What is "Playful Dyads"?

  • A Forum

    A forum for therapists of all traditions and academic training to engage in participative research and learning.

    In the long term, we hope to be a forum for psychotherapists, academics, educators, sociologists, economists, and others to engage in research and learning together; and gain a more effective and actionable understanding of the human condition.

  • A Place to Gather

    Our events bring our members together with panels of innovators in therapeutic practice.

    Brief presentations set the stage for conversations of discovery and exploration of clinical practice. The panels will go deeper into clinical engagement and client work.

  • A Symbol

    for the collaborative potential of three dyads when each achieves playfulness:

    The client-therapist dyad

    The dyad of the two right hemispheres in right brain psychotherapy

    The dyad of right and left hemispheres in the client and in the therapist respectively

Watch Intro Video

Playful Dyads Introduction


 Framework: A Concert of Paradigms & Situations.

 The Transitional Zone is a Somato-Psychological Theater.

Virtual Seminar: "Creativity Centered Therapy with Children and Adults"


Recorded on: April 17, 2021

The first of a virtual seminar series entitled New Practices in Right Brain Psychotherapy will bring our members together with panels of innovators in therapeutic practice. Brief presentations set the stage for conversations of discovery and exploration of clinical practice. The panels will go deeper into clinical engagement and client work.

Facilitator:
Alok Srivastava, Ph.D.

Panelists:
Lynda Phillips, Ph.D.
Linda Chapman, MA, ATR-BC
Madeleine De Little, Ph.D.

Guest Commentators:
Allan Schore, Ph.D.
Terry Marks-Tarlow, Ph.D.

Upcoming Events in the Series

  • June 2021

  • September 2021

  • December 2021

The Undivided Therapist

A participant-led reading and discussion group

2021 Cohort

This cohort group will meet 6 times in 2021. By joining, you understand that you will be asked to participate in all meetings of the group for the duration of 2021.

Meetings will be the 2nd Thursday of the month.

Our Founding Members

Six members of the various Schore study groups have been meeting weekly for over a year focusing on further integration of all we received from Allan into our current clinical work. “The Tribe” of 6 is now poised to offer to the wider community of psychotherapists of all stripes effective practices for a more connected therapy. We offer you the opportunity of joining us in further  explorations together.

Lynda Phillips, Ph.D.

CAPCT (Candidate)

Dr. Lynda Phillips is an Educational Psychologist and Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist. As a member of government advisory panels she has influenced policy at all levels. Lynda was involved with the establishment of a number of innovative delivery models, including the development of a childcare centre in Uganda for children with HIV/AIDS and their families. The focus of her research has been on how children make meaning from difficult lived experiences.

Currently, Dr. Phillips is the Associate Dean of Health and Human Services at Vancouver Island University and has a small clinical practice for children and their families. She is a member of an international study group for Infant Parent Psychotherapy. For the last several years, Lynda has coordinated the Seattle Group of Allan Schore’s Seminars.

Linda Chapman, MA, ATR-BC

Author of Neurobiolgically Informed Trauma Therapy with Children and Adolescents, Linda has over 40 years of clinical experience with those who have experienced child abuse, violence and medical trauma as well as learning and behavior problems.

Linda participated in a study group with Dr. Allan Schore for over 12 years, and has been in the forefront of applying Allan's teachings to clinical practice. Linda was affiliated with University of California San Francisco for 30 years where she held clinical faculty and research positions.

Madeleine De Little, Ph.D

Dr. Madeleine De Little has been a student for twelve years of ‘Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy’. She is currently the research chair of the Satir Institute of the Pacific in Canada and a faculty member of the Banmen Satir China Management Centre.

Her studies of the latest developments in neuroscience and transformational change have led her to develop a unique model of sand tray therapy and write a book, Where Words Can’t Reach - Neuroscience and the Satir Model in the Sand Tray.

Ann Cameron, Ph.D.

Developmental Psychologist

Ann Cameron conducts research focussing on attachment relationships between children and youth and their parents; specifically examining associations between physiological and psychological stress responses, coping, gender, and attachment.

She also studies resilience in cultural context, and communication and integrity cross-culturally.

Ann's Website

Sal Ziz, DCSW, LICSW

Integrating approaches toward more effective clinical treatment has interested me for decades, at first when administering a tuberculosis clinic and as team leader in a hospital treatment of psychoses.

For the past four decades I have dedicated myself to psychotherapy, pursuing more effective treatment while integrating the most promising approaches into my clinical practice, now culminating in interpersonal neurobiology weaving together play, art, soma and more.

Alok Srivastava, Ph.D.

Dr. Alok Srivastava works in Philosophy, History and Sociology of Science and in Science, Technology Society Studies. His program of research is called Material-Semiotic and Material-Discursive Studies. He is bringing the non-visual or ‘contactual’ sense experiences into linguistic and discursive studies of communities of practice such as chemistry, biology, somatics and psychology. (Alok's Website)

Alok is trained in Rosen Method Bodywork and Movement - a modality of Somatic Therapy - and for the last ten years has also participated in Allan Schore’s study groups in Berkeley and Seattle.

Stuart Kenney

Online Community Services Partner

Stuart Kenney is the owner of Gradient Designs, a company who's goal is to Create Space for What Matters through mindful integration of technology into our human lives.

With over 12 years producing virtual events and creating digital collaboration experiences, Stuart is proud to have been a part of bringing Playful Dyads to life and is excited to continue support the learning and development of this new community.

Ready to Play?

Add your email to the mailing list to get the latest info on upcoming events and new learning opportunities.

Thank You

Group Details

  • Each cohort will be limited in size to six new members in addition to group coordinators and mentors. If there is interest enough, we will have multiple cohorts.

    Coordinated by:
    Amy Bobb & Alok Srivastava

    Mentored by:
    Madeleine De Little & Linda Chapman

  • The group will meet 6 times during the remainder of 2021.

    May 13th
    June 10th
    July 8th
    August 12th
    September 9th
    October 14th


    Optional Dates as Necessary:
    [ November 11th ]
    [ December 9th ]

  • On each of the group meeting dates, we will gather live, virtually via Zoom*.

    Meetings will take place:

    6:00pm - 7:30pm
    Pacific


    *Recordings will not be made available as live participation is encouraged.

Required Materials to Purchase

Where Words Can't Reach:
Neuroscience and the Satir Model in the Sand Tray
Dr. Madeleine De Little

BUY BOOK



Neurobiologically Informed Trauma Therapy with Children and Adolescents: Understanding Mechanisms of Change
Linda Chapman


Date:
Saturday, June 19, 2021

Time:
10:00am - 12:30pm Pacific



Come hear and learn with Linda Chapman and her 

“Neuro-developmental Model of Art Therapy Treatment”




The Event will Feature: 

An hour of a description of her client-work will be followed by a conversation with our audience. 


Linda Chapman will be hosted by Madeleine De Little & Alok Srivastava, her co-founders. 


Frequently Asked Questions

  • How will the event be conducted?

    We will be conducting this virtual event via the Zoom platform. You will be able to access the connection information via the online learning platform. We will also be sending out the meeting link closer to the actual event.

    In preparation, please Download the latest version of Zoom.

  • Will there be a recording of the event?

    Yes, the event will be recorded and available shortly after the event on the online learning platform.

    You will have access to the recordings and all other course materials for 90 days past the event.

  • Can I pay in my local currency instead of $USD?

    Unfortunately, no, our payment processor only allows for payments to be made in $USD.

CE Certificates

A CE certificate will be issued for an additional $20 charge. Instructions for purchasing CE certificates will be emailed separately prior to the event. Certificates will be issued after the event is completed. Continuing Education Certificates must be purchased within thirty (30) days of the event's conclusion. 

US
Psychologists: The Insight Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Insight Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This event provides 3 CE units.

MFTs / LCSWs / LPCCs: The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts APA CEs. This event provides 3 CE units.

CANADA
The Canadian Counsellor and Psychotherapy Association will grant and provide 3 CE units for this event. 

* Student / Early Career Professional is defined as currently enrolled in or having recently graduated from a professional, credentialed training program in the previous 2 years.




Featured Readings
for the Event



With your event registration, you will be given access to 10 articles and chapters curated by Dr. Allan Schore especially for this event. These materials will provide the basis for the event presentation and discussions.


Download a brief overview of the featured readings.

  • The Place of Play and Child Therapy in All of Psychotherapy

  • Cultivating the Improvisational in Psychoanalytic Treatment

  • Improv Changes the Functional Connectivity of The Brain

  • Interpersonal Synchrony Makes Social Time

  • This adaptive ability of the infant to bidirectionally communicate its affective states is especially activated in the moments of intimate dyadic free play

  • “The right hemisphere pays attention to the Other”

  • “Meaningful doing must emerge out of a place of being-ness”

  • The therapist works as an embodied ‘‘witness to the truth of the other’’

  • Interhemispheric dynamic: “We must inhibit one in order to inhabit the other”

  • Placing Intersubjectivity Practices in Current Times

Learning Objectives

  • Describe how to be improvisational and apply play to facilitate change;

  • Explain specific ways for ‘being-with’ works to support change;

  • Describe how the Right Hemisphere attends and generates being-with the other; and

  • Discuss two techniques for practicing right brain psychotherapy.


Jump to a Section

Online Training Course


Neuroscience & Satir in the Sand Tray (NSST)™
-- Foundations Certificate --

with: Dr. Madeleine De Little

12x 4-hour Live Sessions
April 2022 - October 2022


A live, interactive online certification course in the NSST technique. Course includes 12 live-training sessions, group practice sessions, and an online discussion community. Successful completion qualifies participants for a foundation level certification in NSST™.

Total Course Fee: $2,500 USD

(Needs-Based Scholarships Available)
See FAQ Section for more details


Jump to a Section



Overview:

Besel van der Kolk has said that 30% of trauma can be transformed through talk therapy. What about the other 70%? Neuroscience research says that the impact of our experiences is primarily sequestered in the implicit memory. Most of the impacts of traumatic experiences are stored in the form of energy patterns with no words attached to them. That is why talk therapy is limited as it is unable to access these wordless unconscious experiences. The work of transforming the impact of traumatic events must use imagination, and creativity to access the embodied experiences and the subsequent default defenses that have arisen. The figurines resonate with the sequestered energy and once externalized in the sand tray can be changed, moved and new decision can be made about what is to be internalized providing a new way of being. 


Neuroscience and Satir in the Sand Tray does this very effectively when combined with authentic attunement and co-regulation, on the part of the therapist. Evidence-based research has shown that it is profound quick and lasting.Neuroscience and Satir in the Sand Tray combines Virginia Satir’s great contribution to 20th century psychotherapy with two other conceptual areas, namely the most recent neuroscience and a new way using the sand tray and figurines. De Little’s particular use of the sand tray offers ways for the psychotherapist to fully harness the potential of the client’s imagination, creativity and play. Her incorporation of the latest developments in neuroscience accesses the power of the novel metaphor, right-brain to right-brain attunement, and epigenetics.

This work is about creating an internal sense of safety for the client. The therapy begins between the therapist and the client as they explore together the client’s experiences through the metaphorical expressions elicited by the figurines. The client is then able to recognize the special gifts of their presenting problematic ways of keeping safe. Subsequently the client can use the figurines to explore and transform these no longer useful defenses into a more integrated and balanced authentic Self.





NSST brings together for the first time, three critically important features to therapy working with populations with underlying past relational and acute trauma:

  • It is a practical application of the latest research in neuroscience to the imaging offered by the sand tray and figurines.

  • It brings an updated and well-respected body of humanistic counselling therapy theory and practice from Virginia Satir into the process of working with the images in the sand tray.

  • It outlines and details a design for a new interventionist role for the therapist/counsellor beyond talk therapy in harnessing the creativity, imagination and playfulness of the sand tray and the novel metaphors that the figurines express.

The combination of these three approaches has given rise to a new psychotherapeutic approach which is able to transform default patterns of coping behaviors at a genetic level which in turn reorganizes the nervous system.



Who is the course for?


Those who are in the helping profession, like:
• Therapists
• Counsellors in private practice /agencies
• School counsellors
• Social workers
• Psychologists
• Medical personnel doing therapy
• Student counsellors



  • In order to participate in the course, and become certified
    you must:

  • Have some knowledge and experience of the Satir Transformative Systemic Therapeutic Model.

  • Have personal liability insurance to practice counseling.

  • Have a clean criminal record check or a self-declaration of no criminal charges, previous offenses, etc.

Course Elements

  • Live Sessions

    12
    2-Hour Training Sessions with Dr. Madeleine De Little

    12
    2-Hour Practice Sessions with Fellow Certificate Students

    2
    (minimum)
    One-on-One Sessions with Dr. Madeleine De Little
    * additional fee applies

    Meet at least one time with your learning partner between group training sessions.

  • Course Also Includes


    Pre-Recorded video content from Dr. Madeleine De Little

    Academic Resources from other Leading Researchers and Authors

    90 day Access to all Recorded Sessions and Content

  • Online Community


    As a student in the Foundations Certificate Course, you will have access to the exclusive community of fellow students and instructors.

    Connect with and learn from fellow students

    Collaborate on group practice assignments

    Receive personalized feedback from Dr. Madeleine De Little

What Will You Learn?

You will be learning and experiencing with both hemispheres the following:

  • Continuing to work on our previous knowledge of the Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy Model (STST).

  • The dance of leading, following, and responding (Bonnie Badenoch, 2018) to provide maximum safety for our clients and self-care for you the therapist

  • Deepening our understanding of our own attachment / defensive style(s) and creating space to explore our authentic presence.

  • How brains develop and the impact of trauma on the brain/body (skin, muscles, enteric nervous system, heart brain, and autonomic nervous system).

  • Slowing down the sand tray process to develop a deep understanding of the icebergs of each figurine and how to elicit the special gifts and positive intentions of the clients’ defenses.

  • Shedding light on our own ‘shadows’ using NSST. Our own personal growth is essential because we use our ‘selves’ as a central tool in therapy.light

  • We will touch on how to transform depression, anxiety, trauma, shame and loss in the sand tray.

  • We will look at how to work with parts of SELF in the sand tray.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is required for acceptance into this course?

    You must have some knowledge and experience of the Satir Transformative Systemic Therapeutic Model.

    You must be in the helping profession, like social workers, counsellors in private practice /agencies, psychologists, school counsellors, medical personnel doing therapy.

    You must have personal liability insurance to practice counseling.

    You must have a clean criminal record check or a self-declaration of no criminal charges, previous offenses etc.

    Additional Requirements:

    You must purchase Dr. De Little’s book "Where Words Can’t Reach: Neuroscience and Satir in the Sand Tray"
    Buy: Hard Copy | Buy: Digital eBook

    You must understand and speak English.

    You must have access to a sand tray and figurines.

    You must be willing to work online using the sand tray with people from other parts of the world.

    You must have technology etc. for video calls and access to Zoom.

  • What is the total course cost?

    The total course fee is $2500 USD. The course fee will be collected in 5 automatic monthly payments of $500 USD.

    There is a $50 non-refundable course application fee. If accepted into the course, this fee will be applied towards the total course fee

  • Needs-Based Scholarship Details

    We want to ensure that a broad range of students are able to participate in this course. Playful Dyads will be offering a limited number needs-based scholarships for those students in need of financial aid for this training. These scholarships will be considered and offered on an individual case by case basis depending on the level of need shared by the applicant.

    If you feel that you qualify for this type of enrollment, please apply to the course and add your scholarship justification request during the application process. Note: the $50 USD non-refundable application fee still applies for this type of enrollment and would go towards the course fee if accepted. Acceptance into the course does not require immediate payment - allowing accepted students to request additional funding outside of Playful Dyads.

    The deadline for scholarship application is Jan 31, 2022. The deadline for course registration and initial payment is February 15, 2022. Please contact Playful Dyads directly if you require accommodations outside of these deadlines.

  • How are payments collected?

    The 5 course payments are collected automatically using the payment method on file that was used when you first registered for the course. The payment collections will occur over 5 consecutive months beginning on the date you registered for the course. You will receive a separate receipt each month when a successful payment is made.

  • When are the Live Training Sessions?


    Meeting US ASIA
    Session 1 - (2 Days) APR 1st & 2nd
    6p - 10p PDT
    APR 2nd & 3rd
    9a - 1p SGT
    Session 2 - (2 Days) MAY 6th & 7th
    6p - 10p PDT
    MAY 7th & 8th
    9a - 1p SGT
    Session 3 - (2 Days) MAY 27th & 28th
    6p - 10p PDT
    MAY 28th & 29th
    9a - 1p SGT
    Session 4 - (2 Days) JUN 24th & 25th
    6p - 10p PDT
    JUN 25th & 26th
    9a - 1p SGT
    Session 5 - (2 Days) SEP 16th & 17th
    6p - 10p PDT
    SEP 17th & 18th
    9a - 1p SGT
    Session 6 - (2 Days) OCT 21st & 22nd
    6p - 10p PDT
    OCT 22nd & 23rd
    9a - 1p SGT

    Find out when this happens in YOUR local time:

    Time converter at worldtimebuddy.com

  • What if I have a conflict one of the meeting times? Am I expected to attend all live training sessions?

    While yes, we hope you can attend all live training sessions, we understand that you may have a conflict. In order to be eligible for your certificate, you are required to attend 80% of all live training and practice sessions.

    If you know you will not be able to make a particular training session, please discuss with Dr. De Little your specific situation prior to the session you will miss.

  • Will there be a recording of the training sessions?

    Yes, all of the training sessions will be recorded and available shortly after the live training session occurred on the online learning platform. These recordings are not intended to replace live engagement and class participation.

    You will have access to the recordings and all other course materials for 90 days past our final live training session.

  • Can I pay in my local currency instead of $USD?

    Unfortunately, no, our payment processor only allows for payments to be made in $USD.

  • What if my credit card expires during the 5 month collection period?

    When you register, you will create an account on our online learning platform. Once logged in, you will be able to update and modify your payment method on file.

    If your payment method on file is set to expire within the month, you will receive an email asking you to update your payment method. If we are unable to collect a payment, you will receive an email notifying you of the failed payment asking you to update your payment method. The online payment processor will attempt to collect a payment 3 additional times in a two week period.

    If, after multiple attempts, we are still unable to collect a payment due to an expired payment method, there will be an additional $15 USD fee charged in addition to the outstanding monthly payment.

New Course Offering:


Neuroscience and Satir in the Sand Tray (NSST™)
Foundation Certificate


New and Noteworthy!