Clair Mellenthin

Please note: this in-person workshop has reached capacity. It will be available virtually.

Enhance your clinical practice by learning how to blend expressive arts techniques with play therapy! By doing so, a creative atmosphere featuring safety and compassion is created in the office, studio, or play therapy room to support freedom of expression, allowing clients to communicate the unspeakable.  

Expressive arts have long been heralded in psychotherapy for their effectiveness in trauma treatment, making them a valuable resource for play therapists and other mental health professionals. In this workshop, we will be exploring and demonstrating through hands-on activities how to use expressive arts alongside play therapy techniques with tweens and teens to address attachment issues, trauma, self-esteem, and empathy development.  

Appropriate for play therapists, counselors, psychotherapists, and others working with tweens and teens, participants will end the day having gained a diverse toolbox of play therapy and expressive arts techniques, and a deeper understanding of the complimentary healing powers that play therapy combined with expressive arts can bring to clinical work with this population.

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe 2 expressive arts-based interventions in play therapy with teens. 
2. Explain how utilizing a blended approach of modalities can be useful in play therapy. 
3. Evaluate attachment theory and different attachment styles that impact parent’s ability to engage and be involved in their child’s treatment 

Clair Mellenthin, LCSW, RPT-S, is an international speaker, author, psychologist, and Registered Play Therapist Supervisor. Throughout her career, she has specialized in providing play therapy to children, teens, and their families. She is currently the Director of Child & Adolescents at Wasatch Family Therapy. Ms. Mellenthin frequently presents professional play therapy and family therapy training on Attachment-Centered Play Therapy, Family, and Trauma issues both nationally and internationally.

Ms. Mellenthin is a sought-after supervisor, training graduate students and interns in play therapy, and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California MSW program. She is the past president of the Utah Association for Play Therapy and remains an active member of the Board of Directors. She is the author of the books Attachment Centered Play Therapy; Play Therapy: Engaging & Powerful Techniques for the Treatment of Childhood Disorders; My Many Colors of Me Workbook and has authored several chapters and articles. In addition to being an experienced play therapist and professor, Ms. Mellenthin also appears on local and national TV and radio as an expert on children and family issues. She holds a master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California.

Speaker Disclosures:

Financial: Clair Mellenthin has an employment relationship with Wasatch Family Therapy. She receives a speaking honorarium, recording royalties, and book royalties from PESI, Inc. Ms. Mellenthin is a published author and receives royalties. She has no relevant financial relationships with ineligible organizations.

Non-financial: Clair Mellethin serves on the Utah Play Therapy Association Board of Directors. She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Association for Play Therapy.