Black Kids Play Program: Full Program
Session Title: Effective Play Therapy Assessment & Diagnosis with Black Children
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: February 20th, 2026
Session Time: 9:00 am-12:15 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session Description:
When working with Black children, clinicians often overlook race-based stressors which may result in incorrect diagnoses and ineffective treatment. Therefore, it is imperative that play therapists develop this lens when treating Black children, including culturally appropriate screening tools, understanding important cultural factors, collaborations with caregivers, and prioritizing the therapeutic relationship. This workshop will explore the use of play therapy as an assessment tool for effectively assessing and treating the mental health needs of Black children. Participants will also discuss the use of play therapy in parent consultations and family play therapy to also build bridges with caregivers to aid in more effective treatment.
Learning objectives:
- Use Ecosystemic Play Therapy to explore systems affecting Black children.
- Discuss play-based assessments to use with Black children.
- List play therapy seminal theories to effectively treat Black children.
Agenda:
- 9:00 am-10:30 am Lecture & experiential learning
- 10:30 am-10:45 am Break
- 10:45 am-12:15 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session Title: Black Kids Matter: Play Therapy to Empower Black Children Across the Lifespan
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: February 20th, 2026
Session Time: 1:30 pm-4:45 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session Description:
Black children and families are often navigating negative race-based experiences on a daily and continuous basis. However, this is often overlooked in the diagnosis and assessment of their moods and behaviors. This workshop will explore signs of race-based stress and trauma in the playroom including play themes and categories of play. Attendees will also review play-based activities to empower Black children dealing with depression, low self-esteem, anxiety and more. Play therapy theories such as Adlerian Play Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Play Therapy and Gestalt Play Therapy will be explored as solutions to helping Black children learn healthy coping skills to manage race-based stress and trauma. Additionally, key items to equip in the playroom to promote cultural inclusivity in play therapy with Black children and families.
Learning objectives:
- Explore play themes that may signal race-based stress and trauma in Black youth.
- Analyze play therapy seminal theories to address race-based stress and trauma in Black youth.
- Identify play-based interventions to empower Black youth.
Agenda:
- 1:30 pm-3:00 pm Lecture & experiential learning
- 3:00 pm-3:15 pm Break
- 3:15 pm-4:45 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session title: Reclaiming Black Childhood: Engaging Adultified Black Children in Play Therapy
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: February 21st, 2026
Session Time: 9:00 am-12:15 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session description:
Systemic & institutional racism in American Black children often robs them of a childhood. As a result, Black caregivers may also encourage their children to abandon play to prepare them for an unjust world. In turn, they are often denied the ability to fully engage in play, in and out of the play room. This also may lead to difficulty gaining play therapy buy-in from Black caregivers around certain categories of toys that may be taboo. Using an Ecosystemic Play Therapy approach, this workshop explores how adultification appears in play therapy with Black children and family, including how the grief of the killing of unarmed Black Americans may contribute to parenting practices towards Black children. Attendees will explore play therapy activities to build rapport and gain buy-in with caregivers who may have parenting practices rooted in intergenerational trauma. Participants will also explore key items to promote cultural pride in the playroom and promote cultural inclusivity. Additionally, participants will explore other expressive therapies such as sand tray, music and games to activate the therapeutic powers of play and help Black children reclaim their childhood.
Learning objectives:
- Discuss play themes that may signal adultification in Black children.
- Analyze categories of play that may be viewed as problematic in Black families.
- Identify play therapy interventions to address adultification in Black children in individual & group play therapy.
Agenda:
- 9:00 am-10:30 am Lecture & experiential learning
- 10:30 am-10:45 am Break
- 10:45 am-12:15 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session title: Playful Techniques to Build Bridges with Black Families and Communities
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: February 21st, 2026
Session Time: 1:30 pm-4:45 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session description:
Black families and communities experience adversities that may disrupt important connections that are needed for Black children to thrive. Intergenerational and historical trauma within Black families can have an impact on parenting practices within the family and community system that may cause indirect, yet unintentional, harm in Black children. This workshop discusses important cultural considerations when engaging Black caregivers in play therapy, including play therapy interventions to build trust and rapport in parent consultations with Black caregivers. Attendees will also explore play-based interventions to engage Black caregivers in family play therapy, as well as the use of play-based community events to help strengthen relationships and connections within the Black community.
Learning objectives:
- Assess play therapy activities to help Black caregivers explore their parenting styles in parent consultations.
- Describe play-based activities to enhance community engagement within Black communities.
- Discuss game play therapy to strengthen connections in Black families and communities.
- Identify ways to gain play therapy buy-in with Black caregivers.
- Demonstrate cultural humility in play therapy consultations with Black caregivers.
Agenda:
- 1:30 pm-3:00 pm Lecture & experiential learning
- 3:00 pm-3:15 pm Break
- 3:15 pm-4:45 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session Title: Mending Invisible Wounds: Play Therapy for Black Youth Experiencing Disenfranchised Grief
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: July 17th, 2026
Session Time: 9:00 am-12:15 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session Description:
Black youth are disproportionately impacted by racialized grief, stemming from events such as the loss of loved ones to homicide, police violence, and mass incarceration. These experiences of disenfranchised grief can undermine their self-esteem, self-worth, and ability to engage in play therapy. This workshop will explore culturally responsive approaches to help Black youth navigate disenfranchised grief through the use of play therapy seminal theories, including cultural considerations in grief work with Black families, focusing on the role of expressive therapies in fostering communal healing and resilience. Attendees will leave with practical tools and interventions to provide trauma-informed, culturally affirming play therapy that provides healing spaces for Black youth and their communities.
Learning objectives:
- List play themes that may appear in play therapy with grieving Black youth.
- Utilize play therapy seminal theories to address disenfranchised grief in Black youth.
- Identify family play therapy interventions to address grief and loss in Black families
Agenda:
- 9:00 am-10:30 am Lecture & experiential learning
- 10:30 am-10:45 am Break
- 10:45 am-12:15 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session Title: Intersecting Identities: Play Therapy to Empower Black LGBTQ+ Youth
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: July 17th, 2026
Session Time: 1:30 pm-4:45 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session Description:
Black youth who identify as LGBTQ+ deal with an intersection of sexual orientation/gender identity and racial identity that adds an extra layer to their daily stressors. Play therapists are in a unique position to use the therapeutic powers of play to empower Black LGBTQ+ youth. This session will explore the different stressors that may arise in the playroom among Black LGBTQ+ youth, including play-based interventions to increase self-esteem and coping skills, strengthen parent-child relationships and find beauty and power in all of their identities, in the playroom and beyond.
Learning objectives:
- Discuss key items for the playroom for Black LGBTQ+ youth.
- Identify play therapy interventions to empower Black LGBTQ+ youth.
- Analyze cultural considerations for family play therapy with Black LGBTQ+ youth.
Agenda:
- 1:30 pm-3:00 pm Lecture & experiential learning
- 3:00 pm-3:15 pm Break
- 3:15 pm-4:45 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session title: Play Therapy to Support Social-Emotional Expression in Black Boys
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: July 18th, 2026
Session Time: 9:00 am-12:15 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session description:
In the Black community, boys are often told at a young age they should not cry and should suppress their emotions. This webinar explores this phenomenon and how it negatively affects the social-emotional development of Black boys and men. Attendees will learn fun, play-based activities to gain rapport with Black boys, as well as interventions to encourage social-emotional expression in the playroom. This includes the application of group and family play therapy to help promote attachment and bonding in Black boys with family members and peers. The webinar will also discuss ways to gain buy-in with Black caregivers who may struggle with their boys engaging in certain categories of play.
Learning objectives:
- Discuss play-based interventions to build rapport with Black boys.
- Analyze play therapy interventions to encourage social-emotional expression in group play therapy with Black boys.
- Explain the application of game play therapy with Black boys to encourage social-emotional expression.
- Describe music-based interventions to promote social-emotional development in Black boys.
- Assess ways to gain buy-in with taboo categories of play in play therapy with Black boys
Agenda:
- 9:00 am-10:30 am Lecture & experiential learning
- 10:30 am-10:45 am Break
- 10:45 am-12:15 pm Lecture & experiential learning
Session title: I Got the Power! Play Therapy to Empower Black Girls
Facilitator: April Duncan, DSW, LCSW, Registered Play Therapist-Supervision™
Session Date: July 18th, 2026 Session
Time: 1:30 pm-4:45 pm CST
Location: Equal Shares Counseling, 9715 Olive Boulevard, Ground Floor, Olivette, Missouri, 63132
APT Continuing Education Hours: 3.0
Session description:
Black girls have a unique experience growing up in the United States that warrants special attention in the playroom. This includes stereotypes in the media and even within the Black community, that can negatively affect a child’s mental health and self-esteem. This webinar also explores the play themes that may present in play therapy sessions with Black girls that may signal issues around self-worth, along with fun and unique play therapy interventions to promote healthy self-esteem around hair and skin tone in Black girls. Attendees will gain an understanding of the unique needs of Black girls, including the importance of representation in the toys and materials in the playroom. Time will also be spent discussing doll play and hand games as means of engaging Black girls in play therapy.
Learning objectives:
- List play themes that may signal mental distress in Black girls.
- Identify play therapy interventions to increase self-esteem in Black girls.
- Analyze seminal play therapy theories to empower Black girls.
Agenda:
- 1:30 pm-3:00 pm Lecture & experiential learning
- 3:00 pm-3:15 pm Break
- 3:15 pm-4:45 pm Lecture & experiential learning
What you'll get:
- 24 APT Contact Workshop CEs
- 8 Certificates of Completion
*Course evaluations for each training must be completed to receive CE credits. Certificates will be provided upon completion of workshops and evaluations.
