264 | Mastering Neutrality: Wrap-up (A Reflection on What It Means to Be CCPT)

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You're listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr. Brenna Hicks,

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your source for centered and focused play therapy coaching.

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Hi,

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I'm Dr. Brenna Hicks,

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The Kid Counselor.

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This is the Play Therapy Podcast where you get

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a master class in child-centered play therapy

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and practical support and application for your

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work with children and their families.

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In today's episode,

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we are finishing out our neutrality series.

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Thank you so much for all of you who have reached out

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to me about this series and asked questions and processed it and really

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tried to adhere to the idea of the importance of neutrality.

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So I'm really excited and encouraged by all of the feedback that I've gotten,

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so I appreciate y'all,

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as always,

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not that that's new.

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Really quick little public service announcement.

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Huge thank you to everyone who attended the Corwell Workshop this last Friday,

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and that was a 4 hour CEU course really

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involved and invested participants.

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We had really,

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really helpful conversation and dialogue,

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and it was just a really encouraging time.

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So thank you for all of you that attended.

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I wanted to let the rest of you know,

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Joseph,

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who owns Corwell.

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is so invested and excited

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about CCPT.

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He is making February CCPT month

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for Corwell,

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and he is writing articles and promoting and marketing and doing all kinds of push

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to all of the mental health

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industries

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about CCPT and featuring CCPT as the entire month of February for all of the CEUs.

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So huge shout out to Corwell and Joseph and Katie.

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And the team there,

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he is really truly supportive and invested in CCPT.

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He sees the value of it.

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He knows that you all are hungry for it

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and so many,

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many more trainings to come.

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We're actively talking on maybe 7 or 8,

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maybe more,

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maybe up to 10

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different courses that we're gonna be putting out soon,

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so.

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I'm really excited.

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Corwell is going to be a huge partner for us

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to spread the word about CCPT all over the world

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for people who are looking for continuing education credits,

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so really excited about that.

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OK,

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so

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we're gonna finish out the neutrality series.

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We have talked a lot about

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the benefits of neutrality,

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the importance of neutrality,

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Roger's take on neutrality,

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ways that we can be mindful of remaining neutral

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in sessions.

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We've kind of processed quite a bit together.

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But

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one of my coaching participants,

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Lee in the UK.

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had a homework assignment.

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They all had a homework assignment this week,

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which was to

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send me a list of must-have characteristics for CCPTs.

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So she sent me her must have list

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and then attached to it

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was just something that she wrote

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about

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what it means to be a CCPT,

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what it means to be wholly child-centered,

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and what it is to be,

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in other words,

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I am CCPT.

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I asked permission,

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she said that she was fully supportive of me sharing this.

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And I don't really know a more effective and helpful way to

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close out this series

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than to just let these words fall.

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And if we can be

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as she describes what and what I'm about to read.

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There's neutrality,

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there's congruence,

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there's acceptance,

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there's

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relationship.

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And that's what we're about.

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It's about

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neutrally

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accepting,

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loving and being congruent

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to preserve the relationship,

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and I think what she wrote just completely embodies that.

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So,

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I want to read the entirety of what she wrote.

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And we'll just kind of let this fall and,

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and then

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send me an email,

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shoot me a message and let me know what your thoughts are.

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brenna@thekidcounselor.com,

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if you don't know that already.

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By the way,

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if you're new and maybe you don't know that,

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there are always new listeners.

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Welcome,

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really glad you're here.

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Thank you so much for

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being interested in CCPT.

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I highly recommend you go back and start at episode one,

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and I know,

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yes,

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there are 250+ episodes,

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but

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I promise you it's worth it.

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It's a seminal training starting from the ground up.

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So if you

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have not listened from the beginning,

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I really highly encourage you to do that

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and it will make all of this make so much more sense.

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So welcome.

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This is one of the most incredible podcast audiences in the world,

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and I'm really glad that you're here.

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So looking forward to you hanging on with us for

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those of us that have been around a while.

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OK,

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so let me read Lee's comments.

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As a child-centered play therapist,

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I'm OK with not knowing why a child

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just stacked 7 dinosaurs and declared them spaghetti.

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I walk away from the playroom knowing I will never have all the pieces,

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but I'm OK with that.

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I remain utterly unfazed

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when an entire bucket of Legos is upturned,

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when Play-Dough meets the carpet,

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and when someone has just mixed up all my pipe cleaners in with the paint.

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I see an entire roll of cello-tape unraveled across the room

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as an important part of a superhero's journey rather than wasteful.

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I believe all materials have a purpose,

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even if that purpose is currently wrapped around my shoe.

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I never need to win,

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because my real skill lies in losing with a neutral face.

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Even when being obliterated at Jenga.

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I can withstand bumps,

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knocks,

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and the occasional rogue foam sword attack

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as pain is temporary,

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but play is forever.

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I accept going on lunch dates with a dress code

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that requires me to come as a dragon in a tutu

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as dignity is overrated.

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Composure is key,

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so I keep my nerve

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fiercely protecting the relationship

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even when there is a nerf gun at my forehead.

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That said,

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ducking is always an acceptable option.

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I hear everything you need to tell me

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even when you don't say a word for nearly an hour.

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I can play pop up pirate on repeat,

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maintaining the enthusiasm of the first round.

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I am the eye of the storm

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even when the storm wrecks my room just minutes before my next client.

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I can join you in your delight

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as the last drop of all my paint,

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glue,

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and glitter

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is finally emptied onto one rather small paper plate.

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I hold a child's trust like gold,

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knowing it takes time,

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patience,

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and many rounds of hide and seek.

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I can enter unknown narrative territories without hesitation

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as fear is for those who have never been a dragon's sidekick.

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I believe in the possibility of transforming absolutely nothing

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into absolutely everything.

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I know that hippos can be helicopters.

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I accept every child,

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no matter their mood,

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their story,

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or the fact that they just told me

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I look older than World War II.

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I understand that silence is not empty.

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I hear the words you haven't said yet.

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I believe every feeling matters,

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even messy,

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complicated,

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glitter covered ones.

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There is no competition in the world where every child feels like a winner,

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but there is a playroom where anything is possible.

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Interpretation can be optional,

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but acceptance is essential.

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Mess is temporary,

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even glitter.

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Play is powerful.

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A playroom is not just a space,

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but a world of possibility,

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healing,

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and transformation.

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No matter how deep they go,

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I will journey with them in their feelings.

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I am prepared to cry for them.

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I'm prepared to feel their hurt,

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their fear,

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and their chaos,

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not because I can change their feelings or take away their pain,

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but because I am a child-centered play therapist.

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And I will be with them.

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And if you aren't touched by that,

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I don't know what you

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Could feel that would make you

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more emotional.

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This is why

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we are child-centered play therapists.

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Because we remain neutral when anyone else in the world wouldn't.

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We remain accepting when anyone else in the world wouldn't.

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We love kids

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when anyone else in the world wouldn't.

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And we know what's going on,

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even when we don't know what's going on.

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The beauty

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and the simplicity

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of child-centered play therapy.

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In all of its glory.

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Is represented in those words.

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We

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just get to be with kids.

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What an incredibly special gift.

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And in the midst of it all,

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we work hard.

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It's simple,

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but it isn't easy.

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We work hard

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And our kids work hard,

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and sometimes we have to increase our neutrality,

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sometimes we have to increase our congruence,

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sometimes we have to increase our acceptance.

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But no matter what,

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with the relationship at the heart

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of everything we do.

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Kids heal,

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and they become better versions of themselves.

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So I hope that that encourages you the way that it did me.

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Lee,

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truly thank you.

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I might

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print that out and have it

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framed somewhere where I can look at it.

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If that doesn't just encapsulate everything about what we do

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and the power of it.

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It just,

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it makes my heart happy to read those words.

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So to each and every one of you,

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we're wrapping up our neutrality series.

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This is

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the importance

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of being with kids.

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In in all of it,

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in the messy and the crazy and the confusing

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and the exciting and the joy and the tears and the bloodshed and all of it.

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There is such power

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in being with kids and being CCPT.

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I love y'all.

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We'll talk again soon.

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Bye.

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Thank you for listening to the Play Therapy Podcast with Dr.

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Brenna Hicks.

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For more episodes and resources,

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please go to www.playtherapypodcast.com.