Hard Conversations with Parents: A Child-Centered Approach to Difficult Discussions in Play Therapy

Presented by Jennifer Sims, MA, LPCC, RPT APT Approved Provider 26-820 Non-contact (online) Difficult subjects can evoke anxiety, defensiveness, shame, and fear in both therapists and parents. Through a Child-Centered lens, these conversations become opportunities for relationship-building, and advocacy rather than power struggles or corrective encounters. Participants will explore how core CCPT skills including reflective responding, tracking emotional process, limit setting, unconditional positive regard, and therapist congruence can extend beyond the playroom and into parent communication. Special attention will be given to recognizing the impact of childism, systems pressure, therapist anxiety, and parental shame on clinical interactions with caregivers. Therapists will learn developmentally responsive and relationally grounded ways to translate play themes into parent-friendly language while remaining ethically sound and clinically attuned. This training is designed to help play therapists feel more confident, connected, and regulated during difficult parent conversations while strengthening caregiver engagement and preserving the child’s therapeutic experience. By the conclusion of this training, participants will be able to: +Describe at least two core Child-Centered play therapy skills that can be ethically translated into communication with parents and caregivers. +Analyze how therapist anxiety and parental shame impact clinical interactions and engagement within the play therapy process. +Formulate a developmentally responsive plan to communicate complex Play therapy credit available to mental health professionals & graduate students in a mental health program. NBCC credit available to licensed clinicians in partnership with our approved provider, Cascadia Training.