What is Play Therapy?: An Interview with Ofra Obejas, LCSW Curt and Katie interview Ofra Obejas, LCSW, RPT-S, about working with children in therapy. We look at what therapists often get wrong, important factors to understand, specialized training required (including play therapy), and what you actually do in therapy session with children.   Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com! An Interview with Ofra Obejas, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist - Supervisor Ofra Obejas, Registered Play Therapist - Supervisor level, is a professional player. She works with elementary- to middle-school aged children. She’s been called by some of her clients a “kid grownup.” (That’s her rapper name.) She’s taught at the University of San Diego Play Therapy program and presents webinars and courses on clinical topics related to children’s issues. In this podcast episode, we talk about Play Therapy We reached out to our friend, Ofra Obejas to talk with us about how to work with kiddos and what additional training is needed to work effectively with children. What do therapists get wrong when working with children? Treating children like mini-adults Not understanding the skill involved in play therapy What are important factors for therapists to understand when working with children? “It’s more scary to the children when the adult is incongruent and not showing their true feelings. It's less scary to see somebody angry than it is to see somebody pretending that they're not angry, but they are.” – Ofra Obejas, LCSW Children have a different culture (i.e., the tooth fairy is real) The therapist’s role as translator for what children are saying Children will make you feel what they feel (e.g., powerlessness, never getting anything right) The importance of showing feelings to children as a therapist (versus remaining a blank slate) What do you do with children in therapy sessions? Psychodrama and re-enacting situations Therapists can use any theoretical orientation Ways to interact with the child Paying attention to transference and countertransference Case conceptualization, including family therapy and work with parents What specialized training is most effective for working with children? “So, what is the therapy on a bumper sticker? If you had to put it in three words, it's notice it, sit with it, and make meaning of it. Or in an experiential [play therapy] model, it's: you observe it, you name it, and then you model how to cope with it.” – Ofra Obejas, LCSW There are specialized protocols for working with children with many different orientations Identifying which orientation suits you How to understand what is being reenacted and how to respond: Notice it, sit with it, make meaning of it; Observe it, name it, model how to cope with it What boundaries should therapists set when working with children and families? Unit of treatment (family, individual, who was showing up to the session?) Treatment goals (what are we working on?) What children are allowed to do in the session Interactions with caregivers and the responsibilities caregivers have during sessions What does online therapy look like with children? The challenges with working with children online Online sand tray, online dollhouse, online puppet theater Creating a virtual play room New trainings for VR therapy for children Watching children play video games online How has the pandemic impacted children? This was dependent on how well parents were able to self-regulate and stay within the window of tolerance (was there someone who could help the child to regulate) Lack of socialization and difficulty in having conversations Our Generous Sponsors for this episode of the Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide: Thrizer Thrizer is a new modern billing platform for therapists that was built on the belief that therapy should be accessible AND clinicians should earn what they are worth. Their platform automatically gets clients reimbursed by their insurance aft