How to become a registered play therapist?
-Claire Burkemper (LMSW)
When I started my journey to become a registered play therapist (RPT) I remember feeling overwhelmed at how exactly the process worked. Thankfully, I had a lot of friends and mentors that I could ask my questions to along the way. This proved to be an invaluable resource to me. Now, almost two years later I am only two months away from being able to submit my paperwork to become an RPT!! I wanted to take a moment to share how the process works, what I learned going through the process, and tips and tricks to hopefully make the process a bit less confusing for anyone interested!
How long does it take to become a play therapist?
Timeline: Before we get into what you need to submit your RPT application, we need to be clear about the amount of time you have to complete the steps. Applicants have no shorter than 2 years and no longer than 10 years to complete their application. From the date of your very first play therapy training your “clock” has started and you have 10 years from that date to submit your application. You cannot submit your application, even if you have all the requirements, prior to 2 years.
What are the prerequisites to play therapy certification?
Education and Licenses: In order to become an RPT, you need to have your master’s, or higher clinical mental health, degree and an active Mental Health License in your state. Let me break this down a bit further
Education: There are certain courses that the Association for Play Therapy (APT) requires in order for you to obtain your RPT license. A transcript from your university will need to be provided when you submit your application. For that detailed list, go here.
License: You need to have a current, active, and unconditional Mental Health License to become an RPT. For most individuals this is your LCSW (License of Clinical Social Work), LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor), or LMFT (License of Marriage and Family Therapy)
***Something that is important to note: you need to be finished with your education and licenses by the time you submit your application, but don’t need to be completed with these requirements before you start your training!
The Phases: There are three phases to the RPT process. Each phase has certain requirements and you cannot move from one phase to the other until all the requirements of a phase are completed. APT is very strict about this to ensure that each individual gets all the required training, but this can often be confusing for individuals going through the process. The below graphics are taken right from the RPT Application which can be found here on APT’s Website.
Let’s Break it Down!
Play Therapy Specific Instruction: These are the courses, classes, and training that you will take that are Play Therapy Specific. These courses also count toward your Continuing Education Requirements for state licensures, which is great! At the top, it outlines the total number of hours you need to complete in that phase before you can move on. APT approved trainings will list what area they have been approved for, so look for that when signing up for trainings to ensure that it is counting towards the correct topic!
Experience: This is your practice or your client facing hours. No unsupervised hours count toward your requirement. It is important that you are under the supervision of a RPT supervisor prior to counting client hours! No prior hours will count toward your licensure. Hours that count are hours that you are putting play therapy skills into practice with a client while you are under the supervision of an RPT-S.
Supervision: This section is how many hours you need with your supervisor. There are notes on how many hours you can have as group supervision hours and how many you need as individual hours. This section also outlines “observation hours.” This requirement can be fulfilled several ways (and I suggest you look at the application on this/talk to your supervisor) but is your supervisor observing your play therapy skills and giving you feedback.
What I Learned Going Through the Process
Plan Your Time: This is so important. You do not need a detailed plan to get through your RPT, but you do need to be conscious of moving through the three phases correctly. The best way to ensure this is to get a RPT supervisor before or very soon after starting your “clock”, taking your first play therapy training. You need to complete all the requirements of a phase before anything else counts. So if you have done 100 hours of training, but don’t have a RPT supervisor, none of those training can count toward phase II since you have not received your hours of supervisor or observation time. My supervisor helped keep me on track with this (that’s part of their job!) so you don’t need to get overwhelmed with planning, but if you don’t have a supervisor it’s important that you get one ASAP.
Get a Binder: This sounds like such a simple thing to do but I cannot express how much this helped me. I went to APT website, printed off the RPT application and then printed off every certificate after all the play therapy trainings that I did. This was an incredibly simple thing to do over time that saved hours of searching for all those certificates when gathering my application.
Don’t be Afraid to ask Questions: I asked a lot of questions to a lot of different clinicians. I found this very helpful in understanding not only how to become a play therapist, but also in exploring what my niche in play therapy would be. The world of play therapy is vast and there are a lot of different modalities. I have learned about Animal Assisted Play Therapy, Theraplay, Alderian Play Therapy, and Child-Centered Play Therapy just to name a few! I learned modalities that I love and felt confident in, like Child-Centered work, and felt inspired to grow in my understanding and application of others, like Theraplay. It’s important to expose yourself to a variety of interventions as not all clients “fit” with all modalities used.
It’s Okay if it Takes Time: I found myself comparing myself to others who went through the process faster or took a different route. This process is a unique one and one that is worth taking your time on. I love and am very passionate about play therapy and part of this process is developing your own passion. This takes time. Be gentle with yourself as financial or general life constraints may come up.
Tips and Tricks
Double Supervision: I was beginning to work toward my LCSW when I decided that I wanted to become a Registered Play Therapist and decided to work toward both at the same time. If you are provisionally licensed, you need supervision anyway so I “double dipped” my supervision and got a supervisor that was both a LCSW and RPT-S (registered play therapy supervisor). This meant that everytime I went to supervision I was able to count that hour for both my LCSW hours and RPT hours. This is a huge way you can save money. If you are currently looking for a job, keep that in mind when searching!
Training Bundles: RPT trainings can be expensive! Maybe your organization has a training budget or continuing education budget that you can use (yay) but chances are it won’t cover your entire RPT training. Look out for deals and bundles on trainings. This can save you money in the long run. There are some great local (to St. Louis) universities (UMSL) and training organizations (BMH Connect and Heartland Play) that offer all the play therapy training and supervision you will need for your RPT! These can definitely be a great way to get your RPT!
Get Some Exposure: If you are curious about play therapy but aren’t quite sure if you want to become a registered play therapist I highly suggest exposing yourself to play therapy and gaining some experience. Reach out to a Registered Play Therapist and ask to get coffee, get an internship at an organization that does play therapy (like Bud to Bloom!), or take a training about play therapy (also at Bud to Bloom!)
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