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Child Development Theory: The Lens Beneath Every Play Session Why does a four-year-old believe their angry thoughts made their teacher sick? Why is a ten-year-old so focused on what's fair? And why is it pointless to ask a child in the middle of a meltdown to "use their words"? In this episode of The Play Therapy Circle, Kylie Ellison continues our Foundations Series by exploring child development theory and why it's such an important lens in the playroom. A child's play reflects their developmental age, not their chronological age, and understanding that difference changes how we see and respond to what they're showing us. Kylie walks us through four key frameworks: Piaget's cognitive development theory: How children think differently from adults, including egocentric and magical thinking in younger children and themes of rules and fairness in the school years. Kylie also shares why trusting children's concrete, literal play can take the pressure off over-analysing. Erikson's psychosocial stages: The developmental tasks children are working through, from trust versus mistrust to identity versus role confusion, and what we might see in the playroom when a stage hasn't been resolved. Attachment theory: How secure, avoidant, ambivalent and disorganised attachment can show up in play, and how our consistent, accepting presence offers children a different experience of relationship. Neurodevelopment: Why the brain develops from the bottom up, why you can't reason with a dysregulated child, and how Dr Bruce Perry's regulate, relate, reason sequence guides our work. Whether you're an experienced practitioner looking for a refresher or just starting out, this episode is a great foundation for understanding what children are trying to communicate through play. A huge thank you to our listeners in 88 countries around the world! Next week: Parents as partners in play therapy. Connect with us:Follow The Play Therapy Circle on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.Questions or shout-outs: [email protected] our free Circle community: Circle Subscriptions - Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingLearn more about child-centred play therapy training: Play Therapy Training Australia | Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingIf you enjoyed this episode, please follow, rate and share it with a colleague. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. Listening does not create a client-therapist relationship. All case examples have been de-identified. If you're seeking personal support, please contact a qualified mental health professional in your area.

In this episode, Kylie Ellison kicks off a new series on the shape of what unfolds in the playroom, breaking down the framework of stages in child-centred play therapy (CCPT). Drawing on Garry Landreth's foundational work and over a decade of clinical experience, Kylie walks through why this framework matters so much, not just for practitioners trying to make sense of what's happening in session, but for communicating progress to parents, schools and other stakeholders along the way. Kylie unpacks each stage in turn. The warm-up stage, where trust and safety are built and the therapeutic alliance begins to take shape. The aggressive stage, often the hardest for both therapist and child, where kids test the negative aspects of self and therapeutic limits become essential. The regressive (or nurturing) stage, a softer but emotionally taxing phase where earlier attachment needs surface and get processed. And finally, mastery, the integration point where children build competency and, eventually, exit therapy. Throughout, Kylie shares practical language for talking to parents about non-linear progress, the importance of caregiver buy-in during the tougher stages, and how to recognise when a child is genuinely ready to finish their work with you. She also reflects on countertransference, congruence and what it really means to trust the process, even when it feels like Groundhog Day in the playroom. Whether you're a student just learning the framework or a seasoned play therapist after a refresher, this episode offers grounding, clarity and language you can take straight into your next parent consult. Next week: Parents as Partners. Got a question or topic you'd love Kylie to cover? Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok @ThePlayTherapyCirclePodcast.

Esteem Building: Praising the Process, Not the Product In this episode of The Play Therapy Circle, Kylie Ellison wraps up our foundational skills series with a deep dive into esteem building statements, one of the most misunderstood skills in child centred play therapy. If you've ever caught yourself saying "good job" or "well done" in the playroom, this episode is for you. Kylie unpacks why praise, however well intentioned, can actually foster dependency on external validation rather than helping children build a genuine internal sense of self worth. Drawing on the work of Virginia Axline, Garry Landreth, and Cochran and Cochran, she explains the shift from evaluating a child's output to acknowledging their process, effort, and capability. In this episode, you'll learn: Why praise like "that's beautiful" or "I'm so proud of you" can unintentionally undermine a child's internal locus of control The difference between praise (evaluating the product) and esteem building (describing the process) Practical language you can start using today, including "you worked so hard and you didn't give up" and "you figured out how to make that work" How to respond when a child disagrees with your reflection, without slipping into reassurance or argument Common mistakes practitioners make with this skill, including overuse, making it about the adult, and disguising behaviour management as esteem building Why holding silence can sometimes be more powerful than jumping in with a reflection Kylie also connects the dots between each child centered play therapy skill and the deeper therapeutic goals they support, helping you see the bigger picture behind the work happening in the playroom. Whether you're a play therapy student building your foundational skills or an experienced practitioner wanting a refresher, this episode offers a grounded, practical guide to helping children build authentic, internally driven self esteem. Next episode, we move into the stages of child centred play therapy, exploring meaning making, transference, and countertransference through a psychodynamic lens. Join our free Play Therapy Circle community and find out more about training via the links in the show notes. And mark your calendars, our first ever Play Therapy Circle Conference is coming to Brisbane this October with Kylie Ellison and Jodi Mullen. Community - Circle Subscriptions - Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingTraining - Play Therapy Training Australia | Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingConference - Play Therapy Circle Conference 2026 - Kylie Ellison Therapy & Training

Host Kylie Ellison continues the Back to Basics series with a deep dive into empathetic responding, the skill that takes reflecting feelings a step further. Kylie unpacks how empathetic responding differs from sympathy, agreement, and projection, why it stays with the child's felt experience rather than the cause behind it, and what it actually takes to deliver it well: warmth, congruence, following the child's pace, matching intensity, and trusting silence as part of the work. She also walks through five common pitfalls practitioners fall into, from evaluating instead of reflecting to rushing in to fix or reassure, and shares why authenticity matters more than getting the script "right." Alongside the clinical content, Kylie brings her usual warmth and honesty, talking through a new microphone arm, a very work-in-progress home studio, and the joys of spring arriving in Brisbane, plus shout-outs to listeners tuning in from 86 countries. Next week: esteem-building statements, the final skill in this foundational series. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. If you're seeking personal support, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional in your area. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and send your CCPT questions to [email protected].

The First Session: What to Expect (and What Not to Do) in Child-Centred Play Therapy In this episode of the Foundation Series, Kylie Ellison, therapist, clinical supervisor, and play therapy trainer, dives deep into one of the biggest sources of anxiety for new play therapists: the first session with a child. If you've just finished your training or you're still building confidence in the playroom, this one's for you. The neurobiology of a first meeting Kylie starts by unpacking neuroception, the concept from polyvagal theory describing how a child's nervous system is constantly assessing safety below conscious awareness. Before a single word is exchanged, a child's body is already deciding whether the playroom, and the therapist in it, feels safe. Understanding this piece is key to setting the tone for everything that follows. Why the relational piece matters so much Children don't arrive as blank slates. They come with an existing template for how adults behave, shaped by prior relationships, previous therapy experiences, or in some cases, trauma and child protection histories. Kylie reflects on Gary Landreth's idea that the therapist is often the first adult in a child's life who doesn't want anything from them, and why that shift can be so disarming and healing for kids who are used to placating, performing, or people-pleasing with the adults around them. Structuring the first session Kylie walks through the practical mechanics of a first session, including: Grounding and regulating yourself before the child arrivesGetting on the child's physical level (and why she prefers sitting on the floor)The opening welcome statement, and variations for younger childrenSitting with the silence that follows, and recognizing when the urge to fill it is about you, not the childWhat not to do: asking questions, explaining play therapy, offering praise, or rescuingEnding the session with a five-minute warning and a clear, embodied closing statementWorking through common scenarios Kylie also talks through real situations that come up in first sessions, including children who refuse to enter the playroom, kids with attachment or trauma histories who need more time to feel safe, separated or high-conflict families, and how to manage stakeholder expectations when trust-building takes longer than a few sessions. She's honest about the emotional toll this work can take, and the importance of clinical supervision and self-care along the way. This episode is a grounding reminder that CCPT isn't about having the perfect script. It's about trusting yourself, trusting the child, and trusting the process. Coming up next week: reflecting feelings and empathetic responding. Got a question or topic you'd love Kylie to cover? Email [email protected] or find the podcast @playtherapycircle on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Returning Responsibility: Handing the Power Back to the Child In this episode of The Play Therapy Circle, host Kylie Ellison continues the series on foundational child-centered play therapy skills. Following on from tracking and reflecting feelings, this week's focus is returning responsibility: the skill of handing decisions, choices, and problem-solving back to the child, without withholding support, delivered in a warm and genuinely caring way. Kylie explores why this skill can feel counterintuitive for caring professionals whose natural instinct is to step in and help. She unpacks the difference between doing for a child and empowering a child to do for themselves, and why that distinction matters so much developmentally. Many children arrive in the playroom with underdeveloped agency, having learned that adults are the ones who speak, decide, and solve problems for them. Some children defer responsibility because of an external locus of control, while for others, particularly those who have experienced trauma or family violence, deferring to adults and people-pleasing has been a survival strategy. Returning responsibility offers these children a different relational experience: one where they are trusted to know what they need and capable of deciding for themselves. Kylie shares some of the classic Landreth-informed language she leaned on early in her career, phrases like "in here, that's something you can decide" and "you can decide how you want it to look," and explains why grounding statements in "in here" helps signal that the playroom operates by different rules to the outside world. She also walks through the common mistakes practitioners make when learning this skill: refusing to help with tasks that are genuinely beyond a child's developmental capability, delivering the statement too rigidly or without warmth, overusing it when a child actually needs practical assistance, and missing the moments when a distressed, dysregulated child needs co-regulation rather than an invitation to problem-solve alone. Kylie also touches on how this skill extends beyond the playroom, and why it's a valuable tool to introduce to time-poor, overstretched parents during consultations, so the growth happening in session can be reinforced at home. A short but rich episode packed with practical, ready-to-use language for your next session. Don't miss out - tickets to the 2026 Play Therapy Circle Conference are limited. Secure yours today - Play Therapy Circle Conference 2026 - Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingJoin the circle - Circle Subscriptions - Kylie Ellison Therapy & Training

The Playroom as the Third Therapist: Setting Up a Child-Centred Space In this episode, Kylie continues the foundational series with a deep dive into the child-centred play therapy playroom, what belongs in it, why it matters, and how the space itself communicates safety, welcome, and possibility to the children we work with. Drawing on Gary Landreth's teaching that the playroom is "the child's world in miniature," Kylie unpacks the three essential toy categories every CCPT playroom needs: nurturing, aggressive, and expressive/creative, and explains the message each category sends when it's present, and when it's missing. She talks through practical toy suggestions (with an Aussie flavour, hello, Kmart), how to explain aggressive toys to cautious parents, and why "quality over quantity" remains the guiding principle, no matter how tempting it is to fill a room with resources. Kylie also gets honest about what this looks like outside a picture-perfect private practice playroom: shared clinic spaces, outreach work, schools, and home visits, and shares ideas for building a simple, portable travel kit that still covers all three categories. Plus: what typically doesn't belong in a CCPT playroom (think licensed characters, electronics, and toys with predetermined narratives), and why board games might be the exception that proves the rule. Whether you're setting up your very first playroom or auditing a well-established one, this episode offers a grounded, practical reminder that a modest, thoughtful space with genuine warmth will always beat a beautifully stocked room, because ultimately, it's your presence, congruence, and connection that create the safety a child needs to do their work. In this episode:🧸 Why the playroom is often called "the third therapist"🎯 The three core toy categories, nurturing, aggressive, expressive, and what each communicates🥊 How to talk to parents about aggressive toys in the playroom🚫 What typically doesn't belong in a CCPT playroom, and why🎒 Building a travel kit for shared spaces, outreach, and school-based work💛 Why intention matters more than a perfectly curated room Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not provide therapeutic advice, and listening does not create a client-therapist relationship. All views expressed are Kylie's own, and any case examples shared have been de-identified to protect privacy. If you're seeking personal support, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional in your area. 🎧 New episodes every week, follow along as we build our foundational CCPT series.💬 Got a topic or question you'd love us to explore? We'd love to hear from you.🎟️ Join us in person in October in Brisbane for our first-ever Play Therapy Circle Conference, link in show notes.🌱 Connect with our free Play Therapy Circle community, link in show notes.📱 Follow along on Instagram and Facebook: @ThePlayTherapyCirclePodcast

Episode 50: Characteristics of a Child-Centered Play Therapist, The Way of Being Behind the Technique We've hit a milestone, you guys, Episode 50! To mark one year of The Play Therapy Circle Podcast, Kylie Ellison is kicking off a brand-new series unpacking the core topics she covers in her CCPT training programs, starting with a question that comes up again and again in her supervision sessions: what kind of person does this work invite us to become? Kylie opens up about imposter syndrome (still present eleven years into practice!), the discipline it takes to stay non-directive when outside pressures pull you toward "doing something," and why child-centered play therapy can never be reduced to a checklist of techniques. Drawing on Rogers and Landreth, she makes the case that the relationship itself is the intervention, and that empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard only work when they come from genuine presence, not performance. As she puts it: being with the child matters more than doing something to the child. She walks through five characteristics she believes are essential for CCPT practitioners, plus the practical pathways for growing each one: 🌿 Genuine warmth: holding a child as inherently worthy of care, not because they've earned it, but simply because they're there. Children pick up on performative warmth almost instantly, so this has to be real. 🌿 Self-awareness: knowing what's yours versus what belongs to the child. Noticing your own triggers, history, and countertransference, and doing that unpacking work in supervision rather than in the room. 🌿 Tolerance for not knowing: sitting in uncertainty, trusting the process, and resisting the urge to interpret, control, or rush a child's timeline. 🌿 Genuine humility: remembering the child is the expert on themselves, and that every child who sits with us is also our teacher. Humility here isn't a lack of confidence, it's confidence that doesn't require the child to prove their worth. 🌿 Capacity for stillness: offering active, regulated presence in a culture obsessed with productivity. Kylie reframes stillness as the antidote children need, not passivity. Kylie also speaks candidly to the very real pressures practitioners face working across systems, including funding bodies, education, and NDIS, and how to protect the sacredness of the playroom while still translating the work for outside stakeholders. She shares four pathways for developing these characteristics over time: personal therapy (a deeply individual choice, but one she's found invaluable), ongoing supervision that holds the whole practitioner rather than just the caseload, deliberate practice of stillness outside the playroom, and community with fellow CCPT practitioners. This episode also carries some exciting news: The Play Therapy Circle's very first conference is coming later this year, bringing the global CCPT community together, with plans in place for international listeners to access recordings if they can't attend in person. Whether you're just beginning your play therapy journey or years into practice, this episode is a generous reminder that growth in this work never really ends. There's no finish line, only an ongoing commitment to show up as your fullest, most congruent self. 🎧 Tune in for an honest, reflective conversation about the person behind the practitioner, and thank you for being part of our first year. 👉 Learn more about our CCPT training programs and join our free community forum, links in the show notes. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. Listening does not create a client-therapist relationship.

🎉 Happy 1st Birthday, Play Therapy Circle! + Our First-Ever Conference It's officially been 12 months since The Play Therapy Circle podcast began and in this special milestone episode, host Kylie Ellison (therapist, clinical supervisor, and play therapy trainer) is celebrating with a shorter, more personal episode recorded on the run between training sessions. In this episode, Kylie reflects on:🎙️ A whirlwind first year - reaching listeners in 72 countries every week via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and beyond💚 Why she started the podcast: to represent Australia in the Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT) space and share her passion for this work with the wider community🌏 Gratitude for the incredible global community that has grown around the show, including regular listeners from the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, and New Zealand📈 Landing in the top 25% of podcasts worldwide by the end of last year🤝 The privilege of connecting with supervisees and practitioners navigating the challenges of play therapy work✨ Why she believes anyone doing this hard, emotional work needs to know: you are not alone, and what you do matters 🎊 Big News: Our First-Ever Conference! Kylie announces the very first Play Therapy Circle Conference, a two-day, in-person event this October at The Ridges, South Bank, Brisbane, featuring the incredible Dr. Jodie Mullen (Kylie's own clinical supervisor and a recent podcast guest). Expect sessions on working with parents, compassion fatigue, and burnout, plus the chance to connect with fellow CCPT practitioners from around the world. 🎁 Win a Free Ticket!Head to our Instagram or Facebook (@ThePlayTherapyCirclePodcast), follow along, and tag a friend or colleague in our pinned "Win a Free Ticket" post to enter. Tag as many people as you like for multiple entries! Can't make it in person? Stay tuned — recordings will be made available. Whether you've been with us since day one or just found the show, thank you for being part of this community. Here's to the next 12 months of CCPT conversations, connection, and growth. 💛 Follow, share, and leave a review to help others find the circle.📍 Play Therapy Circle Conference 2026 - Kylie Ellison Therapy & Training This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. All views expressed are Kylie's own; any case examples shared have been de-identified to protect privacy.

For our very first guest interview on The Play Therapy Circle Podcast, host Kylie Ellison sits down with the incredible Dr. Jodi Mullen, a professor in the counselling and psychological services department at SUNY Oswego, where she has worked as a counsellor educator for nearly 30 years. Jodi is the founder and director of Integrative Counselling Services, a registered play therapy supervisor, a CCPT Master, an internationally sought-after trainer and speaker, and the recipient of the Association for Play Therapy's Key Award for professional training and education. She has also been Kylie's own clinical supervisor for several years, and it shows in the ease and honesty of this conversation. Jodi reflects on entering the play therapy field back in 1994, at a time when the profession was barely known, even within the mental health community. She talks about how far things have come since then, with a growing evidence base, wider public awareness, and more practitioners specialising in theoretical approaches like child-centred play therapy. She's candid, though, that calling yourself child-centred and actually practising with fidelity to the model are two very different things, and that fidelity is what makes the approach genuinely evidence-based. Kylie and Jodi trace the emotional and professional journey of becoming a play therapist, including the vulnerability required to sit with a child's story, the discomfort of learning skills like limit setting for the first time, and the deep self-acceptance work that underpins being able to accept a child exactly as they are. Jodi shares moving stories from her decades in the same community, including former child clients returning to see her as adults, and small, unforgettable moments in the playroom that reveal just how much children pick up on connection and care, even without ever being able to name it themselves. The conversation moves into some of the more complex clinical territory play therapists face: children who present as selectively mute, children who seem almost too compliant and hard to "find" in the room, and the growing pattern of learned helplessness Kylie is noticing in her own practice in Brisbane. Jodi offers a compassionate, curious lens for understanding these presentations rather than viewing them as problems to fix. They also dig into supervision, talking about the qualities Jodi looks for in a supervisee who is going to thrive in this work, including vulnerability, self-awareness, the ability to take feedback, and a genuine sense of humour. From there, the discussion turns to countertransference, which Jodi describes not as something to be avoided or feared, but as a consultant in the room, a signal from the child that deserves attention and care rather than personalisation. Toward the end of the episode, Jodi and Kylie talk openly about compassion fatigue and burnout, and why regulation, boundaries and self-care aren't optional extras in this profession, they're essential to being able to keep showing up for clients. Jodi's advice is simple but sits with you: protect your non-negotiables, learn to say no, and find an accountability partner to help you stick to it. This episode is warm, funny, and full of hard-won wisdom from someone who has spent over three decades in the playroom and still finds it as meaningful as the day she started. Whether you're brand new to play therapy or years into your own practice, there's something here to sit with. Jodi will be joining us in person at the Play Therapy Circle Conference, 24-25 October at Rydges South Bank, Brisbane. Come learn, laugh, and connect with her and the wider play therapy community over two full days. Details and tickets are in the show notes. Play Therapy Circle Conference 2026 - Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingCircle Subscriptions - Kylie Ellison Therapy & Training

🎧 Flashback Episode: Self-Care for Play Therapists (A Revisit) We're pulling this one back into your feed because some conversations deserve a second listen, especially when life gets busy and self-care quietly slips down the priority list again. If that's you right now, welcome back to this one. In this episode, Kylie Ellison gets refreshingly honest about what self-care actually looks like in the life of a play therapist, recorded, fittingly, at the tail end of an exhausting Monday, with no polish and no pretending. It's less "10 tips for wellness" and more "here's what's really going on, and maybe you're going through it too." Kylie talks through why self-care isn't a nice-to-have but a professional responsibility, especially for play therapists holding space for children's big emotions, trauma stories, and nervous systems day after day. She shares the cumulative, often invisible toll of that work, and how easily compassion fatigue and burnout can creep in when we're deeply passionate about what we do. The conversation moves through three practical pillars: 🔹 Professional self-care: setting boundaries around caseloads, session spacing, admin time, and communication limits (including the "if it's more than two lines, it's an appointment" rule) 🔹 Emotional and nervous system care: grounding rituals before and after sessions, post-session processing, and the reminder that a dysregulated therapist can't co-regulate a child 🔹 Practical, real-life self-care: hydration, eating, workspace atmosphere, recognising early burnout signs, and building in small moments of joy and connection outside the playroom Kylie doesn't offer this as someone who has it all figured out. She's candid about still learning, still working on her own boundaries, and still forgetting to drink water. That honesty is the heart of the episode: a reminder that self-care isn't about doing it perfectly, it's about noticing, adjusting, and starting with just one small thing. If you're feeling tired, stretched thin, or like you've been pouring from an empty cup lately, consider this your permission slip to slow down and check in with yourself today. 💛 Take care of you, and take care of each other. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. All case examples referenced are de-identified. If you're seeking personal support, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional in your area.

When Parents Push Back: Working with Resistance in Play Therapy You can have every handout, every strategy, every piece of psychoeducation ready to go, but if the parent sitting across from you is defended, exhausted, and quietly drowning in shame, none of it is going to land. So what do we actually do? Ever sat across from a resistant parent and thought, "If I could just get through to them, everything would shift for this child"? You're not alone, and in this episode, Kylie unpacks one of the most common threads she hears from supervisees: how do we support children when we're not finding movement, insight, or collaboration with their parents? Recording on a beautiful winter's morning on Quandamooka country (yes, you're getting the Brisbane weather update whether you asked for it or not), Kylie shares reflections on why so many parents show up to our clinics exhausted, overscheduled, and carrying an enormous amount of shame, and why the answer, again and again, comes back to connection. In this episode, Kylie explores: Why all roads lead back to relationship. You can have every tool in the world, but without connection, parents simply won't invest in giving your suggestions a go. The contributing factors behind parental defensiveness: guilt and shame (one of the most acute forms of shame in the literature), overwhelm, unresolved childhood history, system pressure, and protection. Why this generation of parents, hello geriatric millennials, are the first expected to re-parent themselves while re-parenting their children, often while working and running a household at the same time. How the tenets of CCPT, empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard, apply just as much to the parents in our consults as they do to the children in our playroom. What it means to "meet children of all ages," including the defended parent who was likely criticised as a child and learned that vulnerability wasn't safe. This is the parallel process: the way we work with children mirrors the way we work with parents. Practical shifts you can make right away: leading with curiosity and wonder statements instead of "you should try," reflecting and validating feelings, sharing playroom wins as gentle invitations, and honouring where a parent sits in the cycle of change. Why countertransference is therapeutic gold, and what your own frustration or irritation might actually be telling you about what's happening for that parent. The "session three" marker Kylie watches for, why early drop-off can sometimes be a better outcome than losing a family twenty sessions in, and how to set collaborative expectations, and hold boundaries, from the very first consult. This is gentle, person-centred reflection for anyone doing the tender work of supporting families. A reminder that we don't need to break through the wall. We just need to make the environment safe enough that the wall doesn't have to work so hard, and to give parents the same patience, empathy, and time we'd offer any child in the playroom. Whether you're a seasoned play therapist, a student just starting out, or someone deeply passionate about working with children, you belong here. Got a play therapy or CCPT question you'd love answered on the pod? Email Kylie. The link's in the show notes, and she'd genuinely love to hear from you. Come join the free community circle to connect with other CCPT practitioners (link in show notes too). If this episode resonated, please follow the podcast, share it with a colleague, or leave a short review. It helps others find the circle. Until next time, look after yourselves and each other. Go well. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute therapeutic advice. All views are Kylie's own, and any case examples have been de-identified.

Episode 46: Reflecting Feelings (Back to Basics) + Listener Q&A on Post-COVID Babies In this episode, Kylie returns to her Back to Basics series to unpack one of the most fundamental and often most challenging skills in child-centred play therapy: reflecting feelings. Coming live from the playroom (beanbag and all), she takes listeners through why this skill can feel so vulnerable for beginning play therapists, even though it's one of the most powerful tools we have for building connection and trust with the children we work with. Kylie breaks down the clinical rationale behind reflecting feelings, explaining how it helps children bridge the gap between what they're feeling internally and the words to express it, something that's neurobiologically difficult for kids and often overlooked by the adults around them. She talks through why feeling seen is one of the most therapeutic experiences a person can have, and how reflecting feelings communicates empathy in a deeply Rogerian, person-centred way. She also walks through the common mistakes practitioners make when reflecting feelings, including turning reflections into questions through tone and inflection, over-reflecting to the point of disconnection, inserting the therapist's own feelings rather than the child's, and reflecting with too much or too little intensity compared to what the child is actually showing. Kylie shares practical guidance on matching pacing, tone, and energy to the child in the room, and how this shifts as the therapeutic relationship develops over time, from co-regulation in early sessions through to the more natural, attuned reflections that come with experience. In the second half of the episode, Kylie answers a thoughtful listener question from Catherine, an early childhood educator, who asks whether children born after COVID are still showing developmental effects of the pandemic, even though they weren't alive during lockdowns themselves. Kylie unpacks the research and clinical observations behind this, covering family stress transmission, parental depletion and reduced co-regulation capacity, perinatal anxiety and depression, the impact of a "reduced village" in many communities, and the role of sibling modeling within the family system. She makes the case for why supporting the whole family, not just the individual child, is essential when working with this generation. In this episode: Why reflecting feelings is one of the hardest skills for beginning play therapists to masterThe clinical and neurobiological reasons reflecting feelings mattersCommon mistakes: questioning tone, over-reflecting, inserting your own feelings, and mismatched intensityHow reflecting feelings evolves as the therapeutic relationship deepensListener Q&A: are post-COVID babies still affected by pandemic-era family stress, even without lockdown exposure?The role of family stress transmission, maternal mental health, and community support in early childhood developmentGot a question or topic you'd love Kylie to explore on the podcast? She'd love to hear from you. This space is for thoughtful, soulful conversations about play-based work, and it's built around the community that listens. Reach out, follow along, and remember, you belong here.

This week's episode is one we didn't plan to record, but one that felt necessary. On the day our community learned of the passing of Dr. Garry Landreth, Kylie sat down to record this special tribute episode in honour of one of the most influential figures in child-centred play therapy history. Dr. Landreth's contributions to the field are immeasurable. As a Regents Professor at the University of North Texas, he founded the Center for Play Therapy in 1988, growing it into the largest play therapy training and research program in the world. He authored Play Therapy: The Art of the Relationship, now in its fourth edition and the most widely used play therapy textbook globally, and produced over 150 publications across journals, books, and training videos. He co-developed Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (CPRT) with Sue Bratton, was a founding board member of the Association for Play Therapy and received APT's Lifetime Achievement Award among countless other honours. But beyond the accolades, Dr. Landreth gave child-centred play therapy its name, its identity, and its structure. Building on the lineage of Carl Rogers, Virginia Axline, and the Gurneys, he codified CCPT for training, defended its integrity against more directive approaches, and passionately championed the idea that CCPT is not simply a set of techniques, it is a way of being with a child. In this heartfelt episode, Kylie reflects on how Dr. Landreth's writings shaped her own journey as a play therapist, clinical supervisor, and trainer. From first encountering The Art of the Relationship during her training in 2015, to leaning on it as a lifeline in her early years of practice, to building her training program and this very podcast on the foundations he laid, his influence is woven through everything the Play Therapy Circle community stands for. Kylie also invites our global community to reflect on and share how Dr. Landreth touched their own professional lives, because his reach truly is everywhere. All roads in child-centred play therapy lead back to Garry Landreth. This episode is our community's small way of saying thank you. "Toys are children's words and play is their language." Dr. Garry Landreth

Have you ever finished a session and wondered, did any of that even matter? You've shown up, you've held the space, you've given everything you have and then that child walks back out into a world you can't control. A chaotic home. An unstable system. A family in crisis. And you're left sitting with the quiet, heavy question of whether what happens inside the playroom can possibly be enough. In this episode, Kylie gets honest about one of the most persistent questions she hears from supervisees and sits with it herself. Because here's the thing. This question doesn't go away with experience. Whether you're one month into your play therapy journey or eleven and a half years in like Kylie, the wondering doesn't stop. And she wants you to know that's not a sign something is wrong with you. It's a sign that you care. Kylie draws on Emmy Werner's landmark forty-year longitudinal study on resilience, which found that the single strongest predictor for children growing up in adversity was the presence of at least one consistent, caring, attuned adult in their life. Not necessarily a parent. Just one person who showed up and saw the child as worth showing up for. In systems where caseworkers change and placements shift, we may be that person. And that is not a small thing. She also explores the neuroscience behind what happens in a child's brain during attuned, regulated sessions in the playroom. Neuroplasticity research tells us that repetition of safe, connected experiences can literally reshape neural pathways. The calm we offer doesn't just stay in the room. It becomes a reference point. The brain holds what happened. That's not a metaphor. It's biology. And then there's the long timeline. Research shows that the impact of therapy with children often shows its strongest effects not during treatment, but years after it ends. The outcome you can't see at the end of a course of treatment is not evidence that there is no outcome. It's just the timing. This episode is a gentle but firm reminder to trust yourself, trust the process, and trust the child. If you offered congruence, empathy, and unconditional positive regard, the work was done. The outcomes belong to the child. The work belongs to you. If you've ever sat with that quiet doubt, this episode is for you. The seeds were always real, even when you don't get to see them grow. Follow us on Instagram @playtherapycirclepodcast and join our FREE community HERE