STEPHANIE GALLOWAY-MASLANIK
Past-President
WHAT I DO FOR THE BOARD:
I am the current Past-President. I will be in the Past-President role for the next two years. I also coordinated and planned the 2019 Conference.
WHY AND WHEN I JOINED THE BOARD:
I joined the board as a prospective member in September 2016. Jean Camberg had been encouraging my participation for about a year (maybe two) and it gave me peace telling her that I had begun attending board meetings prior to her death. I became an official board member in June 2017.
I PLAY AT (WHERE I WORK AND WHAT I DO FOR FUN):
I am a K-12 School Social Worker at Juniata Valley School District. I have an almost 13-year-old son, Landon, and an almost 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, and my husband of nearly 16 years, Scott. We enjoy playgrounds/parks, bike riding and art projects. I love reading and creating photo books (when I actually have time). In the summer, I enjoy watching Landon participate in the swim team.
WHERE I LEARNED TO PLAY (SCHOOL/TRAININGS):
I obtained my Bachelor of Social Work from Juniata College in 2001 with a Program of Emphasis: Social Work Emphasizing Children and Adolescents. I took many child and adolescent development and education/communication classes in addition to social work classes. Each of them spent some time on the importance of play. I obtained my Master’s of Social Work from University of Nebraska at Omaha with a concentration in children and families. My graduate level child and family course had a Play Therapy textbook in addition to requiring us to read Dibs In Search of Self by Virginia Axline. I met Jean Camberg at a National Association of Social Worker’s conference in March 2005. She began providing my clinical social work and play therapy supervision as I had been dabbling in the use of play in my work in many of my settings. I entered her play therapy training program at Harbor House, LLC. in 2010, obtaining my RPT-S in August 2012. I also completed her four-day training in intensive sandplay therapy for adolescents and adults in July 2013. My first PA-APT Conference was in 2007 and I having been attending annually since 2010, because I love the energy and rejuvenation I experience from being amongst fellow play therapy colleagues.
WHY PLAY THERAPY:
Play is a powerful way to help others express their feelings, communicate, feel safe, cope and break down defenses so that healing can begin.
MY FAVORITE PLAY THERAPY BOOK (WHY?):
Dibs in Search of Self (Virginia Axline) – It was the first book to introduce me to the power of play in a child’s world.
MY FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOK:
The Way I Feel (Janan Cain) Jonathan James and the Whatif Monster (Michelle Nelson-Schmidt)
MY FAVORITE PLAY THERAPY TECHNIQUE:
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapeutic Board Games (ie; Stop, Relax & Think game)
MY FAVORITE PLAY THERAPY QUOTE:
Too many to choose only one!
“When we treat children’s play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that’s to be found in the creative spirit. It’s the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.” ~Fred Rogers
“It is a happy talent to know how to play.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Play is the highest form of research.” ~Albert Einstein
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” ~ Fred Rogers