Clair Mellenthin, Tammi Van Hollander and Jennifer Lefebre – Play Therapy Innovative Attachment-Based Interventions to Treat Trauma, Emotional Dysregulation, and Behavioral Challenges

Meet Your Course Experts

Clair Mellenthin, LCSW, RPT-S is a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor and is the past president of the Utah Association for Play Therapy. Throughout her career, she has focused on providing therapy to children, teens, and their families. Clair is the director of Child and Adolescent Services at Wasatch Family Therapy. She is a sought-after supervisor, training graduate students and interns in play therapy, and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern California MSW program. Clair is the author of Play Therapy: Engaging & Powerful Techniques for the Treatment of Childhood Disorders (PESI, 2018) and My Many Colors of Me Workbook. (Self-Published, 2013). In addition to being an experienced play therapist and professor, she frequently presents professional play therapy and family therapy trainings and appears on local and national TV and radio as an expert on children and family issues.

Tammi Van Hollander, LCSW, RPT-S is a licensed clinical social worker and registered play therapist. She is the owner of Main Line Play Therapy in Bryn Mawr, PA, where she works with children and families and consults with local schools and community members. She is a certified Trainer for the Nurtured Heart Approach®, a certified FirstPlay® practitioner, trained in level one Theraplay® and EMDR.

Tammi’s work and creative interventions in the field of play therapy have been published and internationally recognized. Tammi is the author of a multi-sensory, attachment-based children’s book titled, Casey’s Greatness Wings: Teaching Mindfulness, Connection, and Courage to Children.

She specializes in attachment, sand tray play therapy & sensory integration working with infants, children, families, and adults of all ages. She is a regular faculty member at The Expressive Therapies Summit in NYC and LA. She is a sought-after expert for speaking engagements, podcast and webinars.

Jennifer Lefebre, PsyD, RPT-S is a clinical psychologist and Registered Play Therapist – Supervisor. Her clinical and research interests center on the assessment and treatment of children, adolescents, adults, and families whose lives have been impacted by complex trauma. She has extensive experience working with young children (0-5), adult survivors of severe childhood abuse and neglect, first responders, and combat veterans.

Dr. Lefebre is the clinical director at Healing the Child Within, a holistic trauma center in northwestern Connecticut, which integrates psychotherapy, yoga, and eastern philosophies into the treatment of complex trauma. She also provides clinical supervision and play therapy consultation throughout New England and online. She is also an infant and early childhood mental health consultant. She has worked in residential treatment, psychiatric inpatient, community mental health settings, and schools, while teaching both at the undergraduate and graduate level and providing trainings around the country.

She has received specialized training in many modalities, including Trauma Sensitive Yoga (TC-TSY), Trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), Attachment, Regulation and Competency (ARC), Sensory Motor Arousal Regulation Therapy (SMART), Theraplay, and Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT-A). She is working towards becoming an EMDRIA-approved consultant and is an EMDR (Level II) clinician.