When 2 Worlds Collide: Ethical Self Care for The Play Therapist- Parent

Many parent-therapists report that their identity and experience as a parent helps them to better understand development, empathize with their clients, and utilize primitive affect and intuition in their clinical work.  Additionally, professionals report that being a therapist often helps with effective positive parenting skills that they utilize at home.  In addition to the strengths of being a play therapist-parent, being both a parent and a play therapist during the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unique and significant challenges, causing a spike in both burnout and significant parenting stress. Prior to the pandemic, it was common practice to explore appropriate referrals and supervision when a client's experiences activate countertransference, personal conflicts, and a feeling of "too close to home" in the clinician. During a pandemic, all children and parents are affected by the same significant stress, and an outside referral may not be as accessible. In order to have an ethical and effective play therapy practice, a review of ethical self-care is a must. During this training, we will explore the most recent research on COVID's effect on burnout rates amongst mental health practitioners, and spikes in stress levels and mental health diagnoses amongst parents and children. We will discuss implementation of strategies that enhance parenting skills both in and outside of the playroom, and ethical self-care according to the ethical guidelines of the attendee's licensing board and the APT Best Practices guide.