Play Themes

This isn't a surface-level CE or a “check the box” training packed with theory, jargon, and zero follow-through. It’s designed to sharpen your clinical skills and give you tools you’ll actually use - not just file away and forget!

🧰 TOOLS

☀️ CLARITY

🚀 CONFIDENCE

You’re never left wondering what now? You’ve got the guides, the frameworks, the handouts, and real case examples—all right at your fingertips. Whether you're feeling stuck or just need a reset, you know exactly where to turn and how to move forward.

No more leaving sessions second-guessing yourself. You get the toys. You see the sequences. You understand the play. Every move has meaning—and you know exactly what to do with it.

You’re not just doing powerful work—you know why it’s working. With this training, you’ve got the framework, the language, and the scripts to talk about play therapy with parents in a way that lands, sticks, and builds your credibility.

These aren’t your average PDFs. These are the resources that live on my desktop (both digital and actual), and in every consultation I run. You’ll come back to these handouts session after session—because they’re practical, to the point, and actually make your work easier.

🗸 How To Identify A Play Theme — My go-to cheat sheet that breaks down the 10 key things I look for when decoding play themes.

🗸 Child-Centered Play Therapy Session Skills Cheat Sheet — Need clarity on the essential skills? This guide covers therapeutic conditions, session structure, and facilitative responses so you can show up like a total pro.

🗸 Child-Centered Play Therapy Effectiveness Cheat Sheet — Wondering if your approach is really working? This cheat sheet walks you through the 7 markers that tell you you’re on the right track.

Printable, evidence-based tools designed for immediate clinical use--
no filler, just function

This is the course that finally bridges the gap between knowing and actually doing.

If you’ve taken other trainings on themes or flipped through a textbook thinking, “Is this it?”—you’re not alone.

Most Child-Centered Play Therapy courses barely skim the surface when it comes to interpreting themes—maybe a few slides or pages at best.

You're not getting recycled theory or generic content. You're getting real-world clinical insight built from the ground up, in the playroom, with real kids.

The tools and frameworks inside are research backed and developed through years of hands-on work, then refined to be practical, clear, and immediately usable.

Every single lesson is designed to give you something you can actually use—a skill, a tool, or a clinical takeaway that adds clarity to your work. No long-winded theory. No vague “insights.” Just clear, concise, practical strategies you can take into the playroom tomorrow.

Need to see it to really get it? Trust me, Module 5 will be your favorite—hands down.

Because in Module 5, we go deep into the real-world stuff. It’s where everything comes together. I walk you through 10 in-depth case examples of actual play therapy sequences where you’ll learn what theme interpretation actually looks like in the playroom and how it connects to the real world!

This course is approved for 3.5 APT Non-Contact Hours by Meehan Mental Health
Services (APT Approved Provider 19-580)

Learning Objectives:

Describe the 5 factors in a child’s play that could indicate a play theme.
List Benedicts 8 main play theme categories.
Identify 6 frameworks for identifying and interpreting play themes.
Identify 5 techniques to gain clarity when assessing for and interpreting play themes.

This course is designed for beginning-to-intermediate play therapists who are trained in nondirective models and want to deepen their clinical insight. If you’ve ever thought “I should know what this means, but I don’t”—this is for you.

This course is self paced to fit your life. It is pre-recorded and broken into digestible modules that can be completed during client cancellations, weekends, early morning, late nights -
Whenever it works for you. Login, rewatch, and revisit content at any time.

Or formally Ann Meehan, MS, LPCC, RPT-S, EMDRIA Consultant. I work as a private practice therapist in the north woods of Minnesota and specialize in working with young people ages 3 and up using Play Therapy and EMDR. I have a library of trainings and run The Playful Therapist Blog. Overall I am passionate about helping other therapists grow into competent and confident Play Therapists, trauma therapists, and child and adolescent therapists.

Grab the essential training you need to finally interpret themes in the playroom!

Please email [email protected] with questions or concerns.
Play Therapy Credit may not be awarded to non-mental health professionals. There are no refunds for this recorded course.
See Meehan Mental Health Services full policies and procedures for online and in person trainings here.