Teen Play Therapy

Do you feel stuck in your work with teens?

Are you filled with anxiety or dread when you see teens on your schedule? Too old for a traditional playroom but not quite ready for full on talk therapy, working with teens can feel like you are stuck between the playroom and the couch.

You feel so exhausted trying to engage teens and figure out what you are actually going to do in session. It feels like you are bending over backwards for teens that present with lack of buy-in and engagement and who don’t exactly want to be in therapy, despite having big emotions and tough situations to navigate through.

Your tired of trying harder than your teen clients.

You ask a couple of questions and attempt to build rapport but you are left with silence, shrugs, and “I don’t know”. A 45 minute session can feel like two hours and you're scrambling to fill the time.

With TikTok, navigating relationships, learning how to drive, and cramming for tests, teen life is complex. There is so much to talk about, and sometimes teens have… well… very little to say.

Being in therapy isn’t exactly their first choice of how to spend their time.

Most teens say “my parents made me come” and balancing between keeping privacy and confidentiality for teens and involving parents can feel like you are walking a tightrope. Parents often have a laundry list of concerns they want therapy to "fix" and all too often...teens don't agree.

Teens would often rather "deal with it" themselves or lean on their peers then open up in therapy.  Or they say they've already "worked through it" during the the 2am phone call with their friend.

Not to mention all the other complex issues teens have like relationships, drugs and alcohol, safety issues, impulsive and risky behaviors, and media use. You now have topics showing up in your playroom like sneaking out, stealing, unsafe relationships, fights and arguments, and not showing up to school.

Navigating the maze of teenage mental health can be overwhelming and exhausting and it's easy to feel in over your head.

You need more tools.

You need more than your usual go-to interventions. You're ready to blow the dust out of your toolbox and get some fresh and engaging new ideas.

You always tell yourself  you're going to get more tools for teens someday. You're going to create that list and look on Pinterest for ideas, but that day never comes and the time you try to set aside always gets brushed off for the paperwork that's due and the phone calls and emails you need to return.

You might even be questioning if you want to keep a caseload with teens anymore.

What if you could feel confident in your work with teens?

What would it be like for you to pick up your teen client from the waiting room for your next session and no matter what they bring to session for the day (and man, it's usually a curveball) you have 4-5 directive play therapy activities you could easily pull out without prep. What would it be like for you to know you have the flexibility to listen to the concerns that come up for the day and balance the need to talk with activities that are creative, expressive, and effective?

And what if Play Therapy was the secret sauce to actually get teens to do deeper work in a way that feels safer?

Now imagine this…

You have teen clients that actually want to come to session
You come to session prepared with tons of new ideas of how to increase engagement and build rapport
You have a large toolbox of directive Play Therapy activities teens actually want to do and are also effective
You understand how to use the healing powers of play to indirectly access and focus on teens biggest difficulties like depression, self esteem, and anxiety
You understand the exact developmental stages and changes that impact teens and how it affects their mental health
You have a clear understanding of how to maintain confidentiality for teens in a way that also appropriately involves parents in their care
You are able to have clear ideas of how to troubleshoot issues specific to teens such as peer pressure, media, chemical use, and relationships

And all of this with tons of active handouts, downloads, and activities to use in your work with teens!

To be able to provide a space where teens feel comfortable, heard, and validated all while having the support from YOU their therapist to do the hard work is that just-right-sweet-spot of what teen therapy should be.

AND all of that becomes easier with the right skills, tools, and resources. This course Growing Out of the Playroom: Teens and Tweens in Play Therapy holds your hand down the path of navigating the difficult and tough issues in working with teens to boost your confidence and competence.

Inside the course you will learn:

25+ directive play therapy interventions for teens and tweens to help with depression, self esteem, trauma and anxiety they will actually want to do
A clear understanding of the developmental tasks, physiological changes, and brain development that happens during the teen years and how these affect mental health
How confidentiality changes for teenagers and how to manage confidentiality while still involving parents in therapy
How to navigate the tricky developmental issues teens face such as impacted sleep, nutrition, and hormones
Techniques specific to teen issues of peer pressure, social media use, drug and alcohol use, safety issues, and self esteem

You also won’t walk away empty handed. Inside the course you get multiple handouts and bonus downloads including:

Self Affirmations for Teens
- This download set includes 42 positive self affirmations for teens to use for shifting self talk
Inspirational Quote Cards for Teens
- Grab this set of 24 inspirational quotes to use for self esteem or for creative art expression or sand tray prompts
45 Therapeutic Journal Prompts for Teens
- This download set includes therapeutic journal prompts for teens that get stuck
30 Day Gratitude Prompts for Kids and Teens
- Increase gratitude with these prompts that families can use on their own or you can use therapeutically in session
Therapeutic Vision Board Guide
- This therapeutic vision and action board has the exact specific steps and prompting questions to help improve goal clarity and achievement through vision boarding
New Mood Jar
- Creative intervention for emotional regulation with 50+ coping and regulation skills
Check in Prompts for Teens That Don't Talk
- Grab these 13 ways to shake up your check in for teens that don't talk
Finger Labyrinths
- Four finger labyrinths to help with emotional regulation and shifting cognitions
Goal Setting Worksheet
- This goal setting worksheet is a creative way for teens to evaluate their satisfaction with all goal areas of their life and to get clear on what goals they want to work on in therapy.
Calming Affirmation Cards
- This download set includes 15 calming affirmations and mantras for kids and teens
Keep Calm and Regulate On: Tips for Managing Co-Regulation Cheat Sheet
- This guide has the 9 specific steps for parents to co-regulate when their child is melting down
Safety Planning Sheet
- This handout can be used as a safety planning guide with clients and creates a framework for levels of intensity of support

Want to learn more? Check out the details below!

CE Information:
This course is approved for 5.5 APT Non-Contact hours by Meehan Mental Health Services (APT Approved Provider 19-580).

Learning Objectives:

List and demonstrate 25 play therapy interventions to use for teens in areas of assessment, rapport building, depression, anxiety, anger, and trauma.
Describe the difference between developmental goals and tasks of early, middle, and late adolescence and describe how to support these tasks in play therapy.
Describe how development impacts functioning and mental health symptoms in adolescence including brain development, sleep, puberty, and regulation abilities.
Demonstrate specific skills that are unique teen therapy including managing confidentiality, rapport building and working through resistance, involving parents, and navigating suicidal ideation.
Identify and use techniques specific to adolescent populations to support peer pressure, social media use, drug and alcohol use, fluctuating hormones, and body image.

Course Format: Train when it works for you! This course is a pre-recorded online self paced course where the modules are broken up into smaller digestible chunks that can be completed during a client cancellation, on the weekends, early in the morning, late at night - whenever! You can login at your own pace, re-watch content, and have unlimited access to the course. This course is designated "Non-Contact" by the Association for Play Therapy.

Who should attend: This program is a beginning to intermediate course for any Play Therapist who wants to increase confidence in working with teens and tweens in Play Therapy!

Cost: $119.00

Course Presenter

Hi! I'm Ann - 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.

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.