Episode 9: Licensed Professional Counselor & Registered Play Therapy Supervisor, Lisa Dion.

“All play is an expression of something going on in the inside of a child.”

The purpose of the Student Fitness Experts Podcast series is to empower and educate anyone that works with kids, in a way that benefits the whole child to become successful, strong, and empowered young adults. In this episode of the SFE Podcast, Karen Gilbert, alongside her co-host, Farah Zweig, interviewed a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor, Lisa Dion.

With Lisa Dion, today’s podcast has highlighted the importance of regulation in children and the role of play in helping tune a child in his most natural form of communication. She says that play is the fastest way of communicating with a child and that the child learns to develop a relationship with the experiences that are happening with his body when he is engaged in play activities. Furthermore, hers are valuable words of advice to coaches, teachers and parents who struggle with managing child behavior.

Tune in to learn how you can bring regulation in your kids and set them up for ultimate success.

About the Guest:

Lisa Dion is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor. She is an international teacher and also the founder and director of the “Synergetic Play Therapy Institute”. She is the host of the “Lessons from the Playroom” podcast and is also the author of the book, “Aggression and Play Therapy”. She was the 2015 recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s Professional Education and Training Award of excellence. She says her defining moment happened at the age of 10, when her parents divorced and she was taken to a professional counselor. The best piece of advice she says she has for teachers, coaches and parents alike is to drop the agendas and be themselves.

TimeStamps:

[00:44] About Lisa Dion, a snippet of her Journey

[01:45]  Understanding play therapy

[04:05]  How play leads to self-regulation

[06:31] What is aggressive play

[10:11]  How external regulation works

[12:12]  One of the greatest gifts you can offer your children

[13:10]  Does being calm equal regulation?

[15:35]  Window of Tolerance

[16:17]  Emotional Flooding

[20:20]  Managing Emotional Flooding in middle and high school kids 

[27:26]  Going with the resistance

[31:56]  Role of play in helping kids amid the pandemic

[40:12]  Lisa on fearlessness

[41:49]  Lisa on what play is to her

[44:14]  Lisa on her personal journey and defining moment

[51:25]  Lisa’s special advice to coaches, teachers and parents

Quotes:

“Play is children’s natural way of communicating.”

“If I don’t find a way to connect to myself in the midst of all the activation, then the kids that I’m working with, have nothing to borrow.”

“You have to be congruent to be a good external regulator.”

“Sometimes, we have to go with the resistance until safety is created.”

“All dysregulation is part of communication.”

“Being fearless doesn’t look like an end result. It looks or feels like I am staying with me right now in this moment even though a part of me wants to run away from this moment.”

Connect with Lisa:

Website: https://lisa-dion.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/spt_institute

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SynergeticPlayTherapyInstitute/