Conference Details 

Join us in Minnesota for our annual PLAY THERAPY conference. This year, our presenters are Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S and Annie Monaco, LCSW, RPT-S who will be speaking on the topic of Trauma, Dissociation, and Parts in Play Therapy in this two day conference! This is a must-have training if you work with kids and teens with trauma! 

Prescriptive play therapy approaches to healing from trauma and adversity have particular potency in complex trauma, especially chronic betrayal trauma, or the experience of ongoing adversity at the hands of caregivers.  These wounded attachments lead to the child’s increasing need to rely on dissociation in order to manage and can lead to fragmented and disorganized, even extreme behaviors.

In this training we will explore Gestalt play therapy techniques and other expressive and projective approaches using sand tray art, movement and creativity which flexibly integrate with trauma narratives and protocols (such as EMDR) by offering the child dramatic distance and titration of the intensity of the most painful narratives. We will use experiential activities and in-depth case examples to illustrate a way to gently explore and support the fragmented states of highly dissociative children and move them towards healing, ideally with the increasing support of caregivers.
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Time: 8:30 am - 4 pm Thursday and Friday 
Date: Thursday April 24th and Friday April 25th 
Cost: Members: $300 | Non Members: $350
CEs: This two day training is approved by the Minnesota Association for Play Therapy (APT Approved Provider 06-177) for 12 APT Contact CEs.  Play therapy credit may not be given to non-mental health professionals.  This training is pending approval by the Minnesota Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy,  Social Work, and Marriage and Family Therapy. 

**Partial CE credit will not be issued - this is a two day event and participants cannot sign up for partial attendance****

Location: 
Eagan Community Center
1501 Central Pkwy
​Eagan, MN 55121

Training Objectives ​

  • Describe 5 aspects of how dissociative fragmentation presents in our child and teen clients in a play therapy setting.
  • Apply the principles of curiosity and gradual exposure to allow dissociative parts of self to emerge during play therapy.
  • Analyze themes of play to amplify and suggest metaphors to gradually approaching traumatic material as a way of assessing the targets of attachment wounds and pre-verbal trauma.
  • Summarize the steps in constructing a therapy story in metaphor to gradually approach the trauma narrative.
  • Describe 2 examples of how to initiate cooperation with self-states and use developmentally appropriate ego-state language through sand tray or art 
  • Utilize a play therapy version of the conference table technique to identify different types of emotional parts and their roles, and initiate internal cooperation 
  • Apply principles and practices from Gestalt play therapy in a practice session to promote contact with protective parts of self
  • Apply play-based neurosequential intervention through movement and regulation activities.
  • Describe 2 examples of playful, active and creative trauma narrative/processing work.
  • Utilize parent psychoeducation and coaching to support their highly dissociative children and engage hostile parts.
  • Describe an example of engaging and managing hostile, aggressive and suicidal dissociative self-states through play therapy materials.
  • ​Utilize projective approaches to resolve traumatic experiences and reduce violent behaviors.  

Registration Information: 

This is an in person two-day event. Participants are not allowed to receive partial CE or register for partial attendance.  ***Any accommodations are needed at least 30 days in advance.  When registering you will be able to identify accommodations needed****

To register click the button below.

Supervision Training: 

The Minnesota Association for Play Therapy will be holding their annual Supervision Training on Wednesday, April 23rd virtually.  Learn more about the training HERE! 
Ann Beckley-Forest, LCSW, RPT-S, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in private practice in Buffalo, New York, and co-founder of Playful EMDR, an online hub for training and consultation in treating trauma-exposed children.  Her specialties include attachment and child and adolescent trauma, and she also works with adult survivors.  She is certified in EMDR and is an EMDR Approved Consultant and Trainer and a faculty member of the Child Trauma Institute, as well as a Registered Play Therapist and Supervisor and Approved Provider of play therapy continuing education through the Association for Play Therapy.   She provides consultation in person and remotely, and gives trainings across the US and internationally. Her primary interest is in the intersection of play therapy and EMDR and has published on this topic including as contributor and co-editor of EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room: An Integrated Approach (2020).
Annie Monaco, LCSW, RPT-S is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Registered Play Therapist and a faculty member of the Child Trauma Institute & Trauma Institute and of University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Annie travels throughout the US and internationally providing trauma-informed trainings and agency and therapist consultation. Annie is an EMDRIA-approved Trainer of EMDR, Progressive Counting and STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resiliency). Annie also provides specialty trainings on attachment, dissociation, and EMDR with teenagers and with younger children. Annie was a Director of Restorative Justice programs at a non- profit agency where she oversaw juvenile and adult offender programs for over 10 years.  Presently her private practice includes primarily foster care, out of country adoptions, juvenile justice and dissociation. Annie is the co-editor and contributor of chapters for EMDR with Children in the Play Therapy Room: An Integrated Approach (2020) and co- founder of Playful EMDR, an online hub for training and consultation.

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Training Agenda: 

Thursday April 24th 
8:00-8:20 Check-in; Time to stop by vendor and raffle tables
8:25 Welcome from MNAPT 
8:30 Day 1 Training Session I
10:30-10:45 BREAK
10:45-12:15 Day 1 Training Session II
12:15-1:15 MNAPT Social + Networking Hour in the Event Center Space 
1:15-2:45  Shining Star + Day 1 Training Session III
2:45-2:55 BREAK
2:55-4:00  Day 1 Training Session IV
4:00 Adjourn

Friday April 25th 
8:00-8:20 Check-in; Time to stop by vendor and raffle tables
8:25 Welcome from MNAPT 
8:30 Day 2 Training Session I
10:30-10:45 BREAK
10:45-12:15 Day 2 Training Session II
12:15-1:15 MNAPT Social + Networking Hour in the Event Center Space 
1:15-2:45  Day 2 Training Session III
2:45-2:55 BREAK-Raffle winners announced!
2:55-4:00 Day 2 Training Session IV
4:00 Adjourn

MNAPT Networking Event: ​
Come and get social! MNAPT is hosting a networking and social hour during our 12:15 - 1:15 lunch break at the annual MNAPT Conference.  Grab your lunch or have it delivered and get a chance to network and mingle with the MNAPT Board and other play therapists! 

The training is held in the Eagan Community Center with many options for delivery (with services like Doordash and Uber Eats) or a quick drive away. 

MNAPT Policies: 

 Refunds are not able to be given within two weeks of the conference date. All requests for accommodations require your request to be on file in our office three weeks prior to the training date. Minnesota Association for Play Therapy will make reasonable efforts to accommodate participants with disabilities access to trainings. Any grievances with trainings can be directed to the Minnesota Association for Play Therapy.