PLAY THERAPY RETREAT
SEPTEMBER 4th-6th 2025
at CAMP FISH TALES in Pinconning, Michigan
COME PLAY, LEARN, & RELAX IN NATURE!
This retreat offers 18 contact play therapy instruction hours at the amazing Camp Fish Tales in Pinconning, MI. The focus of the retreat will not only be learning, but also with connecting with others, self, and nature!
Camp Fish Tales is a 67 acre, year-round independent non-profit camp, conference, and retreat center. It barrier-free camp, for people of all ages and all disabilities.
All campers will be staying in one of the 3 cabins on bunk beds at night. Cabins have air-conditioning/heat with attached restrooms & showers.
During the day we'll be outside or in the spacious Sunshine Lodge for meals and trainings.
$800 all inclusive - The price for the retreat includes the trainings, CEs, lodging, & food for the weekend!! All proceeds of the rental go directly back to the non-profit camp!
All trainings are taught by Laura Hutchison, PsyD, LP, RPT/S.
(APT Approved Provider 15-407). Any questions? Contact me at playdr@gmail.com
Register Now!
Limited Spots Available!
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Retreat Schedule
1pm-6pm Play in Nature: Using Nature in Play Therapy (5 contact hours)
7pm-10pm GAME NIGHT!: Using Games in Play Therapy (3 contact hours)
8am-9am Breakfast
9am-12pm The Play Experience: Play Therapist's Connection to Play (3 contact hours)
12pm-1pm Lunch
1pm-3pm Greatest Mistakes Play Therapists make in Play Therapy (2 contact hours)
3pm-5pm Reflection/Relaxation time
5pm-6pm Dinner
6pm-9pm Storytime by the Fire: Bibliotherapy in Play therapy (3 contact hours)
8am-9am Breakfast & check out of the cabins
9am-11pm Battling Burnout in Play Therapy (2 contact hours)
Continuing Education for Play Therapy
The Michigan Play Therapy Training Academy is approved by the Association for Play Therapy to sponsor continuing education specific to play therapy and maintains responsibility for the program. APT Approved Provider 15-407.
Full attendance is required. Continuing education verification is handed out to participants following the training. If you have questions regarding continuing education, learning objectives, agenda, grievance issues please contact Laura Hutchison at playdr@gmail.com.
Training Details
Play in Nature: Using Nature in Play Therapy
Participants will learn different ways to use nature in play therapy and gain understanding about what clients can gain through nature play. A majority of the workshop will be spent learning about different nature based activities through demonstration and active participation. We will also discuss what populations and diagnoses the games work best with.
Learning Objectives
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Identify 5 way to incorporate nature to use in play therapy.
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Explain why nature play is important element of play therapy
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Identify important limits to using nature play in play therapy
Falls under APT's primary instruction areas of "Play Therapy Skills or Methods"
GAME NIGHT!: Using Games in Play Therapy
Participants will learn different ways to use games in play therapy and gain understanding about what clients can gain through game play. A majority of the workshop will be spent learning about different games through demonstration and active participation. We will also discuss what populations and diagnoses the games work best with. Additionally, participants will create their own simple board game which will be able to be used in play therapy.
Learning Objectives
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Identify 20 games to use in play therapy.
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Explain what things are learned through game play.
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Create a simple board game for use in the play therapy setting.
Falls under APT's primary instruction areas of "Play Therapy Skills or Methods"
The Play Experience: Play Therapist's Connection to Play
This hands-on workshop is experiential to help one understand the magic of play therapy first-hand. Through engaging in solitary and social play attendees will gain understand of their own feelings and beliefs about play. During a process discussion at the end, attendees will examine how the play experience brought up thoughts and emotions from their own childhood and how that may impact them when utilizing play therapy.
Learning Objectives:
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Experience full engagement in play as it pertains to play therapy.
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Identify what hinders your own play and how it will impact you as a therapist conducting play therapy.
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Identify what facilitates your own play and how it will impact you as a therapist conducting play therapy.
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Demonstrate increased awareness of your own thoughts and feelings, from the past and present, that surface through play and how it will impact you as therapist conducting play therapy.
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Explain how play connects with your personality, temperament, thoughts. feelings and perceptions about yourself, and your style of engaging others as it pertains to play therapy.
Falls under APT's primary instruction area of "Play Therapy Special Topics"
Greatest Mistakes Play Therapists Make in Play Therapy
This presentation covers common mistakes play therapists make while conducting play therapy. It reviews literature on being an imperfect therapist, discusses ways to avoid major pitfalls, and what to do if a mistake is made.
Learning Objectives
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List at least 3 common mistakes made in play therapy.
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Identify 3 ways to avoid making common mistakes in play therapy.
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Explain what to do if a mistake in play therapy occurs.
Falls under APT's primary instruction area of "Play Therapy Special Topics"
Storytime by the Fire: Bibliotherapy in Play Therapy
Participants will learn different ways to implement reading to children within play therapy to enhance healing. The workshop will be spent sharing and reviewing different books, as well as discussing what populations and diagnoses the books work best with. Participants are asked to bring one book to share and read during the workshop.
Learning Objectives
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Identify at least 3 different ways to implement reading books in play therapy.
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Identify at least 20 different book titles to utilize in play therapy.
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Identify at least 5 play therapy activities to go along with specific books
Falls under APT's primary instruction areas of "Play Therapy Skills or Methods"
Battling Burnout in Play Therapy
This workshop is appropriate for play therapists of all levels of training. It begins with an open discussion about burn out, giving the audience a chance to voice their experiences and current concerns. Common factors and overlapping themes will be written down to refer back to throughout the presentation, as well as to validate the prevalence of the feelings. The presentation will then briefly outline some of the key literature on effectiveness and discuss how therapists can utilize these resources. From there the presentation will review how the presenter's research on Effective Moments in Play Therapy was conducted and outline the findings. The presentation will also focus be on experientially applying the learnings from the research to help the participants develop individualized plans to increase their feelings of effectiveness. Exercises will include developing a plan of self-care, discussing the importance of working with others (such as the child's family, school, and also having supervision and peer support/networking), creating their own journal to record effective moments in play therapy, and more.
Learning Objectives
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State the importance of self-awareness for play therapists.
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Identify appropriate literature on play therapy effectiveness.
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Identify strategies to enhance feelings of being an effective play therapist.
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Define burnout and vicarious trauma.
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Identify signs and symptoms of burnout.
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Identify self-care strategies.
falls under APT's primary instruction area of "Play Therapy Special Topics"
CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY
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All cancellations must be made 2 weeks in advance. Participants will be given a credit towards a future training to be used within 2 years of the original training date (no cash refunds).
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No shows or missed trainings will receive no refund or credit. You may send another attendee in your place.
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No partial CE credit is available.
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All trainings are subject to sufficient registration.
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Should the Michigan Play Therapy Training Academy need to cancel a training we will make every attempt to notify paid registrants in a timely manner. All paid registrants will receive a full refund.
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Michigan Play Therapy Training Academy only assumes liability for the registration portion of any training. All other costs are the responsibility of the registrant.