The Connected Therapist

Tools for Working with Sensory Issues,
Big Behaviors, and Regulation Needs
in the Playroom and Beyond

Join a Group of Fellow Therapists and Educators for an experiential workshop with immediately useful tools

CE’s included

Coming July 2024

We’ll start learning with a focus on the brainstem and regulation.

Stocking your play therapy toolbox, from the bottom-up and the inside-out.

Following the same developmental patterns of kids’ brains as they learn and grow!

  • Engaging the senses is essential to effective play therapy and trauma work

  • Explore the neuroscience of behavior and the power of sensory-rich, regulation-smart interventions

  • Tune into to your clients’ needs with co-regulation and creativity

  • Engage clients with low-cost, simple supplies from around the house and found in nature

  • Relating Through the Senses

    MARTI SMITH, OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST

    Our framework for this case consultation series comes from the wonderfully accessible book The Connected Therapist: Relating Through the Senses, by Marti Smith, OTR/L, an award-winning occupational therapist, Trust-Based Relational Intervention practitioner, and former ChildTrauma Academy fellow.

    An overview of the chapters:

    • Section I: Becoming Connected (Chapters 1-5)
      Understanding dissociation as a protective response, recognizing sensory preferences, and tracking critical windows of development

    • Section II: The Sensory Systems (Chapters 6-8)
      Understanding sensory processing, how the “hidden senses” function, and leaning into a spectrum of activities for engaging the 5 Senses we’re most familiar with

    • Section III: Practical Strategies and Supports (Chapter 9)
      Supporting kids in the playroom, home and school with “sensory diets,” just-right activities for their nervous system state, and an accessible sensory-savvy assessment tool to help you plan sessions and guide home-based play with low-cost, high-impact materials.

      ⭐️ You’ll need to purchase your own copy of the book for this series. ⭐️

  • Expand Your Toolbox

    SKILLS FOR ATTUNEMENT AND CO-REGULATION

    ⭐️ Access ALL 8 senses, learning about the three “hidden senses,” linking internal sensations with emotions, and building on the classic five senses—so we can engage them all to support regulation.

    • Access the senses as a portal to felt safety

    • Tailoring regulation and relational supports for each client

    • Harness the superpower of non-verbal signaling

    ⭐️ Deepen case conceptualization skills and embrace whole-brain treatment planning, designing effective, super-supportive, trauma-smart interventions tailored for your clients’ unique needs.

    • Recognize developmental impacts of trauma

    • Teach kids about their brains and sensory preferences

    • Get curious about connections between BIG behaviors and nervous system health


    ⭐️ Collaboratively expand your window of tolerance, attending to your own needs and setting effective limits, as you uncover new capacity for reflection and positive regard...without exhaustion and burn-out.

    • Limits that land without rewards/consequences

    • Working with parents in the playroom

    • Using internal cues to anchor yourself in tense moments

  • Engaging, Interactive CE's

    LEARNING OBJECTIVES

    1) Apply a neurodevelopmental, attachment framework for understanding behavior and conceptualizing the needs underlying client challenges.

    2) Learn trauma-responsive treatment planning for chronic dysregulation.

    3) Practice reframing off-track behaviors, emotional intensity, and other non-verbal coping patterns as attempts at regulation, seeking safety, and developing resilience. Effectively meet those needs with new tools.

    4) Experience a holistic approach toward increased resilience and effective brain-body-sensory strategies for stress coping and expanding capacity with less burnout.

    5) Adopt strength-based observation and reflection skills that highlight adaptation and reflect existing regulation tools, celebrating empowerment.

    6) Identify creative, cost-effective, sensory-smart interventions for child and adolescent clients in the playroom, portable to home and school

    7) Refine your awareness of cross-disciplinary referrals (OT, music therapy, ADHD coaching), how they can support treatment goals, and where in the treatment process to refer out, consult, or collaborate.


    7.5 CE’s have been approved by NASW for this series, at no additional cost.

Dates & Details

Spring 2024 :: Group closed

✨ Summer 2024 ✨

Sensory Workshop in the Park (in-person, Portland Metro area) coming in July!

Co-hosted by ::
MereAnn Reid, LPC, RPT
Jamie Watson, LMFT, RPT-S™

Includes CE’s

Meet Your Consultants

We’re here because we are play therapists, too! Growing community and sharing resources is an important part of how we show up to this work with kids & families!


  • CO-FACILITATOR, CONSULTANT

    MereAnn is an attachment-focused play therapist, parent coach, and founder of Art of Parenthood, LLC, hosting a series of workshops and retreats for parents who want to feel more connected to their kids without losing themselves. She is a Registered Play Therapist and Certified Synergetic Play Therapist.

    She is a contributing author of The Embodied Brain and Sandtray Therapy: Stories of Healing and Transformation, on the power of play therapy in healing grief and attachment. She practices a brain-body approach to play therapy, drawing on in-depth study of relational neuroscience, including brain-based parenting support, and assessments using the Neurosequential Model of Assessment (Level I-trained).

    MereAnn is trained in Theraplay (Level I), polyvagal theory, and is a certified facilitator of the Safe & Sound Protocol (music-based listening therapy for nervous system retuning). Areas of special focus include adoption, neurodiversity-affirming play therapy and educational advocacy, and parent-child relationship support.

    MereAnn lives in Portland, Oregon, where she runs a small private practice in a big yellow house, with stuffed animals, puppets, art materials, lots of Lycra, and a stunning coffee-table sandtray. She offers workshops, groups, and parent support at Family Zest Parent Coaching.

  • CO-FACILITATOR, CONSULTANT

    Jamie earned an MA in Marriage and Family Therapy from George Fox University in 2011, and is currently licensed in the state of Oregon and Washington (LMFT) specializing in Child, Youth, and Family Therapy with a sub-specialty in developmental disorders. Jamie has had extensive training in Play Therapy and is certified as a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor. She is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor, holds a certification in Foster and Adoptive Family Therapy, and is in the process of becoming certified in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) and Trauma-Focused CBT.

    Jamie has served on the Board of Directors for the Oregon Association for Play Therapy for over a decade, serving in President and Vice President roles, currently serving as President for her second time. Jamie began teaching at the graduate level right out of her master's program and has enjoyed teaching Play Therapy, Supervision, and Child Development classes the most. Aside from teaching, Jamie is the Mental Health Therapy Director for a local non-profit specializing in pediatrics focused on neurodivergence and disability. Jamie is a staunch advocate for educating counselors and has made it a priority to offer multiple graduate student internships throughout the year.

    Jamie is also a trained handler through Pet Partners and has trained and certified 1 therapy dog, which she used in her practice for 8 years. She is currently working on certifying her Goldendoodle and is a firm believer in the healing power of Animal Assisted Therapy.

FAQ’s

  • Yep. Since we’re including CE’s you’ll need to be live, on-camera for all sessions.

  • First things first: there will not be a quiz. This book was chosen because it inspired us as an accessible blend of play therapy skills, child development, and insights about the nervous system. It offers a BUNDLE of good info with practical, easy to implement activities & supplies.

    All that to say: The reading is intended to enhance your learning and be a resource you can return to. We all have clients to support and lives to live, so the suggested reading will be pretty light.

    We won’t be teaching the material verbatim from the book. We’ll be adding on, diving deeper, sharing case examples, and inviting questions. If you want to mostly listen, that works, but please don’t skip the conversation because you haven’t read the chapter/s. We all can handle more and listen differently in community.

  • Yes. We want to support and hear from you. We won’t have time for every person to share a case every week, but we’ll do our best to rotate and balance the spotlight, so everyone has at least a couple chances to share a case question and get feedback. Part of the design is that we ALWAYS learn from one another’s questions. Bring yours!