2026 PA APT Annual Conference
Terry Kottman, Ph.D., RPT-S, LMHC
April 24-25, 2026
Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center
located near the Penn State Main Campus
State College, PA​​​​
Terry Kottman is the creator of Adlerian Play Therapy, an award-winning author, and an internationally recognized leader in the field. Her innovative approach, engaging teaching style, and lifetime of contributions have shaped the practice of play therapy around the world. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the fields best!!All professionals working with children and adolescents are invited to attend.
Up to 12 contact hours/CE's awarded for 2 day attendees: APT Approved Provider 98-040 Playtherapy credit awarded only to mental health professionals.​​​
Conference Details
8:30a - 4:15p daily with two 15 minute breaks and 1 ¼ hour for lunch.
lunch & snacks included in conference price!
Day 1 - April 24, 2026
Title: Fundamentals of Adlerian Play Therapy
Description: In this fun, interactive workshop, Terry Kottman, "inventor" of Adlerian play therapy, will introduce participants to Adlerian play therapy, a method of integrating the concepts and techniques of Individual Psychology with the practice of play therapy. Participants will learn techniques for establishing relationships with clients, exploring clients' lifestyles, helping clients gain insight into their lifestyles, and reorienting and reeducating clients. Participants will learn Adlerian tools for conceptualizing children and the significant adults in their lives.
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Abstract: In Adlerian play therapy, therapists use the concepts of Alfred Adler’s Individual Psychology to conceptualize children and their parents and teachers, while using toys, art, play material, and metacommunication to connect and communicate with them. The process of co-creating a relationship with the child through play allows therapists to communicate (mostly through metaphor, but sometimes through direct verbal interaction) in a way that facilitates exploration of the child’s patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving, helps the child gain insight into those patterns, and invites the child to make changes inany patterns that are self-defeating or destructive. Engaging the child’s parents and teachers, exploring their own lifestyles and their interaction with the child, helping them to understand the child’s patterns, and teaching them skills for improving the relationship is an integral part of the custom-designed parent and teacher consultation component of Adlerian play therapy.
Learning Objectives:
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Explain 1 basic concept of Individual Psychology as applied to play therapy.
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List the 4 phases in Adlerian play therapy.
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Describe 1 technique for building a relationship with the child in Adlerian play therapy.
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Describe 1 technique for exploring the child's lifestyle in Adlerian play therapy
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Describe 2 techniques for helping the child gain insight into his/her/their lifestyle in Adlerian play therapy
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Describe 1 technique for reorientation/reeducation of the child in Adlerian play therapy.
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Explain the rationale for consulting with parents and teachers in Adlerian play therapy.
Day 2 - April 25, 2026​
Title: Body-Centered Play Therapy with Traumatized Clients
Description: Can you have fun talking about trauma? With Terry Kottman, you can! This experiential workshop is designed to help play therapists gain experience conceptualizing and intervening with traumatized clients using an Adlerian approach. We will invite participants to practice several active treatment modalities such as movement, art, relaxation/self-regulation, and adventure therapy strategies they can use with clients who have experienced traumatic events.
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Abstract: A growing body of research has demonstrated that trauma and complex trauma exposure leads to chronic problems across multiple domains (e.g., Spinazzola et al., 2017). In this interactive workshop, we will explore ways to incorporate body-centered techniques, such as yoga, movement, body scans, parasympathetic nervous system soothing, and sensorimotor drawing, with traumatized clients in play therapy. Much of the current research investigating therapeutic work with traumatized clients suggests that some of the most effective therapy tools are body-centered techniques such as yoga, meditation, movement, body scans, and work with the parasympathetic nervous system. Researchers have noted that the body stores trauma in a variety of different ways which makes it particularly important to help traumatized clients become more aware of and more able to work with their bodies, in addition to the familiar play therapy goals of working with emotions, cognitions, and behaviors. Using a combination of Adlerian conceptualization and strategies and body-centred Gestalt therapy techniques, we will explore how trauma affects clients across the lifespan and how you can integrate body-centered intervention strategies, and expressive arts techniques into your play therapy practice. The workshop is designed to equip you with body-centered play therapy techniques that, without physically touching clients, you can use for assessment and intervention with clients who have experienced trauma.
Learning Objectives:
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Explain why enhancing play therapy clients’ sensorimotor awareness can be important with traumatized clients.
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Identify 5 techniques to enhance play therapy clients' sensorimotor awareness.
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Explain the difference between the parasympathetic nervous system and the sympathetic nervous system.
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Describe 5 play therapy strategies for activating clients' parasympathetic nervous system.
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Describe 3 principles of trauma-informed therapy with children and adolescents.
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Name 2 domains of development in play therapy clients that can be impacted by trauma.