Polyvagal Power in the Playroom A Guide for Play Therapists

Foreword: Play Therapy Through the Lens of the Polyvagal Theory

Stephen W. Porges

1. How the Science of Relationships Impacts Our Thinking about Development: Interruptions, Happenings, and Expressions of Risk or Resilience 

Marilyn R. Sanders

2. Listening Inside Our Bodies, Outside our Bodies, and Between Bodies: Interoception, Exteroception, and Setting Up a Polyvagal Informed Playroom 

Paris Goodyear-Brown and Lorri A. Yasenik

3. The Sounds of Safety in an Unsafe World: Recovering from Domestic Violence Through Polyvagal Informed Play Therapy 

Lorri A. Yasenik and Jennifer Buchanan

4. The Genius of the Disembodied Self: Coping with Childhood Sexual Abuse 

Paris Goodyear-Brown and Sueann Kenney-Noziska

5. Healing Attachment Ruptures with Safety and Connection through Play 

Jackie Flynn and Bridger Falkenstien

6. Neurodivergencies: Incorporating Polyvagal Theory 

Karen Stagnitti

7. Plagues, Pandemics, and the Polyvagal Theory in the Playroom 

Natalie Nadiprodjo and Judi Parson

8. Reclaiming a Feeling of Safety in Natural Disasters: Preparatory and Advanced Interventions Using Play and Play Therapy 

Claudio Mochi and Isabella Cassina

9. Polyvagal-Informed Practice to Support Children and Caregivers in War: Toward the Creation of a Huge and Reassuring Playroom 

Isabella Cassina and Claudio Mochi

10. Anxiety, the Autonomic Nervous System and Play as Mechanisms of Change 

Lynn Louise Wonders

11. Polyvagal Theory and Play Therapy with Children who Exhibit Aggression 

David Crenshaw and Lisa Dion

12. Helping Depressed, Dissociative, and Withdrawn Children: Integrating Holistic Expressive Play Therapy and Polyvagal Theory 

Marie José Dhaese and Richard Gaskill

13. Nature and Play as Polyvagal Partners in Play Therapy 

Maggie Fearn and Janet Courtney

14. Child Centered Play Therapy: Person of the Therapist Presence, Neuroception of Safety, and Co-Regulation 

Sue Bratton and Alyssa

15. Safety in Sand and Symbols: Polyvagal Shifts in the Sand Tray 

Marshall Lyles and Linda Homeyer

16. Expressive Arts Therapy as Polyvagal Play: Shifting States Towards Safety 

Carmen Richardson

17. Animal Assisted Play Therapy™ as a Polyvagal Process 

Mary Rottier and Rebecca Dickinson

18. Digital Play Therapy™: Harnessing the Felt Sense of Safety in the Digital Space

Jessica Stone and Rachel Altvater

Biography

Paris Goodyear-Brown, LCSW, RPT-S, is the creator of TraumaPlay™, the Executive Director of the TraumaPlay Institute, the Clinical Director of Nurture House, and author of Parents as Partners in Child Therapy: A Guide for Clinicians.

Lorri A. Yasenik, PhD, RPT-S, CPT-S, is the Director of Rocky Mountain Play Therapy Institute in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and the co-author of Play Therapy Dimensions Model: A Decision-Making Guide for Integrative Play Therapists.

“Goodyear-Brown and Yasenik have brought together play therapists across the field to share their wisdom on integrating neuroscience and play therapy. Rich case descriptions offer the reader an authentic exploration of how we experience polyvagal power with the children we serve in play therapy.”

Dee C. Ray, PhD, Regents Professor and co-director of Center for Play Therapy at the University of North Texas

“This pioneering and innovative volume skillfully weaves complex constructs from polyvagal theory together with practical, embodied, and transformative play-based therapeutic interventions. It is a must-have masterpiece that will change child and play therapists’ perspectives on healing.”

Ana M. Gómez, MC, LPC, author of EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches with Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment, and Dissociation