SCAPT NewsLetter
November 2, 2007
Annual APT Conference in Hollywood
By Sandra Frick-Helms
This year the APT conference was held in HollywoodCalifornia. I had not intended to go for several reasons. Then I found out I was to receive the APT Service Award. My vanity soon got the best of me and I made rapid plans to get there. My first difficulty came with making plane reservations at such a late date. I ended up spending 28 hours in California and 21 hours in airplanes or airports. Next I found that the entire block of APT hotel rooms had been sold out. Fortunately, I was able to find a roommate to put me up for one night.
With all that, I still managed to have a wonderful time. I landed at Burbank’s Bob Hope airport at 5:30 p.m. Thursday. The BobHopeAirport is wonderful. I may never fly into LAX again. It is about the size of Columbia’s MetropolitanAirport, possibly smaller and it took about 20 minutes to get from airport to hotel. The weather, as one would expect, was perfect – mid seventies in the daytime and fifties to sixties at night.
The Renaissance Hollywood Hotel is beautiful, clean, well located, and more. The hotel, which is next door to Grauman’s Chinese Theater, is adjacent to a convention center and the two together form an enclosed area with shops, restaurants, and beautiful scenery. The rooms are lovely, decorated in a kind of modern 30s art deco feel. The meeting rooms are pretty much like meeting rooms in other hotels, but this is the first meeting I’ve ever attended where there are plenty of women’s bathrooms.
The hotel is next door to Renaissance Hollywood Hotel Exterior
Grauman’s Chinese Theater
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel LobbyTypical Renaissance Hollywood Hotel Guest Room
Renaissance Hollywood Hotel Entertainment Complex
The hotel is part of a huge convention center and entertainment complex. This picture does not do the decorations of the entertainment complex justice. It is very thirties art deco with two “ginormous” elephants standing on their hind legs flanking the entrance. There are trendy shops and restaurants. I only got to eat at one restaurant but it was one of Wolfgang Puck’s so I was well fed. For that meal I ate with Louise Guerney, Hilda Glazer and a young man from Ohio, who is planning to do his doctoral dissertation on play therapy with disabled (differently abled) children.
There was the same air of excitement at the conference as there always is. The opening social event was held in the exhibit hall and was catered byWolfgang Puck’s restaurant. I was able to view the exhibits while at the reception. They were impressive and overwhelming at the same time. It is hard to take in so many possibilities of play therapy “goodies” in one place. The Self Esteem bookshop alone has grown to take up almost half of the exhibit hall.
Friday morning, I was up bright and early. The day was bright, I was somewhat jet lagged. This year the award ceremony took place in the Exhibit Hall. Everywhere we went, we had “walk-of-fame” stars to point us in the right direction.
There was a small stage in the corner of the hall with two replicas of Oscar at the back of the stage. Award recipients came up on stage & stood in front of the Oscar twins to receive their awards. The Key Awards include: APT Service Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Professional Training and Education Award, Public Education and Promotion Award, and Student Research Award. According to the APT website ( the Association for Play Therapy (APT) acknowledges outstanding organizational service to APT or its Foundation for Play Therapy or its chartered branches that significantly develops, promotes, or advances the value of play, play therapy, and credentialed play therapists. The APT Service Award is presented to a nominee who rendered outstanding voluntary service to APT or its chartered branches for which s/he received no financial or in kind contribution during the most recent 12 month period.” Each of the awards was presented as if to an Oscar nominee. The criteria for the award were read by Lisa Saldana, outgoing APT President. Then the award “nominees” were listed. I actually won out over Sandra Oh and Sandra Bullock. What a rush!
Paris Goodyear Brown at the PodiumOscar and Friends
Key Award RecipientsSandi Frick-Helms with
Service Award
More pictures from the Hollywood conference can be seen at the APT website. They will be available for viewing and downloading until November 30, 2007.
I was able to attend two workshop presentations in the short time I was at the conference. Both were excellent. The first presentation was “Neuroscience and Child Therapy” by Susan Kelsey, MS, LMFT, RPT-S. Susan is a therapist in private in Costa Mesa, California. She began with a presentation regarding what is known about trauma from the standpoint of neuroscience and ended with a discussion of and activities foucusing on play therapy that capitalizes on this research.
Next I attended the APTLeadershipAcademy luncheon. The main order of business was the graduation of the 2007 LeadershipAcademy class. I have enrolled as a member of the LeadershipAcademy class of 2008, so it was interesting to meet the individuals who had just completed the Academy. If the entire year is as much fun as the luncheon, it will be very enjoyable. I also hope my LeadershipAcademy experience will be of benefit to SCAPT.
LeadershipAcademy Graduate, Angela Cavettwith 2007 Chair,
Sueanne Kenney-Noziskaand Lisa Saldana, outgoing APT President
The afternoon presentation that I attended was “Excellence in Supervision: Sharing Exemplary Practices in the Supervision and Education of Play Therapists” presented by Anne Stewart, VA APT; Helen Benedict, TX APT, Athena Drewes, NYAPT; Louise Guerney, MD APT, and Evangeline Munns, OH APT. It would be difficult to tell all of the wonderful ideas and techniques for play therapy supervision that were shared at this workshop. This is not surprising given the qualifications of this incredible group of presenters.
I returned to Columbia energized about play therapy and what SCAPT can do and should be doing in the future. The next milestone in the SCAPT journey will be our tenth anniversary conference at the Riverbanks Zoo Magnolia Room - Botanical Gardens in ColumbiaSCSaturday, February 16 and Sunday, February17, 2008. Our main speaker will be Eric J. Green, PhD, LCPC, LMFT, RPT, Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University Department of Counseling and Human Relations. Eric’s presentation is titled, “Play Therapy with Children Affected by Trauma: A Jungian Perspective.” Attendees on Sunday will be able to choose from the following 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. workshop sessions: “Supervision Training - Using Role Play Activities in Client-Centered Play Therapy Supervision” with Sandra Frick-Helms, PhD, RPTS; : “Supervision Training - Supervising the Beginning Play Therapist: A Developmental Model with Deborah Armstrong Hickey, PhD; LMFT; and “Sandplay Overview and Case Study” with Keren M. Riegel, Ed. S., RPT-S, LPC-S. I hope top see all of you at this special event. .
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