Harness the Power of Play into Complex Trauma Treatment
Live on Zoom
a Clinical Track Workshop
Play” is a natural way and a therapeutic tool to express and process implicit memories. Complex traumas often manifest through accumulative experiences from in-utero experiences to cross-generational sharing of familial memories, consciously or unconsciously. The impacts of complex trauma are not just on an individual but on the entire structural family system. Through learning how to harness the therapeutic power of play, the participants will be able to adapt the tenets of play therapy to children’s counseling, adult complex trauma treatment, and/or family therapy.
Clinicians often feel overwhelmed providing services to clients experiencing complex traumas, as the client might present clinical symptoms as personality disorders, bi-polar disorder, dual diagnosis, and many other comorbid diagnoses. Our client may be just one individual or a entire family unit; however, what we are facing is the aftermath of the structural impacts from cumulative developmental traumas embedded in the context of family, culture, community, or even society.
This workshop will discuss the neuroscience behind play and the tenets of play therapy. As complex trauma is an violation of interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships, play therapy by itself is relational therapy that mimics the secure attachment in the therapy room. Through understanding the therapeutic power of play, participants can facilitate clients to experience co-regulation through interpersonal neurobiology and rebuild a sense of safety to promote the post-traumatic growth.
Presenter: Joanna Hsin-Chun Wu, LMHC, is a MaMHCA member. She is a complex trauma trainer through the Complex Trauma Training Consortium, Registered Play Therapist and complex trauma professional.
Saturday December 13, 2025 from 9 am to 12 Noon
[allow 15-30 minutes after the workshop to complete the evaluation]
3 CEUs
Member Student/New Professional [not-yet licensed] $88
Members: $110
Non-members: $150
Registration closes 5 business days before the event even if there are open spaces.
Some workshops have limited 'seats' by request of the presenter.
When that limit is reached, registration will close.
