All certified and PTI members, including CPT and CPT-S, are required to complete 12 hours of continuing education each 1 year period following the certification year for Certified Members and following the completion of the CAPT Foundation Play Therapy credits for PTI members.

Emotional regulation of children who have experienced grief and loss is a key skill for play therapists to explore.

This workshop will incorporate an overview of brain development to better understand how to reach a child who is grieving. Breathwork, Brain Gym activities, energy exercises and even a demonstration of NeurOptimal Neurofeedback will make sure that each participant has new activities and ideas for emotional regulation to add to their toolbox when they return to their play/therapy rooms.

1. Explain at least six types of grief and loss experiences which children will be impacted by in today’s world.
2. Identify at least four ways that that Play Therapy creates safety and opens communication of feelings for children who have experienced grief and loss.
3. Describe three distinct categories of children who will present for play therapy and how their early growth and development will impact their responses to grief and loss.
4. Name the three parts of the brain described in the Triune Brain Theory and share how these parts grow and develop in babies and young children.
5. Demonstrate how movement activities like Brain Gym and breathing exercises help children to regain emotional regulation of their CNS.
6. Briefly describe how NeurOptimal Neurofeedback communicates with the CNS to make it more flexible and resilient thus helping children deal with grief and loss.

Jan Yordy is an educator who specialized in working with children and families for over 29 years.

Over time she also worked with adolescents and adults focusing on how to heal trauma with a variety of therapeutic techniques. She holds a Master of Education, a Master of Social Work, and is a Certified Play Therapist.

Her passion to understand the brain and how to heal it led her to become a Brain Gym Instructor, certified EMDR Therapist, utilize many Energy Psychology techniques and to become a NeurOptimal Advanced Trainer. Jan, along with two partners, successfully set up and ran the Integrated Centre for Optimal Learning for over nine years. She published three children’s books in her “Be the Boss” series as well as creating other innovative games and resources to use with children. She has two websites which hold a wealth of information; www.energyconnectiontherapies.com and www.waterloobrainconnections.com.