Mental health professionals recently gathered for an intensive training on integrating internal family systems with play therapy techniques.
Led by Claudia Ocampo, a Georgetown-based licensed professional counselor-supervisor and registered play therapist-supervisor, the training explored how play-based approaches help clients access and heal their inner world.
The training centered on using sandtray, collage and other expressive arts to help clients — particularly children and adolescents — externalize and work with their internal “parts” in developmentally appropriate ways. Participants practiced techniques for guiding clients through the IFS “6 F’s” process (find, focus, feel towards, befriend, flesh out and fears) using creative play interventions.
Ocampo brings over 25 years of clinical experience working with children, adolescents, adults and families navigating trauma, grief, anxiety and relationship challenges. She serves as an approved p;rovider for the Association for Play Therapy and provides supervision and consultation to therapists internationally.
The training qualified for six hours of APT Applicant Choice or Special Topics credit.
The annual Play Therapy Symposium series is made possible by the Norma and Clay Leben Endowment for Excellence in Play Therapy Methods. Norma Leben, founder of the Morning Glory Treatment Center for Children in Pflugerville and recent recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s Public Education and Promotion Award, is a pioneer in directive play therapy. Clay Leben earned his doctorate from the School in 1985 and specializes in instructional design and multimedia learning. The Lebens established the endowment to support social workers serving children with special needs.