Descriptions and Learning Objectives

9am-12pm: What Did They Just Say? Working with Suicidality in Play Therapy

 Description:

This workshop is designed to help play therapists build confidence and reduce anxiety when working with children experiencing both active and passive suicidal ideation. Participants will explore suicide risk and protective factors, review evidence-based assessment strategies, and examine common play themes to support safe, effective work with clients and their families. Together, we’ll create a supportive space to learn from one another while addressing this critical and prevalent issue in our community.

Objectives:

1. Identify suicide warning signs, including presentations with and without congruent play themes in the playroom.

2. Examine and demonstrate effective play therapy strategies for screening and assessing suicidality within the play therapy setting.

3. Develop a suicide protocol through a play therapy lens, with an emphasis on prevention strategies, to support clients and their families in the playroom.

12pm-1:30: WAPT Annual Meeting | Lunch Provided

All are welcome and encouraged to stay to help have a voice in play therapy offerings in the state of Wyoming. We would love for your participation, ideas, and connections over lunch.

1:30-4:30pm: Hands-in-the-Sand: Ethical Play Therapy Practice Utilizing Sandtray Therapy

Description:

This workshop explores the ethical use of sandtray within play therapy through the lens of the World Association of Sand Therapy Professionals (WASTP) Code of Ethics and core play therapy principles. Participants will learn how to use sandtray in ways that are safe, respectful and developmentally appropriate for children and families. Together, we will look at professional responsibility, informed consent with caregivers and children, scope of competence, documentation, boundaries and inclusivity when integrating sandtray into play therapy sessions. Through discussion, an overview of the therapeutic powers of play, hand-on experiences, and real-world case examples, clinicians will strengthen their ability to use sandtray ethically while protecting client welfare and maintaining professional integrity.

Objectives:

1. Describe core ethical standards and competencies derived from the WASTP Code of Ethics.

2. Describe the therapeutic powers of play and explain how they guide ethical, developmentally appropriate use of sandtray within play therapy practice.

3. Demonstrate ethical use of sandtray in play therapy through hands-in-the-sand experiential practice, utilizing developmentally appropriate interventions from your theoretical perspective.

Get to Know Our Speaker - Carmy Goodwin, LSCSW, LCSW, RPT-S™, RST-C/T

Carmy is passionate about helping children, families, and communities heal through connection and creativity. As co-owner of Heartland Play Therapy Institute, she blends deep clinical expertise with a heartfelt commitment to making mental health care more accessible—especially within the Latino community.

Fluent in Spanish, Carmy began her career in the public school system as an interpreter and Family School Liaison, where she quickly discovered her calling to help children and families navigate life’s challenges. Over the years, her journey has taken her from early childhood behavioral and psychological assessments to working as a bilingual therapist at SAFEHOME, Inc., the Child Abuse Prevention Association, and currently in her co-owned private practice, Creative Connections, LLC.

Carmy is a Licensed Specialized Clinical Social Worker in Kansas, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Missouri, a Registered Play Therapist–Supervisor™, and a Registered Sand Therapist – Consultant/Trainer. She also supervises clinicians working toward social work clinical licensure in Kansas and Missouri and toward their registered play therapy credential nationwide.

A dedicated educator, Carmy loves teaching play therapy workshops and mentoring future therapists. She has served as President of the Kansas Association for Play Therapy and is a graduate of the Association for Play Therapy’s Leadership Academy. Her belief is simple: Play Therapy is essential for understanding and processing trauma through the eyes of a child.

Carmy approaches her work from a humanistic perspective, believing that therapy should be client-led and grounded in authentic connection. She integrates expressive therapies to help clients communicate and heal in ways that feel natural and safe. Her expertise includes attachment-based informed approaches such as Theraplay® and Child–Parent Relational Therapy, along with Sand Therapy (Sandtray), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Psychodrama, and Group Therapy. Deeply committed to increasing the number of skilled therapists serving the Latino community, Carmy is dedicated to creating safe, supportive spaces where children and families can grow and thrive.

When she’s not in the therapy room or teaching, you’ll likely find Carmy spending time with her family—especially with her active sons, Drew and Noah—cheering on the Chiefs and watching/reading anything that brings a good laugh or cry.