2025 VSOF Conference Session Details
Friday, June 27th: 8:00am – 1:40pm PDT
What Violet had to say about play: Our relationship to play from a Gestalt Play Therapy perspective
Peter Mortola PhD,
Lewis & Clark College, USA
Friday June 27th, 8:00-9:00am PDT
How is the role of play in the Oaklander approach unique and important? In this presentation, I will show excerpts from a video interview with Violet Oaklander from 1997 in which I ask her these questions. These interview excerpts will be presented in three parts. In part one, entitled “the therapist at play,” we reflect on the ability and necessity of the therapist to engage playfully with clients as well as the challenges that may interrupt this playful approach to therapy. In part two, entitled “Gestalt at play,” we will reflect on the unique ways in which play informs the approach of the therapist from a Gestalt perspective, especially in comparison to other theoretical models. In part three, entitled “the self at play,” we will reflect on the purpose that play serves in therapy, especially in regards to the expression of and integration of differing aspects of the self.
An outward journey, leading inward: Working with aggressive energy
Tzveta Misheva-Aleksova
Licensed therapist, Bulgaria
Friday June 27th, 9:10-10:10 PDT
This presentation will focus on working with aggressive energy as described by Dr. Violet Oaklander. Her approach is helpful for two reasons: 1) to enhance the relationship between the client and his/her own feeling of self-support and “calm power,” and, 2) to strengthen the relationship between the client and the therapist. I will share examples from my therapeutic work in which I use aggressive energy work with clients of different ages and in different stages of the therapy. Specific attention will be devoted to the role of the therapist and the necessary prerequisites for doing aggressive energy work. Important differences between aggressive energy work and anger work will also be discussed.
Adolescence revisited: How to help parents relate and respect, without reliving and regressing
Lynn Stadler
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, USA
Friday June 27th, 10:20-11:20 PDT
Much of today’s neuroscience research data indicates that adolescence spans the ages of 12-24 years old. This decade-plus can be an exciting time of change, creativity, and experimentation, AND feel like a long, hard road of challenges and conflicts — for young people and their parents. During this session we’ll explore how therapists using the Oaklander model can help parents prepare for their child’s adolescence, and how they as parents can gradually work through their own grief, frustration, sensitivity, and impatience while parenting during this often turbulent time. By establishing and nurturing our relationship with the parents of our adolescent clients, we can provide much needed external support for them to demonstrate important skills as they parent their adolescent: For example, clear and consistent limits and boundaries, respectful I/Thou relating, and active listening. In this way, we can help parents successfully support, respect and applaud their adolescents as they evolve and mature during this important developmental launching process.
The power of NO and the polarity between YES and NO: Toward integration
Mara Foppoli
Licensed therapist, Italy
Friday June 27th, 11:30-12:30 PDT
This experiential workshop explores the polarity between YES and NO, with a specific focus on Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in children. Children with ODD tend to challenge authority figures, expressing anger, irritability, and, most importantly, a strong refusal of requests and rules, frequently leading to significant conflicts in both family and school settings. The workshop is inspired by the teachings of Violet Oaklander, a pioneer in Gestalt Play Therapy, who viewed play as a primary language for children. According to Oaklander, play allows children to express and integrate their emotions, fostering a stronger and more resilient sense of self. Through creative and symbolic tools, children can connect with their emotions and transform internal conflicts into growth experiences. By working with the polarity of YES and NO, children with ODD can develop greater emotional flexibility, allowing them to shift from rigid defiance to a more balanced way of asserting their needs.
Play, Nature & Embodied Connection in the Oaklander Model
Jackie Flynn
Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, USA
Friday June 27th, 12:40-1:40 PDT
This training explores how nature, movement, and symbolic play enhance healing in the Oaklander Model of play therapy. Rooted in projection, sensory awareness, and relational attunement, this experiential workshop demonstrates how nature’s patterns of connection and interdependence offer a powerful way to support self-awareness, regulation, and relationships. Participants will learn how nature-based play, movement, and sensory-rich experiences can strengthen a child’s connection to themselves and others in therapy.
Saturday, June 28th: 8:00am – 1:40pm PDT
Shame at the Contact Boundary: Strengthening relationship using the Oaklander approach
Sheila Shrestha
Gestalt therapist, Nepal
Saturday June 28th, 8:00-9:00 PDT
In this presentation, I will first provide a brief description of the Nepali socio-cultural background, particularly its hierarchical-based respect for elders, and collectivistic society. I will then present a Gestalt perspective on shame as well as shame in a Nepali context and explain how the meaning of the translated word expands and shrinks depending on the context. I will then show how the counseling space is a tool in itself for building relationship within Nepali society and how the Oaklander approach to promoting relationships can minimize the discomfort at the contact boundary and in healing shame-based emotions. Lastly I will suggest some “do’s” and “don’ts” in working with shame.
Hierarchy and the I/Thou: Cultural influences on the child therapist relationship
Florence Mueni
Licensed therapist, Kenya
Saturday June 28th, 9:10-10:10 PDT
In most African settings there is a hierarchical structure to how adults relate to children: Culture dictates that children listen to adults, that adults know what is best for children, and that children are not expected to be in the same room when adults are speaking. These and many practices tend to influence how both the therapist and the child interact with each other. This presentation will examine several Kenyan cultural attitudes and practices and how these manifest themselves in the play room. In this presentation, I will bring out the pro and cons of these practices and make proposals on how therapists can balance between cultural sensitivity and exhibiting the I/Thou relationship.
Music for life? Lively ways of developing musicality!
Jon Blend
Licensed therapist, England
Saturday June 28th, 10:20-11:20 PDT
In this presentation, Violet Oaklander’s approach to musicking meets Jungian composer & Music Therapist Rod Paton’s Lifemusic method of musical improvisation. Both models focus on equality, performance without ego, heartfulness, relational attunement and attentive listening. Many participants have described experiencing these approaches as both joyful and thought-provoking. A series of simple, group exercises involving the use of sound and silence are offered. These aim to enhance contactful relating with oneself and with others, without shame or judgement. Taking part in these short experiments requires neither prior musical skill nor experience, just a willingness to participate and to have fun. You are welcome to bring small acoustic percussion to join in wherever you are: rattles, shakers, hand drum, flutes, local instruments, spoons – or simply your voice – whatever you have that makes a sound!
From Violet’s office to under the tree: Play and nature in the Oaklander approach
Cassiana Castro
Licensed therapist, Brazil
Saturday June 28th, 11:30-12:30 PDT
I’ll start this presentation by showing a video I filmed with Violet in 1997 during which Violet gave me a tour of her office, including her sand tray materials, her puppets, and her game closet. I will then present a second video in which I show the tree where I work outdoors with clients. From indoor to outdoor, I’ll explore multiple aspects of working in contact with nature and its importance when working with children. I will then describe actual cases in which I worked under the tree with clients as examples of the relationship between nature and Violet’s work.
Travelling on: A creative and relational therapy termination with links to the Oaklander approach
Jacki Short
Registered counseling psychologist, Australia
Saturday June 28th, 12:40-1:40 PDT
Endings are important in therapy and can provide valuable opportunities to reflect upon and review learning, change and meaningful exchanges between the client and practitioner. This presentation shows how the Gestalt Play Therapy approach of Violet Oaklander can be combined with Sue Jenning’s model of EPR (Embodiment, Projection and Role) to assist clients in therapy termination. In this presentation, participants will be invited to experience a therapeutic activity that provides a playful tool for the client to reflect upon and discuss elements of how they wish to move beyond therapy.
Sunday, June 29th: 8:00am – 1:40pm PDT
Integrating the Oaklander Model and Narrative Exposure Therapy in Trauma Work
Maria Magdalena El Khazen
Licensed therapist, Lebanon
Sunday June 29th, 8:00-9:00 PDT
In this workshop, I will be demonstrating a practical relationship between the Oaklander approach to therapy and Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET), specifically focusing on trauma-focused therapy. I will start by outlining the rationale for integrating these two approaches then lead an experiential exercise inviting participants to use the online sand tray (inspired by the work of Violet Oaklander) to create a “lifeline” (inspired by Narrative Exposure Therapy). I will show how memory processing (from the NET perspective) includes chronologically selecting and arranging symbols so that clients are engaged in a structured way of organizing traumatic and significant events. From the Oaklander perspective employing creative expression and projective work, the use of symbols in the sand tray and the creation of a short narrative from a symbol’s perspective is a powerful way to explore deeper feelings. This projective technique helps participants express complex emotions in a more creative and accessible way, making it easier to gain new insights into their experiences.
From NICU to nurture: A personal journey in fostering family connections through the Oaklander method
Michelle Urrutia
Licensed Pyschologist, Panama
Sunday June 29th, 9:10-10:10 PDT
The Oaklander approach is rooted in building authentic connections, making it especially valuable when working with infants and families navigating the challenges of a NICU journey. In this presentation, I will share my personal experience as a mother of a premature baby and how the principles of the Oaklander model helped me establish a deeper connection with my daughter, despite early medical interventions and separation. Through this lens, we will explore how the Oaklander approach facilitates relational development by fostering contact, emotional expression, and a strengthened sense of self—both in the child and the caregiver. This presentation offers practical applications of Gestalt Play Therapy in neonatal and early childhood settings, demonstrating how relationships—both with the self and others—can be nurtured, even in the most fragile beginnings.
Honest, direct, and specific to the individual: Building relationship with resistant clients
Chris McKenna
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, USA
Sunday June 29th, 10:20-11:20 PDT
The Oaklander Model builds upon philosopher Martin Buber’s core value: the I-Thou relationship. Violet understood that establishing what Buber considered an authentic relationship – honest, direct, specific to the individual – is the essential foundation for any therapy. Nothing happens without it, and it needs to be nurtured. This is especially important with a resistant client. Consciously and unconsciously the resistant client may feel that the therapist can accept them however they present. This in and of itself can allow the client’s nervous system and defenses relax, if only a little bit, to allow a safe and trusting therapeutic alliance to begin. Many of the adults in a child’s life likely to want them to change their behavior in some way. The therapist’s acceptance of how the client presents (as long as it is physically and emotionally safe) is a crucial first step in establishing the therapeutic alliance.
Playing to read or write: A proposed fifth part to the Oaklander Model
Laura Saldarriaga Correa
Licensed therapist, Columbia
Sunday June 29th, 11:30-12:30 PDT
In this presentation, I will share a therapeutic technique I have developed called “playing to write.” I will also show how this approach relates and becomes additive to the therapeutic approach developed by Violet Oaklander. I will share my journey as a writer and therapist who has worked with clients, families and university students. Specifically, I will describe the magical process between the “Once upon a time…” part of a story (and therapeutic relationship) and “The end,” as well as all the things that happen in the between. I will demonstrate how “playing to write” can be seen as a “fifth part,” in addition to the described four parts of the projective method of the Oaklander approach.
Just for now: Windows to our practice
Karen Fried
PsyD, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, USA
Sunday June 29th, 12:40-1:40 PDT
In having a chance to connect with therapists from around the world, I have learned that every therapist brings a different “self,” a different life experience, a different set of motivations and influences into the therapy room. The more I have learned, the more I wanted to know about my peers and students from all these different regions and cultures throughout the world. I decided to ask these therapists to share their stories, to tell us what motivated them to pursue this work, what they’ve learned along the way, and what it’s like for them from day to day. I asked them: “Who are you and what brings you to the therapy room?” Sixty-seven therapists graciously and generously provided their personal stories. These stories will be collected as part of a book project I am working on. For this presentation, I will interview a few of these therapists who provided their stories.