We have been innovative since our formation 13 years ago thanks to the encouragement and contributions of our members. At the same time we have recognised the value of standards as these are at the heart of assuring the quality of our work and ensuring safe practice. The challenge is to advance our standards to meet the needs of the children taking advantage of developments in many fields.
One of our biggest challenges is understanding and co-existing with the medical and pharmaceutical worlds. Most of us have strong views on the use of Ritalin but how sustainable are they? What is good medical evidence and what is bad? What non-biased advice should we be giving to parents?? Our keynote presentation addresses these key questions.
The main conference day on June 15th,, which we urge everyone to attend, offers you a choice from six half day workshops as well as the plenary sessions on how PTUK will advance standards for the Play Therapy profession.
Seven CPD points may be claimed for attending the 15th June event.
There are also four, proven, Post Qualifying Courses offered, as post conference events: 'PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision', 'PQ Filial Play Coaching Certificate', 'PQ Sandtray Therapy Skills Certificate' and 'Certificate in Working Therapeutically With Babies and Infants'.
These PQ courses enable you to fulfil your CPD requirements for the whole year. They will significantly enhance your skills and with the PTUK/PTI Post Qualifying Certificates aid your career development and CV. Canterbury Christ Church University has 'Kite' marked three of these courses for quality as Post Qualifying Courses.
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PLENARY SESSIONS - 15TH JUNE 2013 - MORNING
09:00 Advancing Through Regulation
PTUK's Chief Executive, Monika Jephcott, will review the progress that we have made over the past year including the problems and opportunities arising through regulation including the concerns that some of our members have raised.
10:00 Keynote Address - Children, Medicines and Evidence
This session will put the spotlight on medicines used to treat behavioural and mental disorders in children and adolescents. Its main focus will be on 'evidence'. What does the medical world mean by evidence? How is it obtained, and how should it be interpreted? How are the therapeutic effects and side effects of medicines evaluated? What information is available to help parents and children make informed decisions about whether to accept treatment with medicines? Who has the responsibility for prescribing medicines and do they have the necessary knowledge and expertise?
Particular attention will be paid to two groups of medicines: antidepressants and stimulants. Antidepressants are used to treat depression (and other conditions) in children, but how good is the evidence that the benefits outweigh the risks? In recent years there has been a significant increase in the use of stimulants such as Ritalin for the treatment of ADHD, but what is the evidence of their benefit and what problems are likely to be caused by side effects? The session will raise awareness of how medical research is conducted, how medical evidence is assessed, the kinds of questions that parents should ask before accepting medicines, and sources of information to help them in making decisions.
| Our keynote presenter is John Donoghue BSc FCMHP, an award-winning mental health pharmacist and an honorary lecturer in the School of Pharmacy at Liverpool John Moores University. He is past chairman of the UK Psychiatric Pharmacy Group and a founding member of the College of Mental health Pharmacy. In 2012 he was made a fellow of the College in recognition of his contribution to mental healthcare. He has written widely on mental health issues and has over 80 peer-reviewed publications, and presented at many international symposia. He has also created and delivered many educational packages related to the treatment of severe mental illness which have been used both locally and internationally. He has also published a novel - Collision - which is set in an acute psychiatric unit and which has received 'rave' reviews. |
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The presentation will be followed by a questions and answers session.
11:00 Refreshment and discussion break
11:30 - Advancing the Revalidation Process
Jeff Thomas, PTUK Director of Research and Systems will describe the progress of the Caerus project and how the free software provided by PTUK may be used to make the revalidation (annual renewal) processes easier and more effective. The latest guidelines for practice, based on our on-going research will also be presented.
12:30 - 14:00 Lunch and networking break
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CPD WORKSHOPS -15th JUNE 2013 - AFTERNOON
Because of the therapeutic and experiential nature of these workshops, most are restricted in numbers so please choose two - one as your first choice and a second in case your first choice is already full.
W1 'Food for Thought' - the use of food as a therapeutic medium
Food holds emotional significance for all of us. It is also a very powerful metaphor for nurture and therefore also for neglect. Can we work creatively, using food as a medium, to address issues of neglect and to enable children to experience nurture?
The workshop will be suitable for anyone working with/interested in working with groups of children and/ or parents, or interested in exploring new aspects of therapeutic work.
The workshop is experiential so be prepared for mess! Please inform the facilitator if you have any food allergies (although no eating is required!).
Aims:
- To discuss the symbolic significance of food
- To introduce the concept of food as a therapeutic medium
- To discuss the use of food within play therapy
- To describe a small group therapeutic intervention (for children or children and parents/carers) which uses food as its medium
- To participate in an experiential activity
- To look at outcome data
During this workshop participants will draw on their own personal experiences through the use of visualisation and discussion to explore the symbolic significance of food. The use of food within play therapy will then be discussed. Participants will then be introduced to a small group intervention that uses food as its medium. They will participate in an experiential activity from the programme and will explore some quantitative and qualitative data collected from the programme.
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Presented by: Bridget Sheehan is the Director of Equilibrium and Enablement Ltd (eQe Ltd). She has a Masters in Counselling and is a teacher with over 20 years' experience of working in inner city schools. She has undertaken training in a variety of creative approaches, including therapeutic play. She developed the Th.Inc.Rooms® (Therapeutic Inclusion Rooms) approach and her passion is to build the capacity of schools to meet pupils emotional needs themselves, wherever possible. In 2006 Bridget Sheehan received the Play Therapy International Award for her work. |
W2 A time to Reflect - Looking at the principle of self-respect
Who is this for? Anyone who would like to (or needs to) take time to reflect on who they are and what motivates them
What are the aims?
- To use a creative method to explore self
- To become more aware of your current work/life balance
- To reflect on any changes you may or may not like to make in the light of your awareness
How will the workshop run? Each individual will have the opportunity to complete a creative exercise for personal reflection. There will be some small and large group discussion
| Presented by Susan Atkins who has over 30 years experience of working with children and families in a variety of settings. For the last ten years she has provided Play Therapy within primary schools and more recently has a private practice working with adults. Susan is an accredited Play Therapist and counsellor, supervisor and trainer for APAC. She has a particular interest in working creatively to explore personal growth and development, which she believes is crucial to the development of any therapy practitioner as well as their clients. |
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W3 'To Hold and Be Held - Responding creatively to mandatory quality management competencies through the use of Clay Therapy'
Advancing standards in the Play Therapy profession is essential. Through APAC's training runs a wonderfully creative core. This creative clay workshop will focus participants in deepening and broadening their existing experience of working therapeutically with children and adolescent by engaging with clay exercises that are especially of use with complex cases and case loads. Here, containment and containing are the key words. Ask yourself how much emotional “stuff" you are carrying with you from your work. Consider how weighed-down you might feel. Could compassion fatigue be something you have glimpsed?
This workshop will enhance understanding of therapists' emotional regulation thereby ensuring fitness to practice and best practice delivery of play therapy services. It will appeal to clinical supervisors, play therapy service managers, experienced practitioners and therapists who are interested in quality management.
At the end of the creative workshop using clay therapy exercises on the notion of containment, participants should be able to:
- Identify creative methods using clay therapy to ensure quality management of therapeutic activities when working with children and adolescents
- Examine and synthesise gathered information on complex cases and case loads to maintain practitioner fitness to practice within limits of competence
- Appraise and analyse the gathered information to ensure best practice delivery of play therapy services and clinical governance procedures
Workshop Programme and Activities:
The workshop is planned to be in two sections. The first section will set the scene by briefly covering theoretical notions on emotional containment referring to Bion, Winnicott, Bowlby, Hughes etc. whilst incorporating aspects from neuroscience. Next will be the first clay exercise on modelling aspects of a particular client held in mind followed by pair discussion and then full group discussion relating to the initial theoretical input to be held by the facilitator.
The second section will offer a clay exercise that is suitable for supervision sessions where each participant will create a clay concept of all the work they are carrying/holding. Again, pair discussion will be followed with a full group discussion.
| Presented by Lynne Souter-Anderson. Lynne has a Cambridgeshire based private practice offering psychotherapy, clinical supervision and consultancy work. Lynne has delivered Clay Therapy workshops at PTUK, BACP and UKCP conferences both nationally and internationally and continues to research the valuable use of clay in therapy with children and adolescents. |
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W4 Using Water in Play Therapy Sessions
Many of us have marvelled at the child taking an extra long time to wash the paint from their hands or watching the water dribble from a cup into the sand. In this 3 hour workshop we will be able to explore how water can be used, and managed, to 'stand alone' as a medium that has its own place in the play room alongside all of the other tools we have.
Of course, we will be looking at some theory and seeing how our learned colleagues have viewed the use of water in the past but we will be able to experience a variety of water based play themes to test for ourselves what we feel about the use of water and where this may help us on our journey. The workshop aims to provide case studies to work from but participants will be encouraged to explore their own clients in the experiential training.
Presented by Evelyn Saunders - senior course director for courses accredited by PTUK and PTI with her own busy private practice in play therapy, clinical supervision and providing workshops for those looking for CPD points.
W5 Advancing Your Career
"When things get tough, the tough get going" - but how? This practical workshop will refresh and extend the career development skills taught on the Diploma course and in the personal consultations conducted during the last two conferences. Despite claims of 'we haven't got any money' there is plenty of potential funding out there. It just needs digging out.
The workshop is designed for those seeking another job, as well those wishing to maximise their income in a play therapy career or create wealth by building a therapeutic service business. It will include:
- Essential marketing research for all - identify what you need to find out
- Presenting yourself effectively - maximise your chances of an interview and get a result that you want
- Choosing your best business options and avoiding the worst - don't form a partnership!
- Budgets, business plans and management accounts - not all baloney - which ones do you really need?
- Setting fees, without going bust - really understand your own financial base
- Your marketing challenge and how to meet it - which promotional items work best and how to structure them
- They are only experts if you brief them properly (Accountants and Solicitors)
There will be practical exercises using your own circumstances, objectives and data, which can be completed during and after the workshop to set you on a successful path.
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Presented by: Jeff Thomas now on his seventh career and who has made most of the mistakes. Fellow Chartered Institute of Marketing. |
W6 Therapeutic Work with Children and Families who have experienced Domestic Violence & Parental Substance Misuse
1 in 4 woman experience domestic violence (DV) in one point of their life time and at least 750,000 children a year witness domestic violence. (DoH, 2003). The secrecy around domestic violence means that a disclosure may not always comes at the point of a referral, when a child comes to play therapy, yet still you may experience their realities through the play themes and metaphors of the play.
This workshop aims to explore emotional and psychological needs of children living with Domestic / Sexual violence & Parental substance misuse. It aims to increase awareness on the signs of trauma and explores ways to support the children through this process.
Together, we will be looking at the facts and figures of Domestic abuse & Parental substance misuse. We explore realities of these children's life experiences; what they may feel like; and what they may need in order to achieve their full potentials. Participants will be able to contribute in discussions and may be able to bring their own experiences in working with these children. We will review some of the play therapy case examples in order to explore issues and barriers experienced throughout the process and how play therapy may help, different uses of the tool-kit and facilitation of resilience.
In the end of the workshop participants will be able to identify signs of trauma children may present, increase awareness of the impact of DV&SM on children, gain some practical ideas on how to work with challenging parents and some tips in supporting children through play therapy interventions, use of the tool-kit and explorations of the roles and responsibilities of the play therapist in 'keeping children safe' and the importance of integrated working practice.
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Presented by: Hasret Tekin an independent Play Therapist, Trainer and Consultant in Play and Creative Art Therapies. Hasret has set up and developed a Specialist Play Therapy project in Women's Aid refuges across London between 2008- 2013, as part of a project funded by London Councils. She and her team of volunteers have offered play therapy for children whose lives may have been impacted by domestic violence and parental substance misuse. Within her capacity Hasret has developed the professional skills of play therapy volunteers and has delivered internal and external training on the impact of domestic abuse on children and therapeutic intervention |
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POST QUALIFYING COURSES
Post Qualifying Certificate in Clinical Supervision - 7 days 16th to 2nd June 2013
The role of the Clinical Supervisor will become even more important with 'Right Touch' regulation. This course will enable you to leverage your play therapy experience to help many more children by advising and supporting other practitioners through clinical supervision to maintain high standards of practice. PTI/PTUK accredited training courses are now run at 9 venues in the UK, 2 in Ireland, 1 in France and in 4 other countries, producing a stream of Play/Creative Arts Therapists who require clinical supervision. This course is designed to help to fill the shortage of suitably trained Supervisors. Becoming a Certified Clinical Supervisor is also an essential step on the way to being a PTUK Certified Play Therapy Trainer. Both of these career opportunities will provide extra job satisfaction and additional substantial income.
The course is designed for those who have at least 200 hours experience of working with children or adolescents using play/creative arts therapy as well as experienced, accredited counsellors. It includes:
- A model for the supervision of play and creative arts therapies
- Agreeing contracts
- Using creative arts for supervision
- Using the Play Therapy Dimension Model for supervision
- Supervisee's training requirements
- Dealing with supervisees' career development issues
The course has been updated to take into account the requirements of 'Right Touch' regulation and the use of Skype for supervising overseas students. 'Kite' marked for academic quality by Canterbury Christ Church University.
A 1-day follow-up day, to present your supervision requirements in a peer group, is offered in a year's time at a cost of £120.
Facilitated by Lindsay Thompson, Monika Jephcott and Jeff Thomas
Post Qualifying Certificate in Filial Coaching - 4 days - 16th to 19th June
Filial Play Coaching & Mentoring is a natural career development for Play Therapists and other practitioners who wish to work with parents and families. The PTUK model places an emphasis on working with socially deprived families. The purpose is to provide practice based training to enable participants to coach parents/carers to use filial play effectively with their children including the use of touch.
You should be able to incorporate the techniques taught on this course into your work to open up new career opportunities.
Course content includes:
- An understanding of the main models of filial play, their pros and cons
- How to assess the parents and children being considered for filial play
- Teaching the parents the importance of play, the main types of play and their purpose so that they can achieve a suitable balance with their children
- How to ensure that the parents know how to structure a filial play session
- How to coach parents in the four key skills of filial play
- Ensure that the parents know how to focus on the child during a filial play session
- Demonstrating the use and applicability of the main filial play tools: art media, music, movement, sandtray, storytelling, puppets clearly indicating which are appropriate for use at home and those that may be used in the therapist's play room
- Advising parents upon acquiring, making and using appropriate equipment, materials and toys during their home play sessions according to their circumstances
- How to ensure that the parents know how to use encouragement during a filial play session
- Advising parents upon how to make notes on home play sessions suitable for use during the coaching discussions
- How to integrate the use of filial play with play therapy if this is being used concurrently
- Maintaining suitable records of progress and carry out quality management of filial play work
- How to brief other involved organisations and colleagues upon the purpose and methods of filial therapy
The course being offered is an
updated version of the original very popular programme. Upon the completion of 40 hours of satisfactory, documented filial play coaching practice the PTI/PTUK Post Qualifying Certificate in Filial Play Coaching will be awarded. 'Kite' marked for academic quality by Canterbury Christ Church University.
Facilitated by Karen O'Neill, Senior APAC Course Director, Accredited Play Therapist and Clinical Supervisor
Post Qualifying Certificate in Sandplay Skills Programme Part 1 - 4 days 16th to 19th June 2013 preceded by - Theory day 14th June 2013
Post Qualifying Certificate in Sandplay Skills Programme Part 2 - 3 days - 20th to 22nd June 2013
(Please note parts 1 and 2 cannot be taken together)
If you are a play therapy practitioner, counsellor, psychotherapist or other mental health practitioner who wishes to extend your skills in the therapeutic medium most frequently chosen by children and also to use sandplay therapy with adolescents and adults, choose this programme.
In Sandplay therapy the client sets up a world in a sand tray that corresponds to their inner state using objects/figures and in the arrangement of the sand. In this manner, through free, creative play, unconscious processes are made visible in a three-dimensional form. Through a series of images that take shape in this way, the process of individuation described by Carl Jung is stimulated and brought to fruition. Sandplay has been termed an 'X-ray of the Psyche' You can see the changes in the clients' processes and progression.
Experiential Training
Doing one's own sandplay work is essential. In order to engage in the medium of sandplay with a client, the therapist must have experience the movement of his or her psyche by the same means. To attempt to engage in sandplay with a client without having undergone one's own sandplay work would not be safe.
The 7-day experiential training that is required is offered is in two parts:
- Certificate in Sandplay Skills - Part 1 This four day course, preceded by the theory day, will enable you to start practicing.
- Certificate in Sandplay Skills - Part 2 This 3-day course is for those who have previously completed Part 1 and have at least 20 hours of sandplay therapy practice
Theory
It is vital that sandplay therapy practitioners have an embedded knowledge of the underlying theoretical principles. This is most effectively accomplished by reading 'The Handbook of Sand Play Therapy' by Barbara Turner in advance of the Theory day. (The cost of the book is not included in the Conference progamme but may be purchased through the Amazon link on the PTUK website
www.playtherapy.org.uk). This theoretical part of the programme
does not, on its own, provide the competencies required to practice as a sandplay therapy practitioner.
Certificates of attendance will be issued after each experiential training course. The final award of PTI/PTUK 'Certified Practitioner in Therapeutic Sand Play Skills' will be made upon satisfactory completion of parts 1 and 2 of the training and 50 clinically supervised hours of practice.
These courses are facilitated by the highly experienced Sandplay Therapist and Trainer, Eunice Stagg who is also a specialist tutor for PTUK accredited Play Therapy courses in the UK and overseas.
'Kite' marked for academic quality by Canterbury Christ Church University.
Certificate in Working Therapeutically With Babies and Infants - 3 days 20th to 22nd June 2013
This course was successfully launched in 2011. It is essential for those practitioners who wish to extend their practice to early intervention with young babies and their parents/carers. The course will enable you to work with individual parent-infant pairs and with groups mainly through singing playsongs and loving lullabies, nurturing touch and authentic movement. It has been shown that in many instances early positive intervention is more effective than later intensive problem-focused treatment when problems have already placed huge strain on the parent-carer and child relationship.
This course focuses on work that is gentle, playful and nurturing during the critical attachment period. It also assists in a positive changing of parental conceptualisation of the baby which has also been linked to positive outcomes. This course is 75% practical and experiential and 25% theoretical. Much emphasis is placed on the most recent research findings on this primary relationship and the impact of its quality on subsequent emotional and mental health.
Successful participants will receive the PTI/PTUK 'Post Qualifying Certificate Working Therapeutically with Infants and Parent/Carers'. 'In the process of being Kite' marked for academic quality by Canterbury Christ Church University.
Facilitated by: Debi Maskell-Graham, PTUK Certified Play Therapist, Programme Leader MA Practice-based Play Therapy, Editor 'Play for Life'. Debi is also Clinical Director of big toes little toes, a specialist organisation offering an early intervention approach (when difficulties are in their infancy not just in early childhood) to all kinds of parents, carers and their children
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CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
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Fri. 14th June
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Clinical Supervisors’ follow up* and top up day.
Sand Play Therapy Theory day
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Sat. 15th June
09:00 – 10:00
10:00 – 11:00
11:00 – 11:30
11:30 – 12:30
13:00 – 14:00
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Welcome and opening address – Advancing Through Regulation - Monika Jephcott, Chief Executive, PTUK
Keynote Address - Children, Medicines and Evidence – John Donoghue
Coffee and networking break
Advancing the Revalidation Process - Jeff Thomas Director PTUK
Lunch (included in conference fee)
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Sat. 15th June
14:00 – 17:00
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W1
Food for Thought’ - the use of food as a therapeutic medium
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W2
A time to Reflect – Looking at the principle of self-respect
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W3
‘To Hold and Be Held – Responding creatively to mandatory quality management competencies through the use of Clay Therapy’
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W4
Using Water in Play Therapy Sessions
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W5
Advancing Your Career
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W6
Therapeutic Work with Children and Families who have experienced Domestic Violence & Parental Substance Misuse
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Sunday 16th
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 1)
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PQ Certificate in Filial Coaching/Mentoring
(Day 1)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 1
(Day 1)
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Mon. 17th
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 2)
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PQ Certificate in Filial Coaching/Mentoring
(Day 2)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 1
(Day 2)
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Tues. 18th
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 3)
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PQ Certificate in Filial Coaching/Mentoring
(Day 3)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 1
(Day 3)
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Weds. 19th
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 4)
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PQ Certificate in Filial Coaching/Mentoring
(Day 4)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 1
(Day 4)
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Thurs. 20th
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 5)
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Certificate in Working Therapeutically With Babies and Infants
(Day 1)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 2
(Day 1)
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Fri. 21st
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 6)
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Certificate in Working Therapeutically With Babies and Infants
(Day 2)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 2
(Day 2)
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Sat. 22nd
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PQ Certificate in Clinical Supervision
(Day 7)
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Certificate in Working Therapeutically With Babies and Infants
(Day 3)
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PQ Certificate in Sandplay Skills Part 2
(Day 3)
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* The 1-day follow-up for participants on the Summer 2012 Clinical Supervisors course which was run at Salomons, will be held at Pinewood on Friday 14th June 2013.
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THE VENUE
Pinewood on Wilmslow Hotel
We have chosen this hotel for its location which is easy to travel to and for its relaxing environment.
From M60 Junction 3, follow A34 to Cheadle for approximately 3 miles through 2 roundabouts. At the 3rd roundabout take the 3rd exit onto the A555 to the end. Turn left and the hotel is 100 yards on the left. There are brown tourist signs to follow from the A34.
Accommodation
The Pinewood offers 4 star hotel accommodation with rooms ranging from standard doubles and twins to double executive rooms and a four poster room, all with excellent facilities included. All rooms are non smoking as standard, and our rooms offer everything you need to take the hassle out of staying and working away from home. There is free leisure club membership for every hotel resident including: gym, 25m swimming pool, Jacuzzi, sauna, spa and tennis court. Reservations: 01625 529211 or http://www.pinewood-hotel.co.uk/
There are many budget hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation nearby.
Application Form
Please download our application form below, available as either a MS Word or PDF document.
MS Word | PDF
