(HS Baylon 150721 2026) Play, Presence, and Partnership: Reimagining Supervision Through Community Care

Course overview

Clinicians need this workshop because supervision within play therapy is often focused on technique, documentation, and evaluation, leaving little space to nurture the relational and cultural dimensions that sustain meaningful practice. Many supervisors and supervisees struggle to remain present, regulated, and culturally responsive in a profession that demands constant attunement. When supervision neglects the nervous system and the lived experiences of culture, migration, and community, both the therapist and the client lose access to the safety and creativity that make play therapy a more transformative process. This session offers a corrective lens, inviting participants to reimagine play therapy supervision as a space of co-regulation, mutual learning, and community care. Clinicians will learn to use play and embodied presence to foster trust, curiosity, and collaboration in supervision. They will leave with practical, play-based tools to integrate cultural humility and nervous system awareness into their supervisory relationships. The transformation is twofold: Play therapists rediscover supervision as a restorative process rather than a performance review, and their clients benefit from therapists who are more grounded, attuned, and culturally responsive. When supervisors model co-regulation and cultural attunement, they transmit these same capacities into the therapy room, strengthening the play therapist's ability to create safety, engage the child's nervous system, and honor the cultural story within every playroom interaction.