras.'cause I, I like to stream on Instagram as well. And I would love to know who is here watching live today, or also those of you who are watching the replays, a lot of people like to watch the replays. I would love to know who's here, who's listening, who's watching, so please post your name in the comments. Where are you from? What population do you work with? Are you using santra in play therapy sessions? Are you using family play therapy sessions? Go ahead and post that in the comments. For those of you listening on the podcast. Please feel free to pop over to my Instagram channel at Renewing Hearts Training and leave me a comment, send me a private message. I would love to hear from you guys. Also, feel free to let me know if there are topics. Sometimes I, I kind of run outta topics over the last several years. Um, normally I can figure something out. I'll usually go back to my vault, so to speak, in YouTube. All the livestream replay episodes are on my YouTube channel on the live tab, and so I can usually go back there. But I would love to, to know your thoughts. Um, so feel free to post those in the comments. Send me a private message. And today we are going to talk about using santra in play therapy with your clients. So let's get started for today. Uh, before I do that though, I forgot. If you find this information helpful, please feel free to share it with a colleague who might be interested. So let's get started for today. Alrighty. So one of the things that I think is beneficial about using family play therapy with my clients is that I get to see in real time what are the interaction patterns and s. I don't know how many of you raise your, kind of, raise your virtual hand or post in the comments. How many of you have had experiences where you're working with your client using the traditional approach of individual play therapy sessions, and you meet here and there with parents maybe after the session or maybe you meet with them separately or both? And you've had experiences where you've, you've shared parenting tips and strategies, made suggestions explained, done some psychoeducation around some parenting strategies, recommended books, recommended workbooks, and yet you continue to get those phone calls or texts or emails in between play therapy sessions. From kind of, um, worried parents that nothing's working and you're baffled like what is going on? They seem to be doing fine in play therapy sessions. What's going on outside of play therapy sessions? Where's the breakdown? Well, here's how I look at. Using family play therapy when you are just relying on traditional play therapy models of individual play therapy sessions. And you're getting feedback from parents, which can be very insightful. Like, I like partnering with parents. I like, um, having collaboration where they gimme their insights and I share my insights. Here's the reality though, it's kind of like those, um, what do we call those questionnaires? Like the self-report questionnaires, right? You're just getting their perspective. Um. You're not really seeing it for yourself. And self-report measures, questionnaires are helpful and they are important. That being said, if you really wanna know what's going on, then you gotta get under the hood, so to speak, and see for yourself what's going on. So my car metaphor there, if you're, it's kind of like. Um, this is, this would be, every time I think about this metaphor, I start laughing in my head.'cause I think to myself, this would be me. So it's kind of like me or maybe you having a problem with your car. It's making weird noises. It's doing weird things. It's so, you take it to the car repair place and you explain it to the car repair person behind the, behind the register, behind the counter. Who's aware of car things, who's experienced with car things, and for me, I would not be experienced with car things. I don't understand car things. I know I turn the key on, I push the gas pedal and it's supposed to go and it's supposed to shift. I put it in different gears. These are the things I know, right? These are my perspective of what's happening. And so there's a problem. I go to the car repair place, I talk to the car repair person behind the counter, and I use my limited knowledge and understanding to describe the weird noises and the weird sounds and the weird things. Going on with my car. Some of you here in the US might've seen those commercials where, where you, they kind of show a commercial with the customer doing that, and the person behind the counter is looking at, I'm like, huh, I have no idea. Well, that's kind of like relying on secondhand information from parents. They valid points, good information. Just like me going to the car repair place, I'm providing valid information. I'm just hoping the person behind the counter can translate what I'm saying to make sense of it so they know what to do because I don't know what to do. That's why I'm going to the car repair place because the person there is supposed to know what to do, or they have people who are trained and knowledgeable to know how to fix my car. I'm giving my secondhand informa. Well, the person behind the counter is taking my secondhand information. If they really wanna know what's going on, then that might give them some ideas. Me explaining in my. Non-technical terms that might give them an idea, but they're not really gonna know until they run their own diagnostics and probably take it out for a test drive even to see if they can figure out what's happening so they can get firsthand knowledge. So in my mind, when we're working with children and we're working on helping them to heal. Getting firsthand knowledge is really important to help children heal and not only help them heal, also, um, support parents to learn new skills and use them in the play therapy process to long-term help their children heal. And in my mind, that's the benefit of family play therapy sessions. And so if I want firsthand information, if I wanna see for myself what are those interactions going on, then I'm usually at some point I'll, I usually start out with individual play therapy sessions while I'm simultaneously beginning to use my play therapy attachment focused family play therapy model to do some of my psychoeducation with parents. Help them understand their role, uh, understand what co-regulation is, help to un understand the, uh, behavior and what's going on, and begin to move them in the direction of, at some point, we're probably going to be doing some family play therapy sessions. That is typically the case to do that, though I want to, and so. To do that. Let me finish my sentence then. I, I want, I wanna use a model for those family play therapy sessions. So they have strategic outcomes, they have a higher rate of success because I'm using a play therapy model. And one of the things that I love doing to get that firsthand knowledge and see those interaction patterns myself, especially in the beginning of the play therapy process when I'm using my attachment focused family play therapy model. I love using sand tray activities 'cause I think it's a great way to lift up the hood and see for myself what is going on with my client and their parents or maybe parents and siblings and then that way I have a better idea. Of how to help them because in order to, this is your case conceptualization, which is a fancy term for what's actually going on underneath the behavior and what are the patterns sustaining it that are going on. So if I want to get, I have my case conceptualization, but then I wanna kind of lift the hood up, so to speak. Have these family play therapy sessions, see for myself. What's going on? Because that's then, and only then am I gonna know how to help my clients. That's how I'm gonna figure out what we need to do in the play therapy sessions. So one of the things that comes up all the time, play Therapy Academy, which is my online consultation program. And we, we, um, have meet twice a month and staff cases. One of the things that comes up all the time is, how do I help my client? Well, in order to do that, we first have to figure out what's going on, right? So family play therapy sessions, when you're using a family play therapy model can help you figure that out. And then you can use, excuse me, you can use. That family plea therapy model to help facilitate the change how, and long term, long after you're gone because you have created shifts within that child's family system. And one of the things I am a firm believer, uh, about, and I have believed this for decades because my, my, I would say my foundation. Foundational theoretical model that I was trained in back in 1990 when I got started in grad school was a family systems, family therapy, family systems approach. And when you're working with children, we need to see them within context. Within context of their most important relationships. So even if you know along the way I learned about this interpersonal neurobiology thing and attachment theory and different attachment therapy models, and I was even more convinced about the importance of those attachment relationships. And so as play therapist, I'm a firm believer. That if we really wanna facilitate long-term shifts for healing for our clients, then we are really going to use a family play therapy or an attachment model to create those shifts within those attachment relationships within those family relationships. So with that being said, um, I wanna share three, four, I got four. 1, 2, 3, 4. I'm looking at my notes. I got four sand tray activities that you can use in family play therapy sessions and that's gonna really help you get a sense of what. Is going on with your clients as well as help to facilitate the change process and the healing process. So first I want to say hello, heart leave Center. I see that you joined the Instagram live stream, so. I've, I've, uh, a fond affection for the Harle Center in Fairfax, Virginia.'cause that's, that's my old stompy grounds. And Sherry Michelin and I go way back, um, way, way back. So Hello Harle Harle Center. Um, all right, that's enough for my distractions. Let me get going. My first Heartley center says hello. Um, so my first activity that I wanna share, the first two actually, to take me back 20 years ago. So if any of you have ever taken any play therapy trainings from Eliana Gill, you know, these are phenomenally awesome. I, uh, I first got introduced to Eliana Gale back in my Virginia days 'cause that's where she was. And she was doing a lot of trainings back there, especially on the east coast. I'm on the west coast now, but I still, these are two, two San Tray activities that I still use. Even more than 20 years later. I love these activities. I use them all the time. Typically in the first two to three se, even the first maybe family play therapy session, I'm using these two activities in the first couple of family play therapy sessions because they, to me, they help me. Really get a sense of those family interaction patterns. So the first, the first prompt that I, or first activity that I learned, um, was from Eliana Gill, and it's called Make A World. I took her San Tray training. Poof. Back in 2003, I think such a game changer set me on a different direct, uh, trajectory. And I use it, it's one of my, one of my tools, a staple, so to speak, in my toolbox when I'm using play therapy and when I'm using family play therapy sessions. So it's make a world. So the, the purpose of this. San tray activity Make a world. And when I have all the family members in there, or just the parent and the child, the purpose is really to see how family members are gonna make decisions. How are they problem solving? Are parents able to lead and follow? And how do they, how do they work through those decision making? Processes and how do they manage some, maybe some differences, opinion. How do they manage that, that space in the sand tray? And so I get to see in real time what are those interaction patterns when I use this activity. So here's the prompt that I use and, and I say this to, I have family members in there, so I have either. Both parents and all, all the siblings plus the client, or maybe it's a single parent household. I have parent, child and siblings. Or maybe I just have one parent and one child, uh, and the client. But so the prompt is. Use as many or as, uh, sorry, lemme rephrase that. Use the San Tray miniatures to create a world in the sand. It can be any kind of world you want. You guys get to decide, so you're going to, and I introduce them. Here are the San Tray miniatures. I introduce them to the San Tray. My client probably has already spent time in the sand tray, so they are an expert already in the sand tray, and then I stand back and I allow them to make the sand tray. I typically use this in the observational assessment stage of my attachment focus, family play therapy model, because I really wanna see. I really wanna see their interaction patterns. I do have a little bit of structure, so I, I'll share my kind of structure, AKA rules that I share. But if you don't like these rules, you, you feel free to create rules that align with you, um, and the model that you're using because maybe, maybe you are already using a play therapy model that. Um, uses family play therapy like Alerian Family Play therapy or maybe, um, gestalt Family Play therapy or maybe you use a different fam play, family play therapy model. I use my attachment focused family play therapy model. Also, if you're interested, I do have a training coming up on Saturday. Called attachment focused family play therapy. You can attend in person or virtually. Registration closes tomorrow though, so I'll share some information about that at the end. I also have a TRE training coming up in December. I'll share some information about that as well, and I'll share some information about Play Therapy Academy. So stay tuned till the end. So here, here are the rules that I give when I'm using. The, um, make a world activity in a family play therapy session. So I try to structure it a little bit and the rules I give are, um, the sand stays in the sandbox. That's one of the rules. Also, if you didn't choose the miniature to put in the sand tray, you can't take it out. Everybody gets to have, uh, a say. What goes into the sand tray, and so we wanna make sure that we're respecting everybody's wants and needs in here. And if you don't like what somebody else put in there, then that's fine. They still get to put it in there because we need to be respectful that everybody has a say. Making this world as a family. And then the other, the other rule that I have just because I've learned, um, if I don't set the limit, this is my personal, you don't have to use this one. Uh, I've learned if I don't set a limit on how many. San Tray miniatures they're putting in there, they're, it's a good possibility that they're gonna use all my San Tray miniatures and it's, it's going to be like gigantically full. But honestly, the main thing is I have to put them all away way. So I'm trying to manage what I can accommodate. Because I gotta put these all away before the next session. So this is just a practical one. If you don't like this one, there's pros and cons for using that one, and I, I think they're all valid. I just decided for me, the pros outweigh the cons of this. So I set a limit. Each person can use a maximum of 10 miniatures in the sand tray. If you find that you are going over your 10, then you just have to figure out which one that you put in you wanna take out. And then I have like a little tray where I have people, any of the miniatures that they decide and change your mind about, they can put 'em in the kind of the little tray. And then I use that to put things away later. So, um, so that's one of 'em, that's one of my favorites. Make a World. The second activity that I love using in the San W with San Tray miniatures is another activity that I learned from Eliana Gill, and it is called Family Play Genogram. So I've shared this one in a gazillion, um, consultation meetings that I've had over the last. Oh, I think it's probably more than 15 years now doing consultation with different people. And it's always interesting to me the way different people add their own spin to it, all of which are, I find interesting. And, um, so I say that to say, I'm gonna share, this is what I learned from Eliana Gale about the family played therapy. Uh, the family played genogram. And then, you know, add your twist to it. So this one, the purpose of this one is really to get a sense of family members experiences of each other and how family members view their relationships. So the prompt is, there's two, there's two prompts, and I give one prompt at a time. Otherwise they get really confused. Honestly, when I have a whiteboard. In the, in the play therapy room where I have the San Tray miniatures, then I'll write these on the whiteboard just because otherwise it just helps family members not be confused. And I only give them one at a time, one step at a time. Otherwise, if I give them both steps, they get confused and overwhelmed. So just to structure it a little bit, I give one prompt at a time. So the first prompt is. Choose a miniature or miniature, plural that best represent each one of your family members, including yourself. So, um, the, the way that I learned it was I take like a big 11 by 17 piece of paper, have one for each family member. Prior to the session, I would've drawn out big circles and squares. On the paper for the genogram. So the two, two parent family, it would be the mom and the dad. And let's say there's three siblings, two boys and a girl. Then I would've drawn out the genogram representing that family system. If it's a single mom and parents are divorced. Um, and kids are going back and forth. I'll still put both parents on there 'cause I wanna see what family members pick and I wanna see what happens. I don't have both divorced parents In the session, I'll just have the, the one one parent. Um, and so I give that prompt and then I have them place the miniatures that represents each family member, including themselves on the corresponding circle or square on their genogram. Other versions of that that people have used is they just have them place those directly into the sand tray. They don't draw out the genogram, and there's. Lots of information to gain from that as well. So just a couple different options there. And then once they've done that, then we go through and each person shares the reason that they picked the um, each miniature, and then I give them the second prompt, which is pick the miniature or miniatures that best represents. Your relationship with each of these people. So your relationship with parent, your relationship with other parent, your relationship with sibling, I would've, you know, said mom or dad or brother or sister. I would've said those things. Uh, so then, then they go and they pick the miniatures and they put them in the spot where they go. And then when they're done, then we. We, we go one by one and each person gets to share the reason they picked what they picked for a little bit of structure. For that, I, I'll go ahead and if I'm using the genogram paper, I'll do that ahead of time. I'll draw out the genogram on the paper. Um, then I'll also give a couple of rules, which is. If you didn't put this sand tray miniature on there, you don't get to change what other people picked. So you can choose what goes on your, um, genogram, but you don't get to choose what goes on other family members genogram, and you may not like what the other person picked for you. Um, and they still, that other person gets to have their opinion. Just like you get to have your opinion, each person gets to have their opinion. So I, I wanna make sure to set the expectation for these first two activities. I wanna make sure to set the expectation that people are allowed to have differing opinions, and we want to allow each person in the. Family play therapy session to have that voice. Now I'm gonna observe how that gets handled and kind of make note of that. It'll give me a good sense of those interaction patterns and also a sense of parents' ability to lead and follow and how they manage those things. So those are the first two. Those are the two that I learned from Ellie and I, Gail. The next one is, uh, an activity I actually learned from my other very favorite sand play trainer, which is Dr. D Preston. Dylan, I used to go to her San Tray training. Well, San Play. Trainings all the time. She's amazingly awesome. Again, on the East coast. She has, um, the Center for Sand and what is it? The, the Center for Sand Play and Culture. I think that's what it is. Dr. D Preston. Dylan. Um, anyway, she, she gave us this prompt and then I've just integrated into, I integrated into individual. Sessions. I do this one a lot with grownups too. For the record, I also like to use it in family play therapy sessions. So there's four prompts to this one. Again, I only give one prompt at a time, and if I have a whiteboard in the, in the playroom where I am, then I'll write one. I'll write each prompt out one at a time just to add a little structure 'cause. Family members get a little confused sometimes. It just kind of helps them settle in a little bit more by providing some structure. The purpose of this activity, which I call my family and me, I gave it a title. Um, so this My Family and Me Activity in the San Tray. Helps give me a sense of how family members experience one another and how they view themselves in their family members, and how do they communicate that and what would they like family members to know, and then how do family members respond to that? Right? So here are the four prompts. Prompt number. And then so I give a prompt and then I invite them to go choose the miniature and miniatures that best represents the prompt I'm giving, and to place them into the sand tray. They can place them wherever they want.'cause I like to see where they place them as well. So the first prompt I give them is, how do I see myself in my family? So each person chooses a miniature, a miniature that best represents how do I see myself in my family? Then I let everybody choose that, and then we go through and see what everybody, everybody gets to say, you know, the reason they picked that one. And then I give them the second prompt, which is, how does my family see me? So the second prompt is how does my family see me? And then I'm gonna pick the miniature and miniatures that best represents how I think my family views me in my in the family. And then they go choose them. Then one by one we go through, everybody gets to share the reason they picked the one that they picked. The third prompt is. How would I like my family? Oh, how would I like to see myself in my family? So this is we, how do I see myself in my family? How do, how would I like to see myself in the family? So, very subtle differences there. So the third prompt I give is how would I, like, how would I like to see myself? In my family. And then I invite everybody to choose the miniature or miniatures that best represents that. Everybody puts them in there. We go through, everybody gets to share the reason they picked what they picked, and then I give them the fourth and final prompt, which is how would I like my family to see me? So the first one was how would I like, uh, sorry, the third one was. How would I like to see myself in my family? The fourth prompt is how would I like my family to see me? So then they each go pick the miniature or miniatures that best represents how I would like my family to see me. And they put them in the sandre, and then one by one we go through and share. Everybody shares the reason that they picked what they picked. So the structure that I have for that is I give one at a time. We process one at a time, helps to cut down on the confusion. And again, I have the same. Rules that I have for the other ones, which is if you didn't put it in there, you didn't get to, you don't get to take it away. Everybody gets to have their voice and everybody gets to have their opinion. Uh, 'cause we want to make it a safe place for everybody. And then I'm going to observe how all of that gets managed. I'm gonna observe what pe, what each family member picks. I'm gonna observe how parents. Follow and lead, so to speak, to use an attachment term. Um, and, and as I'm using my attachment focused family play therapy model, I'm also, um, seeing how parents are using these attachment based parenting skills that I'm teaching them. They get to practice those in the family play therapy sessions. With my support and we would've had conversations about how that works. Um, but I'm also observing the, how parents are using attachment based parenting skills to facilitate this process. So then the fourth. Activity that I will use with the sand tray is what I, I call it like a deep dive. So let's say, um, something comes up in the family play therapy sessions, and maybe you're noticing a trend and maybe in the, maybe you're doing an activity. Um, and you're, you're gathering information and you're getting a good sense of what's going on, and maybe you're seeing a trend over and over and over when and, and one of your family play therapy sessions. You, your prompt can be to raise this, Hey, I noticed this going on. Or you don't even have to say that. Sometimes I just give the prompt like, we're gonna do a, an activity in the sand tray today. And let's say, um, let's say I noticed family members dealing with some grief and loss about the changes in the family system. Maybe there was. Maybe a, a family pet died and they a beloved, you know, our, our dogs, our cats, our furry animals, they are our furry children. We love them. Um, so maybe they're grieving with the loss. So maybe the prompt would be choose the figure the gears that best represents how you're feeling about the, you know. Losing family pet, or maybe I notice family members are struggling with, um, maybe there was a traumatic event and maybe there was some domestic violence. This, this one would be further along in the change process. So this, this one will be probably, if I'm using my family play therapy model, this one's gonna be. Way into the family alignment stage. This is where we're doing the bulk of the change and we've got safety established. We've got, um, we, we've explored some things, so this one's further in where I may say, you know, pick. The figure of figures that best represents by now, I would've explained trauma done like some psychoeducation around that. Or maybe I give it a, the bad thing if I have really young kids in there and we're talking about the language we're using is the bad thing. You know, if I'm using that, uh, brave Bart language or, um, a terrible thing happened. Language, those are two really awesome books about trauma that you can use with kids. So maybe I'm using that language. So pick the, um, miniature or miniatures that best represent the bad thing or trauma, whatever language that we're using. And use that as a way to get a sense of how family members are working through that, and give us an opportunity to talk about that a little bit. And we use it in a non-confrontational way. By now, family members would feel safe to talk about hard things, but also. They don't have to use language to communicate. You can see a picture is worth a thousand words, right? That picture that you see in the San Tray based on the miniature that's chosen, that gives you tons of information, even if it's really concrete. It still gives you lots of good information about how your client is experiencing it without actually having to figure out in their frontal lobes exactly in a precise way how to communicate to you. They can use that symbol to show you. Rather than have to explain it to you. That's one of the things that I love about play therapy and in particular, sand tray activities because they can use the miniatures. There are symbols that they can access to process what's been going on, and we can, we can take an issue that they're struggling with. Give a prompt about if you choose a miniature or miniatures that best represents what that looks like, we can, we can have them use those symbols and then we can give it language, or now we don't even, we can, we can stay in the metaphor and give voice to what's going on so many different ways you can use that in individualize. The issue that you're working on through the use of the symbols and the sand tray, to find a way to talk about that and maybe think about it differently or get support about the thing that happened or get validation or maybe have an opportunity to think about things a different way. So. The, the, um, the structure is here that I would say here is you really wanna think about what play therapy model that you're using because how you structure and facilitate that, the language even that you use right, is, is going to be. Um, heavily influenced by your play therapy model. So for, for example, an attachment focused family play therapy, I'm really looking at the interactions from a family systems and an attachment lens. That interpersonal neurobiology lens from an attachment theory lens of how are they creating what. Internal working models, are they, are they creating, or maybe I'm thinking about that concept of mentalization and how is that showing up in the sand tray? So, or maybe I'm using an Adlerian play therapy, family play therapy model, and I'm looking at how each family member feels like they count or they're accessing courage. So the language of my, my play therapy model and the way that I conceptualize what's going on is gonna be influenced by my my family play therapy model. So that is it for today. Let me just kind of do a quick recap and I just realized I'm running low on time, so I'm gonna speed through this last part. So just to recap. For today, so you can use the sand tray activities in family play therapy sessions to give you a really good idea of what's going on with those interaction patterns. Also, to work with parents to help them use new attachment based parenting skills. They're using those in the session with your support. And then that. And then that also gives them practice so that they can use them outside of the session. And these play therapy activities will allow you, as the play therapist, get a good sense of what is going on in those interaction patterns and. How parents are navigating that, or if I'm gonna use a circle of security term, I would say, how are parents being bigger, wiser, stronger, and kind? Right? And so you wanna make sure that you are using a family play therapy model. Because you don't wanna just add parents in there as observers or not sure what their role is, and that makes things confusing for them and for you, you wanna make sure you have, um, you have a family play therapy model that you're using. Because that's gonna increase the likelihood of success, but also help you navigate through maybe those challenging bits of the healing process. So that's it for today. I'll see you next week. Bye for now. Thank you for joining me on this episode of Next Level Play Therapy. I hope you found the discussion valuable and gained new insights and ideas to support your work helping children, adolescents, and families heal. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review. Your feedback helps to improve and reach more people who can benefit from this information. Remember. Play therapy is a powerful tool for healing and growth. Whether you're a new play therapist or experienced, I encourage you to continue your learning journey to unlock the potential of play in your own work in relationships. If you have any questions or topics, suggestions for future. I'd love to hear from you. Connect with me on social media and visit my website at Renewing Hearts Play Therapy Training to stay updated on upcoming episodes, trainings, and resources. Thank you once again for listening to Next Level Play Therapy. Until next time, keep playing, learning and growing.