Navigating the Seven Core Issues in Play Therapy with Adoptive Children

Description

(February 2026) 

Adoption weaves layers of emotion and experience into a child’s play and relationships, often in ways that can be both challenging and deeply meaningful. In this session, you’ll uncover how the Seven Core Issues in Adoption—loss, rejection, guilt/shame, grief, identity, intimacy, and mastery/control—show up in the play therapy room. Through practical tools and strategies, you’ll learn to spot these themes as they unfold, guide adoptive children in expressing complex feelings through play, and collaborate with caregivers to nurture their child’s healing and strengthen identity development.

Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker is a licensed psychologist, international/transracial adoptee of color, and an adoptive parent. She specializes in providing mental health support focused on adoption, trauma, and racial identity work through her private practice based in Denver, Colorado. [readmore] She is a speaker and trainer at adoption agencies, camps, and conferences worldwide, the creator of the National Adoptee-Therapist Directory, and the author of “The Adoptee Self-Reflection Journal,” “The Adoptive Parent Self-Reflection Journal,” and the “Adoptees Like Me” illustrated series for elementary readers. Learn more at GrowBeyondWords.com.

Sabra Starnes, LICSW, LCSW-C, LCSW,M.Ed RPT-S™, is an experienced trainer, speaker, and owner of Next Place Therapy Services, LLC, a group practice supporting children, teens, and families through play therapy and trauma-informed care. A sought-after national presenter, Sabra offers engaging, practical trainings focused on play therapy, sandtray, adoption, foster care, cultural humility, and clinical supervision. She creates and designs her own training courses and is an Approved Continuing Education Provider for the Association for Play Therapy (APT), National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), and Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). She is a Certified Daring Way™ Facilitator with advanced training in Brainspotting, EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Sandtray Therapy, Theraplay®, and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). Sabra is also the founder of Next Place Therapy Foundation, a nonprofit supporting adoptees, and adoptive families nationwide. Drawing from her personal and professional experiences as an adoptee and therapist, she specializes in attachment-based and expressive therapies. Learn more at SabraStarnes.com.

watch time: 94 minutes

Eligible Certificate of Completion time: 90 minutes