Be My Co-Therapist™: Dyadic Play Therapy Clinical Training Program
Price: $3900 $3,432 (GST inclusive): EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT when booked before 9/1/26
Pay by monthly instalments available
Note: If you have previously purchased Modules 1, 2, or 3, please email us to receive your discounted training fee for this Dyadic Play Therapy Training Program: admin@psychologyandplay.com.au
**Limited to 20 participants only
65.5 CPD hours
Date and Location details:
The comprehensive clinical training program will be delivered across 7 Modules through a mix of live online, on-demand recorded, and in-person learning.
The table below summarises each Module – the learning mode, dates, and which require live attendance.
*While LIVE online attendance is optional, it is highly recommended. This will ensure the best learning experience and opportunity to participate in the experiential activities.
Watch Katherine Olejniczak explain what to expect from the program in the video below.
In this comprehensive clinical training program, child and play therapists will further develop their knowledge and skills in play therapy, expanding this to work with the dyad of child and their parent/caregiver.
You have likely discovered that sometimes, individual therapy with the child is not the most effective approach for their therapeutic needs, and/or filial therapy is not quite the right fit – the parent/caregiver isn’t ready for this yet.
There’s a gap!
Dyadic Play Therapy is perhaps the better clinical fit in such cases!
Dyadic Play Therapy requires therapists to be competent in both adult counselling skills, and child and play therapy clinical skills.
Dyadic Play Therapy is a structured play therapy approach that responds to the child’s therapeutic needs in the context of the relationship between child and their caregiver (i.e. parent, other primary caregiver). The therapist uses a range of Dyadic Play Therapy techniques to modulate what is happening individually within the child and caregiver, and between them (i.e. the dyad). The goal is to enhance the child’s functioning while strengthening the child–caregiver relationship and the family system.
Dyadic Play Therapy is a multi-theoretical approach integrating attachment, family systems, developmental, psychodynamic, play therapy, cultural, and trauma-informed perspectives to inform assessment, case conceptualisation, and intervention.
This training equips you with integrated theoretical knowledge and clinical skills for delivering contemporary Dyadic Play Therapy, with a focus on children up to 10 years and their parents/caregivers.
The structure of this comprehensive training program has been specifically designed so you can build your knowledge and skills one building block at a time. Between foundational Modules 1–4, there is time for you to apply the skills in your existing child and play therapy practice. The adult counselling skills that Modules 1–4 focus on are critical to the effectiveness of Dyadic Play Therapy.
This training program is strictly limited to 20 participants to ensure a safe, intimate, and connected personal and professional experience.
MODULE BREAKDOWN - WHAT TO EXPECT
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This workshop will provide an overview of common mental health issues many parents/caregivers experience and support child therapists to recognise these presentations in their practice. Special consideration will also be given to the impacts of a parent’s fertility journey, family violence, and intergenerational trauma.
This workshop will also offer foundational therapeutic skills for supporting parents/caregiver engagement and in doing so, identify opportunities for enhancements to the structures and processes of your service that best support these adults – so they can best support their children!
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This 2-day workshop builds on Module 1 , expanding your knowledge base of family and systems theory, attachment neuroscience and patterns of relating, and parental reflective functioning.
This workshop will equip you with core adult counselling skills that supports parent/caregiver engagement. Specific focus will be on deepening assessment conversations, developing shared therapeutic goals and navigating differing views, providing effective feedback about children’s needs and therapy progress, offering therapeutic responses/approaches to be implemented at home, and having hard conversations.
Specific focus will also be given to ways of promoting parental reflective functioning – the underlying skill of parenting and a critical component of the change process in dyadic and filial therapies.
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This is your opportunity to be a “fly on the wall” and observe Katherine at work as she demonstrates therapeutic skills in practice!
Through in-depth role plays with Katherine as therapist, we will explore ways of working sensitively with parents/caregivers in common scenarios that arise in our child and play therapy practice.
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This dynamic group supervision session offers a space to consolidate and deepen your integration of the clinical skills explored in Modules 1 and 2, in preparation for further extending these in Modules 6 and 7. Participants will reflect on how these techniques are being applied in real-world settings, share discoveries, and unpack challenges or burning questions that have arisen in practice. Through guided discussion this session helps to embed confidence and clarity, bridging theory with hands-on therapeutic experience.
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This module introduces the theoretical and historical foundations of Contemporary Dyadic Play Therapy, situating it within broader systemic and attachment-based frameworks. Participants will explore the influence of neuroscience (drawing on the work of Schore and Tronick), the therapist’s and parent’s own attachment histories, and the systemic principles that underpin dyadic and family therapy approaches. Practical learning includes using genograms for assessment (not only family representation), case conceptualisation, and setting therapeutic goals across the child, parent, and dyad. By grounding practice in theory, this module builds a rich understanding of how relational dynamics and developmental science inform effective dyadic interventions.
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This two-day intensive lays the groundwork for mastering the theory and practical skills of Dyadic Play Therapy.
Day 1 focuses on the structure, processes, and core skills of dyadic work — including parent/caregiver assessment (i.e. attachment history, mentalising and parental reflective functioning capacity), integrating adult humanistic counselling techniques and PACE, therapist use of self, and family story work. Participants will also examine how attachment histories and neuroscience guide therapeutic direction.
Day 2 expands this foundation with a deep dive into parental mentalisation and reflective functioning, while exploring clinical and ethical considerations. Learners will examine how to transition between individual and dyadic therapy for the parent/caregiver reflection sessions, integrate culturally sensitive, trauma-informed, neuroaffirming, and grief-aware approaches, and navigate complexities such as family law and separation. This module is both theoretical and highly practical, equipping participants with the confidence and ethical grounding to work relationally with parents and children. -
In this culminating skills-intensive module, participants bring everything together — theory, reflection, and clinical application — through experiential practice. The focus is on integrating the full Dyadic Play Therapy process from start to finish, allowing participants to refine their skills and embody therapeutic confidence. Through immersive, hands-on learning, this module transforms understanding into competence, preparing practitioners to deliver dyadic interventions with clarity, creativity, and confidence. This module will be delivered in-person, in Melbourne.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1) Integrate key concepts and clinical skills from a range of theoretical orientations and therapeutic approaches, as applied to contemporary Dyadic Play Therapy practice.
2) Identify the clinical indicators for Dyadic Play Therapy interventions.
3) Identify common mental health presentations and other vulnerabilities experienced by parents/caregivers, and how these present in your clinical work.
4) Undertake assessment and case conceptualisation of client presentations drawing on family systems and other relevant theory to inform therapeutic goals and therapy plan.
5) Practice and apply adult counselling skills relevant to Dyadic Play Therapy practice.
6) Facilitate Dyadic Play Therapy interventions that are needs-based, culturally sensitive, neuroaffirmative and trauma-responsive.
7) Engage in reflexive practice to inform Therapist Use of Self in the therapist–dyad system and support therapist wellbeing.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
This comprehensive clinical training program is essential for play therapists who work with both child and parent/caregivers in the room together. It is also relevant for other mental health clinicians working with children who have some training and experience using play-based approaches – e.g. psychologists, counsellors, social workers, occupational therapists etc. Previous training and experience in the use of Child-Centred Play Therapy is recommended, but not essential.
DIETARY REQUIREMENTS
During our in-person clinical intensive in Melbourne in October, morning tea and lunch will be provided. Please advise of any dietary requirements at the time of registration.