A Time For Play

A Time For Play A Time For Play
A Time for Play was a labor of love and clinical necessity. Steven L.

Parks, LCSW-S, MBA, RPT-S, developed the program with the guidance of Dr. Ada Cheung, Ph.D., LCSW-S, RPT-S and support of Emily Van Laan, LCSW-S, RPT-S. The mission of A Time for Play is to promote access to effective mental health services within the community, primarily by educating mental health professionals on the theories, benefits, techniques, and skills of Play Therapy and ethical clinical

practice. A Time for Play delivers mental health training services to local, state, national, and international audiences. The nonprofit expands access by providing continuing education workshops in-person, virtually, by request, and on-demand. A Time for Play is actively diversifying the profession of Play Therapy and expanding access to Play Therapy services through scholarship opportunities.

Need Play Therapy CE hours, but finding time for another scheduled training feels impossible? We’ve got you covered! 💜🎨A...
08/26/2026

Need Play Therapy CE hours, but finding time for another scheduled training feels impossible? We’ve got you covered! 💜🎨

A Time for Play offers SELF-PACED Play Therapy trainings designed to fit into your schedule. No specific training date. No logging onto Zoom at a certain time. Learn when and where it works best for you!

✨ Current self-paced trainings include:

⭐ History of Play Therapy & the Therapeutic Powers of Play
🌈 Ethical LGBTQ+ Affirmative Practice Using an Ecosystemic Play Therapy Approach
⭐ Introduction to Play Therapy Supervision
⚡ Capturing Lightning in a Bottle: Best Clinical Documentation Practice for Play Therapy
🌧️ Playing Through the Trauma Storm – Posttraumatic Play Therapy for Victims of Flood Disaster
🧸 Basic Skills of Child-Centered Play Therapy – Part 1 of 3

Whether you’re working toward your Play Therapy credential, need CE hours, or simply want to strengthen your clinical skills, you can keep learning without committing to a scheduled training time.

💻 Learn online.
⏰ Work at your own pace.
📚 Earn CE hours.
💜 Keep growing as a Play Therapist.

Your schedule shouldn’t have to get in the way of your professional development. Choose the training you need and learn on your time!

08/25/2026

🌿✨ Bringing Nature Into the Playroom! ✨🌿

We had such a wonderful time at our latest A Time for Play ACCESS Series training, exploring ways to incorporate nature into therapy! 🌱🪨🌸

Participants had the opportunity to get hands-on with sandtrays, natural materials, and creative techniques that can help clients explore, express, and process their experiences in meaningful ways. There’s something powerful about seeing how elements from the natural world can become part of the therapeutic process. 💚

🦄 What is the ACCESS Series?

The A Time for Play ACCESS Series was created to make quality Play Therapy continuing education more accessible and affordable. These shorter, 3-hour trainings offer practical learning, connection with other professionals, and opportunities to grow your Play Therapy skills—without the commitment or cost of a full-day training.

Our ACCESS trainings are offered at reduced rates for students, provisionally licensed professionals, and fully licensed clinicians, because continuing education and professional growth should be within reach. 🌈

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for this training and brought their curiosity, creativity, and willingness to PLAY! 🌿🦄

We can’t wait to see you at the next ACCESS Series training!

A TIME FOR PLAY — SEASON 8 CONTINUES! 🦄💜We’re diving deeper into Child-Centered Play Therapy with Advanced Skills of Chi...
08/24/2026

A TIME FOR PLAY — SEASON 8 CONTINUES! 🦄💜

We’re diving deeper into Child-Centered Play Therapy with Advanced Skills of Child-Centered Play Therapy — Part 2 of 3!

This training is all about moving beyond the basics to strengthen your CCPT skills, practice effective limit setting, and create playroom spaces that support the therapeutic process.

📍 IN-PERSON — THIS WEEK!
📅 Thursday, August 27, 2026
⏰ 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
📍 United Way of Greater Houston

💻 LIVE ZOOM — NEXT WEEK!
📅 Thursday, September 3, 2026
⏰ 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
🌎 Join live from anywhere!

⭐ During this 6-hour training, we’ll cover:
• Review of Child-Centered Play Therapy basics
• Limit setting & other advanced skills
• Playroom construction
• CCPT skills practice
• Practical tools you can take back to your work with children

🎓 Earn 6 CE Hours
3 Play Therapy Historically Significant Theory Hours
3 Play Therapy Skills & Methods Hours

💲 Cost: $200

Whether you’re joining us in Houston this week or virtually next week, come ready to deepen your skills, strengthen your practice, and PLAY! 🧸🧩🎨

👉 Reserve your spot today at www.atimeforplay.com

“Never take the play out of the therapy nor the therapy out of the play.” — Steven Parks

Great tips! A Time for Play offers Play Therapy CE all year long to help therapists become Play Therapists and help Play...
08/15/2026

Great tips! A Time for Play offers Play Therapy CE all year long to help therapists become Play Therapists and help Play Therapists maintain their credential!

🦄 PLAY THERAPY RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY! 🦄A Time for Play is excited to share an opportunity to help advance the field of Pl...
08/13/2026

🦄 PLAY THERAPY RESEARCH OPPORTUNITY! 🦄

A Time for Play is excited to share an opportunity to help advance the field of Play Therapy! Steven L. Parks, LCSW-S, MBA, RPT-S is conducting a University of Houston IRB-approved research study exploring the impact of Play Therapy Continuing Education on clinical practice. 💙

The study includes:
📝 A brief 10–15 minute questionnaire
💻 Participation in a virtual focus group
🎁 A $25 Amazon gift card for participants who complete BOTH parts of the study!

You may be eligible if you:
✨ Hold a Master’s-level license to provide mental health services in Texas
✨ Currently provide psychotherapy services to clients in Texas
✨ Have completed at least 100 hours of Play Therapy-specific Continuing Education within the past 36 months
✨ Are currently pursuing, but have not yet earned, your RPT or SB-RPT credential
✨ Are in Phase 3 of the RPT process or otherwise meet the study requirements

Your experience can help us better understand how Play Therapy education translates into real-world clinical practice—and contribute to the future of our field! 🌈🦄

📲 Scan the QR code on the graphic or click the Play Therapy Continuing Education Impact Research link to participate. https://uhsocialwork.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_08PTlpo8Gs5kDKC

Questions? Contact Steven Parks at [email protected].

💗 PLEASE SHARE! Even if you aren’t eligible, you may know a colleague who is. Help us spread the word and reach Play Therapy professionals across Texas!

08/10/2026

🌿 What an incredible Saturday with A Time for Play! 🌿

This weekend’s ACCESS Training Series brought us together for Nature-Assisted Play Therapy: When the Forest Becomes the Playroom with Elizabeth Pennington, LPC-S, RPT-S, EMDR Certified Therapist.

Participants explored how nature can become an extension of the playroom—using natural materials, movement, metaphor, sandtrays, and the outdoor environment to create opportunities for expression, connection, and therapeutic work. 🌳🪨🍃

One of our favorite parts was seeing the creativity come to life through the sandtrays—same sand, endless stories. 💚

A huge thank you to Elizabeth for sharing her knowledge, creativity, and passion with us, and to everyone who joined us both in person and virtually. We loved learning, connecting, and playing alongside you!

Our ACCESS Training Series is all about making quality continuing education accessible, community-centered, and connected—and Saturday was a wonderful example of exactly that. 💜🌿

✨ More ACCESS trainings are coming! We hope to see you at the next one.

Season 8 is officially underway, and Training  #2 is next! 🎉🦄Join A Time for Play for Basic Skills of Child-Centered Pla...
08/08/2026

Season 8 is officially underway, and Training #2 is next! 🎉🦄
Join A Time for Play for Basic Skills of Child-Centered Play Therapy (Part 1 of 3) and build a strong foundation in the theory and practical skills of CCPT.
This training is designed to help you move beyond simply learning about Child-Centered Play Therapy and start developing the skills you can bring into the playroom. You’ll explore therapeutic conditions of growth, core CCPT skills, and have opportunities to practice what you’re learning. 🧸💜
📍 IN-PERSON — Houston
Thursday, August 13 | 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
United Way of Greater Houston
💻 LIVE VIRTUAL — Zoom
Friday, August 21 | 9:00 AM–4:00 PM
✨ 6 CE Hours
🎓 3 Historically Significant Theory Hours
🎓 3 Skills & Methods Hours
💲 $200
🎤 Presented by Steven L. Parks, LCSW-S, MBA, RPT-S
Whether you prefer learning together in the room or joining us live from home, you can be part of Season 8!
🔗 Register today at atimeforplay.com
Building skills. Building connections. Changing lives through child-centered play. 💜

I was caught red handed teaching Play Therapy today: excited to begin Season 8 with a new cohort of learners!
08/06/2026

I was caught red handed teaching Play Therapy today: excited to begin Season 8 with a new cohort of learners!

🌿 What if the most powerful playroom wasn’t inside four walls?Join us for the next A Time for Play ACCESS Training Serie...
07/30/2026

🌿 What if the most powerful playroom wasn’t inside four walls?

Join us for the next A Time for Play ACCESS Training Series as we explore how nature can become a powerful therapeutic partner in the healing process.

🍃 Nature-Assisted Play Therapy: When the Forest Becomes the Playroom
📅 Saturday, August 8, 2026
📍 United Way Houston or Live via Zoom
🎓 3 CE Hours

Led by Elizabeth Pennington, LPC-S, RPT-S, EMDR Certified Therapist, this engaging, hands-on workshop will explore how forests, trails, movement, and natural materials can help children process emotions, build resilience, and experience healing through play.

You’ll learn how to:
🌱 Incorporate nature into your play therapy practice
🌿 Use outdoor metaphors to support therapeutic processing
🍂 Facilitate nature-based interventions using child-centered principles
🌳 Navigate ethical and practical considerations for outdoor play therapy

The ACCESS Training Series makes quality continuing education accessible to everyone:
💜 Students – $10
💜 Provisionally Licensed Clinicians – $25
💜 Fully Licensed Clinicians – $50

🤝 Plus, enjoy a networking breakfast before the workshop and choose the attendance option that works best for you—in person or virtually.

Register today and discover how the natural world can become an extension of your therapeutic playroom.

🌟 Build a strong Child-Centered Play Therapy foundation!Part 1 of our three-part Child-Centered Play Therapy series intr...
07/30/2026

🌟 Build a strong Child-Centered Play Therapy foundation!
Part 1 of our three-part Child-Centered Play Therapy series introduces the essential theory and skills that every Play Therapist needs. Learn the "be with" attitude, relationship-building techniques, tracking skills, and the core principles that make Child-Centered Play Therapy so effective.
📅 Attend in the format that fits your schedule:
🧸 In-Person: August 13, 2026 | United Way of Greater Houston
💻 Live Zoom: August 21, 2026
✨ 6 CE Hours
✨ $200 Registration
✨ Instructor: Steven L. Parks, LCSW-S, MBA, RPT-S
Start building the skills that help children heal through play.
Register today!
🌐 www.atimeforplay.com

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501 E Highway 90A
Richmond, TX
77406

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