The Play Therapy Circle

Returning Responsibility: Handing the Power Back to the Child
In this episode of The Play Therapy Circle, host Kylie Ellison continues the series on foundational child-centered play therapy skills. Following on from tracking and reflecting feelings, this week's focus is returning responsibility: the skill of handing decisions, choices, and problem-solving back to the child, without withholding support, delivered in a warm and genuinely caring way.
Kylie explores why this skill can feel counterintuitive for caring professionals whose natural instinct is to step in and help. She unpacks the difference between doing for a child and empowering a child to do for themselves, and why that distinction matters so much developmentally. Many children arrive in the playroom with underdeveloped agency, having learned that adults are the ones who speak, decide, and solve problems for them. Some children defer responsibility because of an external locus of control, while for others, particularly those who have experienced trauma or family violence, deferring to adults and people-pleasing has been a survival strategy. Returning responsibility offers these children a different relational experience: one where they are trusted to know what they need and capable of deciding for themselves.
Kylie shares some of the classic Landreth-informed language she leaned on early in her career, phrases like "in here, that's something you can decide" and "you can decide how you want it to look," and explains why grounding statements in "in here" helps signal that the playroom operates by different rules to the outside world.
She also walks through the common mistakes practitioners make when learning this skill: refusing to help with tasks that are genuinely beyond a child's developmental capability, delivering the statement too rigidly or without warmth, overusing it when a child actually needs practical assistance, and missing the moments when a distressed, dysregulated child needs co-regulation rather than an invitation to problem-solve alone. Kylie also touches on how this skill extends beyond the playroom, and why it's a valuable tool to introduce to time-poor, overstretched parents during consultations, so the growth happening in session can be reinforced at home.
A short but rich episode packed with practical, ready-to-use language for your next session.
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The Playroom as the Third Therapist: Setting Up a Child-Centred Space
In this episode, Kylie continues the foundational series with a deep dive into the child-centred play therapy playroom, what belongs in it, why it matters, and how the space itself communicates safety, welcome, and possibility to the children we work with.
Drawing on Gary Landreth's teaching that the playroom is "the child's world in miniature," Kylie unpacks the three essential toy categories every CCPT playroom needs: nurturing, aggressive, and expressive/creative, and explains the message each category sends when it's present, and when it's missing. She talks through practical toy suggestions (with an Aussie flavour, hello, Kmart), how to explain aggressive toys to cautious parents, and why "quality over quantity" remains the guiding principle, no matter how tempting it is to fill a room with resources.
Kylie also gets honest about what this looks like outside a picture-perfect private practice playroom: shared clinic spaces, outreach work, schools, and home visits, and shares ideas for building a simple, portable travel kit that still covers all three categories. Plus: what typically doesn't belong in a CCPT playroom (think licensed characters, electronics, and toys with predetermined narratives), and why board games might be the exception that proves the rule.
Whether you're setting up your very first playroom or auditing a well-established one, this episode offers a grounded, practical reminder that a modest, thoughtful space with genuine warmth will always beat a beautifully stocked room, because ultimately, it's your presence, congruence, and connection that create the safety a child needs to do their work.
In this episode:
🧸 Why the playroom is often called "the third therapist"
🎯 The three core toy categories, nurturing, aggressive, expressive, and what each communicates
🥊 How to talk to parents about aggressive toys in the playroom
🚫 What typically doesn't belong in a CCPT playroom, and why
🎒 Building a travel kit for shared spaces, outreach, and school-based work
💛 Why intention matters more than a perfectly curated room
Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not provide therapeutic advice, and listening does not create a client-therapist relationship. All views expressed are Kylie's own, and any case examples shared have been de-identified to protect privacy. If you're seeking personal support, please reach out to a qualified mental health professional in your area.
🎧 New episodes every week, follow along as we build our foundational CCPT series.
💬 Got a topic or question you'd love us to explore? We'd love to hear from you.
🎟️ Join us in person in October in Brisbane for our first-ever Play Therapy Circle Conference, link in show notes.
🌱 Connect with our free Play Therapy Circle community, link in show notes.
📱 Follow along on Instagram and Facebook: @ThePlayTherapyCirclePodcast

Episode 50: Characteristics of a Child-Centered Play Therapist, The Way of Being Behind the Technique
We've hit a milestone, you guys, Episode 50! To mark one year of The Play Therapy Circle Podcast, Kylie Ellison is kicking off a brand-new series unpacking the core topics she covers in her CCPT training programs, starting with a question that comes up again and again in her supervision sessions: what kind of person does this work invite us to become?
Kylie opens up about imposter syndrome (still present eleven years into practice!), the discipline it takes to stay non-directive when outside pressures pull you toward "doing something," and why child-centered play therapy can never be reduced to a checklist of techniques. Drawing on Rogers and Landreth, she makes the case that the relationship itself is the intervention, and that empathy, congruence, and unconditional positive regard only work when they come from genuine presence, not performance. As she puts it: being with the child matters more than doing something to the child.
She walks through five characteristics she believes are essential for CCPT practitioners, plus the practical pathways for growing each one:
🌿 Genuine warmth: holding a child as inherently worthy of care, not because they've earned it, but simply because they're there. Children pick up on performative warmth almost instantly, so this has to be real.
🌿 Self-awareness: knowing what's yours versus what belongs to the child. Noticing your own triggers, history, and countertransference, and doing that unpacking work in supervision rather than in the room.
🌿 Tolerance for not knowing: sitting in uncertainty, trusting the process, and resisting the urge to interpret, control, or rush a child's timeline.
🌿 Genuine humility: remembering the child is the expert on themselves, and that every child who sits with us is also our teacher. Humility here isn't a lack of confidence, it's confidence that doesn't require the child to prove their worth.
🌿 Capacity for stillness: offering active, regulated presence in a culture obsessed with productivity. Kylie reframes stillness as the antidote children need, not passivity.
Kylie also speaks candidly to the very real pressures practitioners face working across systems, including funding bodies, education, and NDIS, and how to protect the sacredness of the playroom while still translating the work for outside stakeholders. She shares four pathways for developing these characteristics over time: personal therapy (a deeply individual choice, but one she's found invaluable), ongoing supervision that holds the whole practitioner rather than just the caseload, deliberate practice of stillness outside the playroom, and community with fellow CCPT practitioners.
This episode also carries some exciting news: The Play Therapy Circle's very first conference is coming later this year, bringing the global CCPT community together, with plans in place for international listeners to access recordings if they can't attend in person.
Whether you're just beginning your play therapy journey or years into practice, this episode is a generous reminder that growth in this work never really ends. There's no finish line, only an ongoing commitment to show up as your fullest, most congruent self.
🎧 Tune in for an honest, reflective conversation about the person behind the practitioner, and thank you for being part of our first year.
👉 Learn more about our CCPT training programs and join our free community forum, links in the show notes.
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. Listening does not create a client-therapist relationship.

🎉 Happy 1st Birthday, Play Therapy Circle! + Our First-Ever Conference
It's officially been 12 months since The Play Therapy Circle podcast began and in this special milestone episode, host Kylie Ellison (therapist, clinical supervisor, and play therapy trainer) is celebrating with a shorter, more personal episode recorded on the run between training sessions.
In this episode, Kylie reflects on:
🎙️ A whirlwind first year - reaching listeners in 72 countries every week via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and beyond
💚 Why she started the podcast: to represent Australia in the Child-Centred Play Therapy (CCPT) space and share her passion for this work with the wider community
🌏 Gratitude for the incredible global community that has grown around the show, including regular listeners from the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, and New Zealand
📈 Landing in the top 25% of podcasts worldwide by the end of last year
🤝 The privilege of connecting with supervisees and practitioners navigating the challenges of play therapy work
✨ Why she believes anyone doing this hard, emotional work needs to know: you are not alone, and what you do matters
🎊 Big News: Our First-Ever Conference!
Kylie announces the very first Play Therapy Circle Conference, a two-day, in-person event this October at The Ridges, South Bank, Brisbane, featuring the incredible Dr. Jodie Mullen (Kylie's own clinical supervisor and a recent podcast guest). Expect sessions on working with parents, compassion fatigue, and burnout, plus the chance to connect with fellow CCPT practitioners from around the world.

🎁 Win a Free Ticket!
Head to our Instagram or Facebook (@ThePlayTherapyCirclePodcast), follow along, and tag a friend or colleague in our pinned "Win a Free Ticket" post to enter. Tag as many people as you like for multiple entries! Can't make it in person? Stay tuned — recordings will be made available.
Whether you've been with us since day one or just found the show, thank you for being part of this community. Here's to the next 12 months of CCPT conversations, connection, and growth.
💛 Follow, share, and leave a review to help others find the circle.
📍 Play Therapy Circle Conference 2026 - Kylie Ellison Therapy & Training
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide therapeutic advice. All views expressed are Kylie's own; any case examples shared have been de-identified to protect privacy.

For our very first guest interview on The Play Therapy Circle Podcast, host Kylie Ellison sits down with the incredible Dr. Jodi Mullen, a professor in the counselling and psychological services department at SUNY Oswego, where she has worked as a counsellor educator for nearly 30 years. Jodi is the founder and director of Integrative Counselling Services, a registered play therapy supervisor, a CCPT Master, an internationally sought-after trainer and speaker, and the recipient of the Association for Play Therapy's Key Award for professional training and education. She has also been Kylie's own clinical supervisor for several years, and it shows in the ease and honesty of this conversation.
Jodi reflects on entering the play therapy field back in 1994, at a time when the profession was barely known, even within the mental health community. She talks about how far things have come since then, with a growing evidence base, wider public awareness, and more practitioners specialising in theoretical approaches like child-centred play therapy. She's candid, though, that calling yourself child-centred and actually practising with fidelity to the model are two very different things, and that fidelity is what makes the approach genuinely evidence-based.
Kylie and Jodi trace the emotional and professional journey of becoming a play therapist, including the vulnerability required to sit with a child's story, the discomfort of learning skills like limit setting for the first time, and the deep self-acceptance work that underpins being able to accept a child exactly as they are. Jodi shares moving stories from her decades in the same community, including former child clients returning to see her as adults, and small, unforgettable moments in the playroom that reveal just how much children pick up on connection and care, even without ever being able to name it themselves.
The conversation moves into some of the more complex clinical territory play therapists face: children who present as selectively mute, children who seem almost too compliant and hard to "find" in the room, and the growing pattern of learned helplessness Kylie is noticing in her own practice in Brisbane. Jodi offers a compassionate, curious lens for understanding these presentations rather than viewing them as problems to fix.
They also dig into supervision, talking about the qualities Jodi looks for in a supervisee who is going to thrive in this work, including vulnerability, self-awareness, the ability to take feedback, and a genuine sense of humour. From there, the discussion turns to countertransference, which Jodi describes not as something to be avoided or feared, but as a consultant in the room, a signal from the child that deserves attention and care rather than personalisation.
Toward the end of the episode, Jodi and Kylie talk openly about compassion fatigue and burnout, and why regulation, boundaries and self-care aren't optional extras in this profession, they're essential to being able to keep showing up for clients. Jodi's advice is simple but sits with you: protect your non-negotiables, learn to say no, and find an accountability partner to help you stick to it.
This episode is warm, funny, and full of hard-won wisdom from someone who has spent over three decades in the playroom and still finds it as meaningful as the day she started. Whether you're brand new to play therapy or years into your own practice, there's something here to sit with.
Jodi will be joining us in person at the Play Therapy Circle Conference, 24-25 October at Rydges South Bank, Brisbane. Come learn, laugh, and connect with her and the wider play therapy community over two full days. Details and tickets are in the show notes.
Play Therapy Circle Conference 2026 - Kylie Ellison Therapy & TrainingCircle Subscriptions - Kylie Ellison Therapy & Training