Synergetic play therapy

Domain VIII · Creative & expressive arts therapies · Lisa Dion · 2008 · Colorado

What it is

Synergetic Play Therapy (SPT) is a play therapy model that Lisa Dion (LPC, RPT-S) developed in 2008 in Colorado. It began as the Play Therapy Institute of Colorado, which later became the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute. SPTI calls it a "research-informed model of play therapy". It combines the…

Format

• Explaining SPT to parents. Explain SPT, the nervous system, the Therapeutic Stages and the Process of Change. Decide whether and when a parent attends sessions.
• Ending. Endings and transitions use planned goodbyes with child and parent, ending rituals, and strategies for final sessions.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• The names, number and content of the Therapeutic Stages and the Process of Change are taught in Levels 1–2. They are not published in the public sources used here, so they are not reproduced or reconstructed.
• What SPTI training covers across a course of therapy:
• Treatment planning and goals. These are framed as regulation, integration of perceived challenging events, and connection with the authentic self.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Evidence status of the theory. Several of the model's mechanisms come from the model itself and its sources, not from tested findings. These include attunement healing "disorganisation in the lower brain stem", right-hemisphere-to-right-hemisphere communication, mirror-neuron "set-up" of the…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• Explaining the meaning to the child. Do not do it.
• Fitting the child to a stage too early; revise the map as the play shows more.
• Breath used to shut feelings down rather than to stay with them. Light-headedness.
• Sensory overload. Coordinate with occupational therapy rather than substituting for it.
• Regression that spills into daily life with distress. Assess and coordinate with the parents.

Problems the guide addresses

• Safeguarding, consent and assent, reporting
• Touch, physical safety and play materials
• Stuck child (repetitive play, no change)
• Resistance or refusal to come into the room
• Overwhelm and flooding (child)
• Overwhelm in the therapist; compassion fatigue
• Non-adherence (missed sessions, parents not engaged)
• Ruptures
• Modality-specific difficulties

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.