Dr. Janet Courtney: The FirstPlay® Therapy Model & Infant Mental Health
Karen welcomes Dr. Janet Courtney to the show for a two part conversation on Dr. Courtney's FirstPlay® Therapy model.
Dr. Janet A. Courtney, PhD, LCSW is Founder of FirstPlay Therapy® and Founder and Editor of FirstPlay® Café: An e-magazine for parents (womb to six-years). She is Director of Developmental Play & Attachment Therapies, Inc. She is a Registered Play Therapy-Supervisor, TEDx Speaker and presently Chair of the Association for Play Therapy Ethics and Practice Committee and past President of the Florida Association for Play Therapy and former Chair of the Viola Brody Award Committee. Awarded Third Place overall in the Best Practices Showcase for FirstPlay Therapy at the First 1000 Days Infant Mental Health Summit (Sept, 2018) along with the Children’s Healing Institute.
Dr. Courtney is author and co-editor of Touch in Child Counseling and Play Therapy: An Ethical and Clinical Guide. New York, NY: Routledge, and her research into practitioner experiences of training in touch and Developmental Play Therapy is published in the American Journal of Art Therapy and the International Journal of Play Therapy. She is a contributing author for the chapter, “Touching Autism through Developmental Play Therapy” in the book, “Play-based Interventions for Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders;” and has a chapter in the book, Environmental Expressive Therapies (2017), titled: “The Art of Utilizing the Metaphorical Elements of Nature as ‘Co-Therapist’ in Ecopsychology Play Therapy.”
Dr. Courtney is also published in the Journal of Therapeutic Horticulture. She offers a certification in FirstPlay Therapy® (including FirstPlay® Infant Massage Storytelling) and provides training to professionals in the Ethical and Clinical Competencies of Touch, FirstPlay® Therapy, Ericksonian-based StoryPlay®, Expressive Therapies, and Ecopsychology Play Therapy. She has been invited to speak nationally and internationally including the Cayman Islands, England, Ireland, Morocco, Russia and the Ukraine.
Dr. Courtney is a provider through the Florida state boards of Mental Health and Massage Therapy, and an approved provider through the Association for Play Therapy. She specializes in Infant Mental Health and Infant Play Therapy, Attachment, and Trauma related issues. Dr. Courtney’s new form of Kinesthetic Storytelling® can be found in her children’s book, The Magic Rainbow.
Part One:
Part Two:
For More: