Play Therapy Training

Play Therapists usually hold a primary qualification in a relevant mental health field such as counselling, psychotherapy, social work, psychology, and mental health nursing, whilst also having undertaken specific play therapy training and supervision. There is no overarching governing or regulating body that legally requires a Play Therapist to be registered in order to practice play therapy. APTA was founded on the view that a formal mental health background is crucial to working therapeutically with children and an essential criteria for APTA membership. APTA also values comprehensive, face to face, and evidence-based play therapy training for Registered Play Therapists.

APTA is aware of many different training providers. These different providers offer different modalities of play therapy and training styles.

Training providers offering the full 150 training hours (100 contact and 50 non contact hours):

- Child Centred Australia - https://www.childcentredaustralia.com/

- Master of Play Therapy, Deakin University - https://www.deakin.edu.au/

- Play Therapy International - https://playtherapy.org/

- Queensland Institute of Play Therapy - https://qipt.com.au/

- Sydney Centre for Creative Change - https://www.artandplaytherapytraining.com.au/qualification_in_play_and_art_therapy

Training providers offering a portion of the required training hours:

- Play Therapy Online Training Academy -APTA accepts 24 hours non contact training.

- Interplay (Donna Berry Institute, previously Play Therapy Australia) -APTA accepts training completed before March 1, 2023 for full recognition of hours; training completed between March 1, 2023 and May 1, 2024 for a maximum of 60 hours training recognised; and training post May 1, 2024 will not be recognised for any hours for registration purposes.

- Synergetic Play Therapy Institute -APTA accepts this as part of the full training needed as the course is only 87 hours.

-Play Therapy Training Australia -APTA accepts training completed prior to August 19, 2024 for up to 50 hours of non-contact training only. Training undertaken post August 19, 2024 will be recognised for up to 65 hours of contact training and up to the maximum 50 hours non-contact training.

-Play Therapy School -APTA accepts 50 hours non-contact training.

• The 150 hours of Play Therapy training accepted by APTA for Clinical Membership must be Play Therapy specific and focused on Play Therapy as a form of psychotherapy for children.

Play Therapy approaches that are accepted by APTA and where the Play Therapy training is focused on specializing in working with children include:

• Child Centred Play Therapy (may include some hours related to Filial Therapy but total hours cannot relate to Filial Therapy exclusively)

• Narrative Play Therapy

• Relationship Play Therapy

• Psychoanalytic Play Therapy

• Psychodynamic Play Therapy

• Object Relations Play Therapy

• Jungian Play Therapy

• Experiential Play Therapy

• Gestalt Play Therapy

• Structured Play Therapy

• Adlerian Play Therapy

• Sand Play Therapy

• Synergetic Play Therapy

• Other – other Play Therapy modalities will be considered where the Play Therapy modality is a form of evidence-based psychotherapy for children such as Theraplay.

All applicants for APTA Registered Play Therapist must demonstrate completion of approved Play Therapy specific training in the following areas and meet the following criteria:

1. Social - emotional developmental stages of children linked with play therapy

2. Ethical issues in working with children in play therapy

3. Theoretical model/s of play therapy and the application of 1 or more systematic model/s to the practise of play therapy

4. Play therapy skills based training

5. The therapeutic relationship including issues of transference and countertransference in the play therapy relationship

6. Attachment theories linked with play therapy

7. Play therapy case conceptualisation and assessment

8. History of Play Therapy

Training must be completed within a 5 year period and with no more than 4 providers. For those who complete training with more than one provider, the responsibility is on the applicant to ensure they can demonstrate, through academic transcripts, the meeting of all of the above content-based criteria.