Wonders Counseling Blog
Therapist Spotlight: From Teacher to Therapist
This week, I had the pleasure to speak with Missy Riddles, LPC, in our Therapist Spotlight. Missy was a classroom teacher before transitioning to a play therapist. She achieved her Licensed Professional Counselor license in August 2018. Then two and half months later,...
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Offering Group Play Therapy in Your Private Practice
Play therapy with groups of children can be a powerful modality for growth and healing. Much of the research done to demonstrate efficacy of play therapy has been with groups of children. Many children benefit from being able to participate in group play therapy....
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Therapist Spotlight: Growing A Private Practice that Runs Like Clockwork
Each week, I like to feature a play therapist who has built an inspiring career providing play therapy in private practice in order to inspire other therapists who are just beginning the practice building process. I am also on a mission to continue building the...
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Blending Play Therapy with Family Therapy
Therapists who have earned the credential of Registered Play Therapist through the Association for Play Therapy know the importance of including parents as an essential part of the treatment plan when we see children for play therapy. Many play therapists also provide...
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Therapist Spotlight: When You Feel Called to Be a Play Therapist
Rachel Altvater, Psy.D., RPT-S is a Licensed Psychologist in Maryland, Virginia, & Washington, DC and a Registered Play Therapist – Supervisor where she has her own private practice called Creative Psychological Health Services in Catonsville, Maryland where she...
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Filling Your Private Practice: How to Be a Client Magnet
Often I ask groups of therapists and coaches who are starting out in private practice what they feel they most need, and a lot of times I hear, "I need to know how to get more clients,". I completely understand when you’re in the beginning of building that business,...
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Therapist Spotlight: Connecting with Clients & Others on the Journey
Amy Duren, MA, LPC owns a private practice called Safe Haven Christian Counseling Center, where she provides play therapy services and support for families focused on providing a safe space, acceptance and encouragement needed to grow into one’s full potential. She...
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What’s Blocking You From Your Dream Career?
If you are like many people you spend a lot of time thinking about your dream career. That's a very good thing because visualizing what you want to bring to life is an important first phase of manifesting what you long for in your work. The problem here is that often...
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Treating Selective Mutism With Play Therapy
I remember my very first case with a child who presented with selective mutism. I was under supervision and direction. I was working at an early childhood development center provisionally licensed as an Associate Professional Counselor. When first approached by the...
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Are You a School-Based Play Therapist? One Survival Skill You Need
By Guest Author Sarah Scott Dooling, LCSW, RPT-S In the public education and social work industries, we have created a culture that seems to stipulate that the more we work, the better we are. The harder we work the more validated we will be. If we put work first and...
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6 Playful Parenting Strategies
The research indicates that children whose parents who actively utilize playful parenting strategies also have significantly healthy and strong bonds with their parents. It is also found that children whose parents engage in playful parenting have stronger bonds...
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8 Time Management Tips for Therapists & Coaches
In my 20+ years running my own businesses and 12 years of mentoring and coaching therapists on how to create and sustain a successful private practice, I've learned one core and essential strategy. You MUST have a relationship with clock and calendar that is...
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54 Books for Play Therapy
The power of stories in the process of healing dates back to ancient Egypt and carries forward as the practice of bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy is the use of books to help children deal with the issues and challenges they are experiencing. It consists of selecting...
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Support for Children When There is a Divorce
Divorce can be difficult on everyone, but the challenges are ten-fold when there are children in the picture. Children are the ones who often end up suffering the most as a result of divorce. This can be because no one has explained to them what’s happening, or even...
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4 Ways to Learn More in Less Time: Help for an Information Junkie!
I confess I am an information junkie. I love to read. I love to learn. I love to share what I learn with others! I'm insatiable I admit. I have a thirst for knowledge that is never completely quenched. Time is a precious commodity and as life flies by so quickly these...
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Help for Parents When Children Lie
A common frustration among parents, teachers, and those who work with children is when children lie. Often, we focus on the problem behavior. However, it is important to look past the actual lie and try to figure out what is underneath the lying. In other words, the...
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3 Steps to Make Life Happen with Goal Setting and an Action Plan
It's that time of year again. We are bringing one year to a close soon and as we pull up to the brink of a new year with new hope we start dreaming of the life we want in the new year. Dreaming of what you want for your life and career is an important first step....
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Help Brain & Body Work Together
Your brain is an incredible structure that is capable of so much more than you give it credit for. It controls a variety of functions that happen without conscious thinking, such as your breathing and your beating heart. Your brain is command central for your balance,...
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