September 11th & 12th, 2025
Day 1 Program Description
The Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children: Using Play Therapy for Assessment and Treatment With Eliana Gil
This workshop will provide state of the art information about the impact of abuse on children; the type of common symptoms we might find; target treatment goals; and a variety of expressive and play therapy activities that might be beneficial and user-friendly. This workshop will include information on addressing both internalizing and externalizing behaviors, as well as when children develop sexual behavior problems. We will briefly review an assessment model that identifies thematic material in the play, and that utilizes directive and non directive approaches along a continuum. In addition, we will review parent-child models that can solidify attachment behaviors.
Objectives: Participants will…
- List two play therapy assessment tools that are directive;
- Name two play therapy treatment goals for most children with trauma histories;
- Explain the benefits of integrating both directive/nondirective play therapy approaches;
- Name two parent-child dyadic models that highlight the use of play therapy;
- List two areas in child development impacted by trauma and evident in play therapy sessions;
- Define amplification questions in metaphor work in play therapy
Day 2 Program Description
The Play Therapy Relationship Revisited: An Exploratory Dialogue With Two Senior Clinicians With Eliana Gil and Marshal Lyles
This day-long experiential workshop will explore the person of the play therapist, how to establish and maintain a healthy and rewarding work environment, how to describe what you do to parents and others, how to evaluate treatment outcomes as well as job satisfaction, how to diversify in order to prevent burn-out, and how to continue to grow and develop your professional skills as a play therapist. Most especially, we will talk about the unique challenges of being a contemporary play therapist, watching your child clients develop and grow, negotiating children’s needs for play, affection, and physical contact, and discerning among all the approaches and models of play therapy. Based on Gil’s recent focus on the role of love in play therapy, the presenters will also talk about myriad issues related to our feelings about our clients and encourage critical thinking and preparation.
Objectives: Participants will…
- Define person of the play therapist
- List three reasons for becoming a play therapist
- List two ways to describe what you do as a play therapist to parents of clients
- Name two burn-out prevention play therapy strategies
- Name a primary way of selecting play therapy approaches
- List two ways you learned about the benefits of play when you were a child (that influenced your interest in becoming a play therapist)
- List two alternative ways of responding to children who want physical connection
- Specify two ways of preventing burn-out as a play therapist
Presenter Bios
Dr. Eliana Gil, LMFT, RPT-S is a Founding Partner of Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery & Education, LLC, a group private practice in Fairfax, Va, where she currently works as a Senior Clinical and Research Consultant. She is an Approved MFT Supervisor as well as a Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor and a Registered Art Therapist. She is also a Circle of Security Certified Parent Educator, a Level II Theraplay provider, and participated and completed a two-year Individual Certification process with Dr. Bruce Perry. Dr. Gil provides specialized trainings on an array of topics involving trauma, attachment, and treatment options, with an integration of expressive therapies (art, sand, play). Eliana has directed two child sexual abuse treatment programs in Northern Virginia and continues her work in the field of child abuse prevention and treatment. She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who received her doctorate in family therapy from the California Graduate School of Family Psychology in San Rafael, California. She has served on the Board of Directors of the American Professional Society on the Abused of Children and the National Resource Center on Child Sexual Abuse. She is also a former President of the Association for Play Therapy and received APT’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Dr. Gil has written numerous chapters, journal articles, and books on child abuse and related topics and has participated in educational videotapes that feature her work through Guilford Press, as well as a self-published DVD on Family Play Therapy. Her most recent books include Post-Traumatic Play: What Clinicians Should Know and the second edition of Play in Family Therapy. She also co-authored a book with Dr. David Crenshaw on Termination Challenges in Psychotherapy. Her classic book Outgrowing the Pain, has been translated into many languages. Dr. Gil is a well-known international lecturer, author, and clinician. She is bilingual and bicultural with Ecuadorian parents. Since 2014, she has been semi-retired and continues to supervise, consult and teach. Dr. Gil conducts specialized, unique trainings in Fairfax, VA through Starbright Training Institute. She is one of the founders of the annual Mid-Atlantic Play Therapy Conference in Northern VA, and provides trainings across the country on a regular basis, although greatly reduced from previous years.
Eliana has dreamed of being a grandmother since she was a young child and cherished her relationship to her own grandmothers, Emilia and Teresa. She now has four grandchildren under the age of 17 and looks forward to being closer to them geographically and continuing to be a part of their lives. She loves watching her children as they have grown into loving, smart, patient, and creative parents.
Marshall Lyles, LPC-S, LMFT-S, RPT-S, is an EMDRIA Approved Consultant, and has over 20 years of practice in family and play therapy. He has extensive speaking and training experience and has worked in a variety of mental health settings. Most of Marshall’s clinical practice has focused on attachment trauma and its effect on family relationships. Marshall conducts consultation sessions with counseling professionals and leads training in both parenting and professional settings; much of his consultation and training focuses on the use of sandtray therapy within a trauma-informed context. He is EMDR-certified and TBRI-trained and uses these with foster and adoptive families. As Marshall is nearing the completion of his Ph.D. in Marriage and Family Therapy, more writing opportunities are emerging and this has become a passionate point of interest for him. This includes non-academic writing like poetry and Marshall is currently pursuing certification as a poetic medicine practitioner. Marshall sees clients at Nurture Family Counseling in Texas.
- Date: Thursday September 11th, 2025 AND/OR Friday September 12th, 2025
- You may attend Day 1 or 2 only OR Both Days
- Location: In-Person (Hardin County Cooperative Extension Office at 1111 Opportunity Way, Elizabethtown, KY 42701)
- Time: 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM EST Daily (12 Contact Hours)
- Cost: $130.00 per day
- Cancellation Policy can be viewed here.
- Continuing Education:
- APT Approved Provider 20-599
- Brighter Futures Counseling is an approved sponsor with The Kentucky Board of Social Work (Approval number KBSWSP 202505)
- Brighter Futures Counseling is an approved sponsor with The Kentucky Board of Licensure for Marriage and Family Therapists (Approved 03/21/24)
- This training has been approved by the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology (Approval 2023081)
- This training has been approved by the Kentucky Board of Licensed Professional Counselors (Approved on 03/21/2025)