How to Balance Case Conceptualization, Treatment Planning, and Therapeutic Relationship in Play Therapy

Next Level Play Therapy: A Podcast for Play Therapy Excellence

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As a play therapist or child/adolescent therapist, 👇

Have you ever thought there is no way to balance a strong therapeutic relationship with clients and parents with the more clinically technical aspects of case conceptualization and treatment planning?

Therapeutic rapport is relational, right?. It’s personal and dynamic.

Case conceptualization and treatment planning can feel sterile and dry if not done well.

The problem I’ve witnessed over the years is that not using the first session to conduct a thorough psychosocial assessment impairs your ability to understand the roots of the problem 👇

And that leads to difficulty figuring out how to help your clients.

Completing the case conceptualization process helps you figure out treatment planning process to answer these questions 👇

“What works best for my client?” and “How do I figure that out?”

Here’s the real question you need to ask yourself -

Can learning to access the benefits of these technical components and find a balance using therapeutic rapport create a stronger healing experience for your clients?

That’s the key question.

I can hear the skeptics and your skepticism coming through the internet. 😂

Rather than simply dismissing the possibility altogether, it’s helpful to hold open to the possibility that can actually work.

That’s what three mental health experts examined in a recent article published in the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration.

Interested? Intrigued? Still skeptical?

Join me for this free weekly podcast, I’ll discuss the authors’ belief that it’s possible to take more of an individualized approach to treatment.

I’ll share how these authors propose the ability to use case formulation and treatment planning to focus on meeting the treatment needs of each unique client.

I’ll discuss how these principles can be applied to play therapy and your work with clients using play therapy.

Citation for article discussed in this episode:

Gazzillo, F., Dimaggio, G., and Curtis, J. T. (2021). Case formulation and treatment planning: How to take care of relationships and symptoms together. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 31(2), 115-128. doi.10.1037/int0000185

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Rozdziały

1. How to Balance Case Conceptualization, Treatment Planning, and Therapeutic Relationship in Play Therapy (00:00:00)

2. Intro (00:00:01)

3. Today's topic (00:02:37)

4. Understanding Core Concepts (00:03:34)

5. About Cathi (00:10:57)

6. What is the Best Way to Help Children Heal (00:13:01)

7. The Plan Formulation Method (00:17:05)

8. Practical Application for Play Therapists (00:28:38)

9. Recap of today's discussion (00:33:56)

10. Resources (00:40:02)