18/07/2026
Many of you know that since undertaking the Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) Introduction training in September last year, I have been deepening my work with children—and, perhaps surprisingly, with adults as well—through another doorway, all held gently within the organising framework of Somatic Experiencing (SE).
I am now completing my SPT Certification, which requires 150 hours of child and adolescent clinical work completed from the commencement of the introductory training. Because my practice has remained primarily adult-focused during this time, I have approximately 130 hours still to complete.
To help meet this requirement, I am offering child and adolescent sessions for $75 USD (65 euros) (50% of my usual fee) for a limited time. Sessions will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis and are available to children and young people aged 3 to 18 years, as required by the certification process.
What has captivated me is not simply learning another modality, but discovering what happens when SE becomes the organising framework through which we understand the child’s play, the therapist’s embodied experience, and what is unfolding in the relational field.
One of the profound contributions SPT has made to my practice is its framework for understanding a child’s inner world, beginning with the premise that, for many children, the world is not yet experienced as safe. From that perspective, everything the child brings into the room becomes meaningful.
SPT also introduces the concept of “the offering” Rather than seeing a child’s actions or our own embodied responses as something to manage or move past, we become curious about them. What is the child showing me about their experience of the world? What is happening in my own body as I receive that offering and what can I offer to support them as we play? How might what is unfolding between us deepen my understanding of this child’s nervous system, relationships and lived experience?
For me, this has not replaced SE. It has opened another doorway into it, allowing the symbolic world of play, the therapist’s embodied experience and the relational field to become part of one coherent way of understanding and healing the child.
The changes I am witnessing continue to humble me. After a recent group in which I integrated SPT, Somatic Experiencing and drama therapy, one participant shared that they had “never felt so seen.”
If you know a child or young person who may benefit from this opportunity, or if you would like to know more about this way of working, I would love to hear from you.
I work in person in Brisbane, Australia and Online internationally.
[email protected]
WhatsApp +61 0422654722
