DESIGNED
for professionals
Certificate in Neurodiversity Affirming Practice
Certificate in Neurodiversity Affirming Practice with Children
When you view this one-of-a-kind, recorded program, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from an interdisciplinary team from The Center for Connection, and see how our unique interpersonal neurobiology approach really works. Following a welcoming keynote by Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, our renowned professionals will guide you through neurodiversity-affirming interventions that leverage the neuro-relational benefits of play, attachment and parenting, somatic and trauma models, sensory integration, and the neuroception of safety. From early intervention to adolescence, you’ll take away dozens of transformational play-based interventions to support your clients across their ages and developmental stages. Best of all, this incredible learning will culminate in a panel discussion simulating a real case conference, so you can see our team planning and formulating interdisciplinary treatment in real-time as a model for your own practice.
The Center for Connection's integrative, collaborative network of professionals represents a unique model of providing highly creative and playful, interdisciplinary, and neuro-affirming mental health treatment to children, teens, and families that has garnered international attention from groups trying to replicate our cutting-edge approach. Influenced by the lens of Interpersonal Neurobiology, a term coined by Daniel J. Siegel, MD, attachment research and developmental theories, we believe that a child’s brain, mind, and relationships interact to shape who the child is. NY Times bestselling author Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, founded The Center for Connection with IPNB in mind. Her books (co-authored with Dan Siegel), including The Whole-Brain Child, No Drama Discipline, The Yes Brain, and the Power of Showing Up, have sold nearly 3 million copies worldwide.
Current clinical models make communication among professionals difficult or nearly impossible, despite the obvious advantages of having specialists from different disciplines working together. That's why the CFC's connection-based model provides more comprehensive services, with expert professionals meeting weekly together ranging from psychotherapy and play therapy, parent education, neuropsychological assessments, educational therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, and more.
Course Overview
Here’s a peek at some of the goals of our cutting-edge interventions and approaches. After participating in this program, you’ll have a wider lens and more practical approaches to help your clients:
- Increase physiological and emotional regulation: Prevent the duration, frequency, and intensity of meltdowns, emotional outbursts, and dysregulation
- Develop deeper awareness, genuineness, and confidence in their social relationships
- Build a foundation of safety and trust, increasing a neuroception of safety through play and co-regulation
- Understand the uniqueness of each child’s mind, brain, and relationships
- Build on their strengths through neuro-affirming approaches
- Enjoy parent and family relationships that are full of wonder and meaning
- Successfully engage in school and learning through the early years, elementary school, middle school, high school, and beyond
- And so much more!
Study With Us
We invite professionals across all practices and disciplines to join us, including, but not limited to: Play Therapists, Licensed and Pre-Licensed Mental Health Professionals, Counselors, Psychologists, Social Workers, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Educational Therapists and Learning Specialists, Educators, School Counselors, Medical Professionals, Development Specialists, Students and Interns.
Prerequisites
This is an introductory to intermediate level course with no required prerequisite study. The goal of this certificate program is to provide participants with knowledge and practical skills in neuroaffirming care and therapeutic play techniques for supporting and working with children who may have social, emotional, developmental and behavioral differences and challenges using a relationship-based, neuroscience-informed approach.
Objectives
Over the course of this training, you’ll gain insights for your clinical practice and practical application that will help you:
- Utilize at least 5 innovative play therapy strategies to increase engagement and build neuro-affirming relationships toward optimal functioning and mental health.
- Outline 3 best practices of being a neurodiversity affirming clinician or play therapist.
- Identify at least 4 highly effective skills of collaborative team approaches supporting neurodiverse youth, spanning mental health, play therapy, neuropsychological assessment, OT, SLP, and ET.
- Discuss 2 advantages of interdisciplinary mental health practice and play therapy in working with neurodivergent youth with complex treatment needs.
- Expand on 3 key strategies of active collaboration within interdisciplinary treatment teams (including mental health, play therapy, neuropsychological assessment, OT, SLP, and ET).
- Describe at least 3 proven methods to increase caregiver engagement in play-based, neuro-informed therapy processes to help neurodivergent clients grow and heal in their mental health goals.
- Utilize at least 2 play-based techniques and insight informed by the occupational therapy perspective helpful to mental health and play therapy clients with sensory processing and physiological regulation needs.
- Demonstrate at least 2 play-based techniques and insight informed by the speech and language therapy perspective helpful to mental health and play therapy clients with social and communication difficulties.
- Identify at least 2 play-based assessment methods and insight informed by neuropsychological assessment helpful to mental health and play therapy clients to address minimal treatment progress and enhance treatment planning.
- Outline at least 2 play-based techniques and insight informed by the educational therapy perspective helpful to mental health and play therapy clients with learning differences and educational challenges.
- Expand on least 2 play-based techniques and insight informed by the infant parent mental health perspective helpful to mental health and play therapy clients affected by parental stress and relational trauma.
- Discuss at least 2 play-based techniques and insight informed by the adolescent mental health perspective helpful to mental health and play therapy clients affected by complex neurological issues and higher risk behaviors.
Curriculum
In this training we offer a comprehensive series of sessions that explore the latest approaches in neurodiversity, play therapy, and mental health, providing practical strategies for supporting neurodivergent children and their families through interdisciplinary, relationship-focused interventions.
Interpersonal Neurobiology and The Whole-Brain Child: Enhancing Joy, Connection, and Meaning in Relationships
Tina Payne Bryson, PhD – Bio
This keynote session will empower you to understand how the mind, the brain, and relationships all interact to shape who we are, and who we become through intentional intervention, harnessing the power of relationships, play, and neuroplasticity. With Dr. Bryson’s signature style, renowned expertise, relatable stories, and humor, she’ll offer key strategies and the revolutionary thinking we use as a collaborative team, inspired by Interpersonal Neurobiology, that help us support neurodiverse children, find and develop their strengths, honor their uniqueness, “chase the why” of what their behavior is communicating, and enable kids and caregivers to nurture the relationships they need to thrive!
Embracing Neurodiversity from the Play Therapy and Mental Health Perspective
Olivia Martinez-Hauge, LMFT, OTR/L – Bio
Drawing on both clinical as well as lived experience as the parent of a neurodivergent child, Olivia Martinez-Hauge will speak from her vast experience as a dual trained occupational therapist and licensed mental health clinician, and explain the concepts of neurodiversity, ableism, and neurodivergence. Using powerful activities, she will highlight the qualities of a neurodiversity affirming clinician that will encourage you to design strategies for more equitable and just engagement with neurodivergent clients and their families.
Enhancing Sensory and Adaptive Functioning with Playful Interventions from an Occupational Therapy Perspective
Olivia Martinez-Hauge, LMFT, OTR/L – Bio
Olivia Martinez-Hauge will guide you through creative and innovative approaches occupational therapists use to design individualized interventions to help children with neuro-differences learn sensorimotor skills and emotional regulation. Through highly flexible and adaptive practice strategies, you’ll learn how occupational therapists team up with mental health, play therapy, and other professionals to address children’s developmental challenges and provide integrative sessions that improve body-based regulation and decrease anxiety.
Engaging Caregivers Joyfully and Effectively: Using Dyadic Play Therapy Techniques and Treatment Teams in Early Intervention
Maggie Moore, LPCC – Bio
Maggie Moore will teach you how to partner with parents and caregivers, not only to relieve their children’s symptoms, but ultimately in pursuit of a deeper self-knowing and sense of resilience as a family. You’ll learn how to provide caring and attuned presence within systemic interventions and treatment team collaboration for young children, drawing from several dyadic play therapy models. Looking at problems through a systemic lens welcomes self-compassion - an essential source of emotional fuel for the hard work that caregivers invest in the therapy process.
Twice Exceptional: Using Safe and Playful Neuroception to Expand the Window of Tolerance for Neurodivergent Adolescents
Annalise Kordell, LCSW – Bio
When teens are anxious and struggling, it’s helpful to hold the young person’s complete developmental profile in mind when creating a treatment plan and designing supportive interventions. Annalise Kordell shares her wealth of experience assisting neurodiverse and twice exceptional (2E) teens to understand how their brains work, address high-risk behaviors, and help their professionals and parents navigate with more creativity and calm the “storm and stress” of adolescence.
A Clinician’s Guide to Neuropsychological Assessment: Evaluating Children’s Therapeutic Play Interactions, Learning and Developmental Needs Impacting Treatment
Cathy Schaefer, PhD – Bio
Learn the “when, why and how” of pediatric neuropsychological assessment from Cathy Schaefer, a psychologist specializing in comprehensive educational assessments for neurodiverse children and adolescents. You’ll see how neuropsychologists skillfully use specific screening and observational tools to differentiate children’s complexity when you feel stuck, understand challenging behaviors that may be impacting treatment, communicate needs/gaps and strengths to other professionals and parents, and tailor and modify intervention plans to optimize therapy work.
Educational Therapy: Soothing the Nervous System Through Playful Learning and Therapeutic Relationships with Students and Schools
Tami Millard, MA – Bio
As an educational therapist, Tami Millard focuses on the “how” of learning with students, helping them to develop an individualized toolbox of skills and strategies that they can use not only at school but throughout life. In this dynamic presentation, you’ll discover how partnering with an educational therapist helps students with learning difficulties celebrate their strengths and build upon them. Mental health clinicians should consider working in tandem with educational therapy, as it provides a safe, empathetic, and playful environment in which struggling students begin to explore feelings of self-efficacy and hopefulness.
Empowering Children to Relate and Communicate: Applying Neurodiversity Principles and Play-Informed Tools from Speech and Language Therapy
Hanna Bogen Novak, MS, CCC-SLP – Bio
Sharing her vast experience guiding early intervention and interdisciplinary teams, speech and language therapist Hanna Bogen Novak will help you understand the communication needs and differences underlying your clients’ mental health, social, emotional and behavioral challenges. Often missed by mental health clinicians who are not trained to recognize communication delays, you’ll learn to consider deeper developmental gaps and delays in assessment and how to strengthen core capacities of relating, communicating, and thinking with input from speech and language therapy.
Panel Discussion: A Look Inside The Center for Connection’s Interdisciplinary Team Approach to Complex Case Formulation for Mental Health, Play Therapists, and More
Join us for a rare opportunity to witness our unique connection-based approach to case conceptualization and treatment planning designed to optimize efficacy for our clients with complex neurodevelopmental needs. We invite you to observe and interact as our practitioners, each from a specific discipline, simulate a real case conference, so you can see our team planning and formulating cutting-edge, interdisciplinary treatment in real-time as a model for your own practice.
BONUS CONTENT! PlayStrong: Effectiveness of a New Neuro-Filial Therapy Program to Unlock Behavior and Build Children’s Emotional Intelligence and Resilience
Georgie Wisen-Vincent, LMFT, RPT-S – Bio
In their bestselling book, The Whole-Brain Child, Tina Payne Bryson and Dan Siegel introduced many parents to the idea that the brain is significantly shaped by the experiences we offer our children. Now we take this expert knowledge of how the brain actually works to make parenting easier and more meaningful, and combine that with Georgie Wisen-Vincent’s insight as an accomplished play therapist, as we share the innovative PlayStrong approach for parents, that leverages what kids do best and learn from most — playing — to positively affect them at the brain-level of their development, resulting in lasting improvement in their behavior and overall mental, emotional, and relational growth.
"We’ve assembled some of the best and most capable professionals in Southern California, from a wide assortment of fields, and we’re all here to help. Working from a whole-child, Whole-Brain perspective that relies on the latest research and emphasizes the importance of relationships and development, our various approaches can help you and your family not only survive what you’re going through, but learn to thrive in ways you probably haven’t even imagined." – Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, Founder/Executive Director, The Center for Connection
Continuing Education
The Center for Connection Play Strong Institute offers up to 12 non-contact hours of Play Therapy Continuing Education (CE) per enrollment for workshops attended under the Certificate in Neuroaffirming Practice with an Emphasis on Development and Play Therapy. For those working toward the Registered Play Therapist (RPT) credential, the Association for Play Therapy (APT) provides the most up-to-date information on the maximum limit of non-contact CE hours allowed that may be applied to the RPT application (www.a4pt.org for more details).
The following approvals are available:
Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT
Approved CE Provider #16-456
Approved CE Provider #16-456
Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT
American Psychological Association CE Sponsor
American Psychological Association CE Sponsor
Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT RPT-S is approved by the Association for Play Therapy to offer continuing education specific to play therapy (APT Approved Provider #16-456) and the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT RPT-S, CE Program Administrator, maintains responsibility for this program and its content.
Cancellations and Refunds: Requests for refunds must be made in writing to Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT RPT-S, 3030 E. Colorado Blvd. #214, Pasadena CA 91107. Requests must be postmarked within one week of registration date in order to receive refund. There is a $15 administrative fee for refunds. There are no discounts or refunds for partial attendance.
Grievances: If you are dissatisfied with this workshop or its procedures at any time, please contact Program Administrator, Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT RPT-S at georgie@petitplay.com, or Psychologist Advisor Dr. Rebecca Bokoch, PsyD at rebecca@rebeccabokoch.com, to receive a timely response along with copy of the written grievance policy for addressing participant complaints in a reasonable, ethical, and timely fashion.
Disability: If you have a disability and need accommodations per ADA/504, please provide notification at time of registration but no later than two weeks after starting the first workshop to provide accessibility.
Conflicts of Interest: Georgeanne Wisen, LMFT RPT-S and the associated Faculty instructors do not maintain any relationships associated with these workshops that could be construed as a conflict of interest or commercial support.