“When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and argument. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding. If you understand, and you show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change.”
Internship Opportunities
Our internship experience begins in August and ends in May every year. You must be available for our orientation the entire first week of August.
You will see at least 8 children weekly in a school and also support the parents of those children in monthly parent support meetings via Zoom.
You need to have taken at least an Introduction to Play Therapy course at your university already or be willing to engage in intensive learning over the summer before your internship begins. Due to our clinic structure, you must have a car and be willing to drive to schools in the Denver area.
We also may have some capacity to host Practicum starting in May on an as needed basis.
Registered Play Therapist (RPT)
Clinical Supervision
I imagine supervision in play therapy like a beautiful carousel…
Here in Colorado, there is a truly magical Carousel of Happiness in Nederland, a hand-carved wooden carousel steadfastly carved by a veteran recovering from trauma. This is the carousel I can picture.
The supervisee is on the ride… spinning with the real experiences of sessions: the dizzying speed of emotions, the ups and downs of clinical decisions, the blur of moments that are both thrilling and overwhelming.
As a supervisor, I run alongside, pushing the carousel… not riding it for them, but providing steady momentum, encouragement, and direction when it risks slowing down or wobbling off balance.
Sometimes, I gently slow the spin so that the supervisee can catch their breath and reflect.
Other times, I add just the right push at the right time, helping the supervisee trust their own rhythm and discover the joy of the ride.
Importantly, both share laughter, imagination, and a sense of safety. Play therapy supervision is a bounded, playful space where risks can be taken and new moves can be tried, knowing there is containment and support.
Rogers (1961) defined self-actualization as, “the curative force in psychotherapy – man’s tendency to actualize himself, to become his potentialities...to express and activate all the capacities of the organism” (p. 350). I strongly believe that each individual possesses the innate drive towards self-actualization. In play therapy supervision, self-actualization emerges as strengthened self-and-other awareness and emotional attunement; improved confidence in your ability to provide the conditions for therapeutic growth; and, expanded faith in your clinical intuition and judgment.
Let’s Work Together…
Interested in beginning a supervisory relationship or scheduling a one-off supervision or consultation session with me? Email me at center@schoolplay.org to set up an introductory Zoom meeting.
As a counseling assistant professor, I have taught: Human Growth and Development, Introduction to Play Therapy, Advanced Play Therapy, Practicum, Internship, and Group Therapy many times.
I currently practice child-centered play therapy and comedy therapy and provide supervision through those theoretical lenses. I am also strongly grounded in polyvagal and attachment theory. I received my PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision in 2017 from the University of Northern Colorado. I am a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor with the Association for Play Therapy and a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado.
Here are a few really nice things my students and supervisees have said about me (that I saved in my email inbox because they were so nice!):
“I have learned so much from just watching you, and I am really, really feeling so energized to work with kids in internship.”
“You, your way of being as a supervisor and a human, have made an impact on me and those around me. And I am so grateful.”
“Your mix of being super rigorous while still being incredibly kind is your magic power.”