Responding to Suicide Risk in Young Children: A Play Therapy Framework for Assessment and Intervention
This presentation explores play therapy as a developmentally appropriate approach to suicide risk assessment and intervention with children under age 12. Participants will be introduced to Dr. Mia Garcia's empirically supported suicide risk assessment tool and gain practical, evidence-informed strategies for early identification, assessment, and therapeutic intervention. Less...
Learning Objectives
- List at least six current trends in child suicide.
- Identify risk factors and symptoms of suicide in children ages 5–11, and apply play therapy techniques to facilitate developmentally appropriate emotional expression, and intervention with children at risk for suicide.
- Compare signs of suicide between children and individuals ages 12 and older.
- Utilize developmentally appropriate, play therapy–based assessment and intervention strategies to identify and respond to suicidality in children, incorporating structured screening tools such as the SADCID and the Child Suicide Risk Inventory to support clinical decision-making and treatment planning.
- Recognize manifestations of suicidality through the major themes and subthemes of child-centered play therapy.
- Discuss child-centered play therapy skills that target suicide risk.
- Create a plan to work with parents of suicidal children to provide education and support in play therapy.
Learning Levels
- Intermediate - Target Audience: Practicing mental health professionals who already possess solid, foundational play therapy training and clinical experience.Focus: Expanding, enhancing, and building upon existing foundational learning. Content aims to deepen clinical application, treatment planning, case conceptualization, or specific modality skills.
- Advanced - Target Audience: Seasoned professionals, typically credentialed play therapists (such as Registered Play Therapists [RPT], RPT-Supervisors [RPT-S], or School-Based RPTs) often with 200–300+ hours of specific play therapy training and substantial clinical experience. Focus: Highly specialized content areas designed to elevate expertise, refine complex interventions, or address nuanced, high-level clinical challenges
Saturday, November 07, 2026
601 South College Road,, Wilmington, NC, 28403
09:00 AM EST - 04:30 PM EST
Agenda
What is the problem- Current trends
- Risk factors and symptoms
- Disparities
- Identifying suicide risk
- Conducting a suicide assessment
- Manifestations of suicide through child-centered play therapy themes
- Using CCPT interventions to target suicidality
CE Information - Earn 6 CE Credit Hours
CE Process Info
NCAPT is approved for the following and maintains responsibility for all aspects of the program: NCAPT is an APT Approved Provider (03-125). This training is approved for 6.0 APT contact hours. Play therapy credit is only awarded to mental health professionals.
Each professional is responsible for the individual requirements as stipulated by his/her licensing agency. Please contact your individual licensing board/regulatory agency to review continuing education requirements for licensure renewal. Please note: You must attend "live" (in real-time) for the duration of the training to earn CE credits.
After the event, you will receive access to your evaluation and continuing education certificate via a personalized "attendee dashboard" link, hosted on the CE-Go website. This link will be sent to the email account you used to register for the event.
Upon accessing the CE-Go "attendee dashboard", you will be able to:
- Complete evaluation forms for the event
- Download your continuing education certificate in a PDF format
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the CE-Go platform, please contact CE-Go at 888-498-5578 or by email at support@ce-go.com Please Note: Emails for this event will come from "support@ceactivities.com".
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