Our Story
A Time For Play
Our story traces back to Hurricane Harvey, which decimated Houston and particularly the city’s Jewish community. In the wake of the devastation, Alexander JFS recognized the need to develop a children’s mental health program to address the flood related trauma that so much of the community was struggling with. Steven was brought on to the behavioral health team to bring trauma-focused treatment interventions for children to the agency. He brought with him a heart full of Play Therapy.
In 2018, Steven was promoted to manager of the children’s mental health program and began assembling a team of clinicians. Emily joined that team in 2018 with some background experience in Play Therapy. Alexander JFS raised funds to support Emily in acquiring additional Play Therapy training and hopefully her credential but there were very few Play Therapy training opportunities. Faced with the choice of sending Emily to Austin or Dallas for substantial Play Therapy training, the team was forced to rethink their limited budgetary funds.
Dr. Cheung recognized the opportunity and encouraged Steven to go through the credentialing process to become an APT Approved Provider of Continuing Education. Steven was initially credentialed as an APT Approved Provider in 2019!
Ada challenged Steven to develop a Play Training CE event. Steven returned with a short 2-hour CE idea, and Ada said to make it bigger! So, Steven returned with a half-day training, and Ada said to make it bigger. So, Steven came back with a full day training, and as you can imagine, Ada said to make it bigger! After months of research and development, he created a 150-hour curriculum based on essential Play Therapy theory, skills, and methods.
Season 1 of A Time for Play launched in the Fall 2019. It consisted of 15 eight-hour training days and a list of homework assignments. Our first cohort was a diverse blend of 7 clinicians including Emily and Dr. Cheung. Our first BIPOC scholarship was awarded to Jasmine Major, a clinical social work student intern at the time.
For Season 2, the program was restructured into 20 six-hour trainings offered on Fridays. Season 2, (Fall 2020 – Spring 2021), welcomed a dedicated cohort of 5 clinicians. This season was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, which forced the program to pivot to virtual training for the safety of participants. Steven redesigned the curriculum to fit within a virtual learning environment. The A Time for Play Team also compiled telehealth resources and provided a Telehealth and Play Therapy workshop numerous times throughout the pandemic to support the community.
Season 3 was offered completely virtually with a cohort of 11 clinicians from across the United States. Providing the series virtually allowed us to welcome clinicians from New York to Hawaii. Season 3 was the first year we were able to offer a non-profit discount, in addition to the annual BIPOC Scholarship. Also in Season 3, we created our official logo launched a website, with support from Baysanet Solutions.
For Season 4, (Fall 2022 – Spring 2023), and in response to the Association for Play Therapy’s determination of contact versus non-contact CE hours, we chose to offer the program in two tracks. The full season, with a 150-hours of CE, became an in-person only training opportunity to comply with APTs credentialing requirements. For Season 4 we welcomed a cohort of 8 clinicians. Additionally, we continued to offer an abridged virtual track of trainings to promote accessibility to Play Therapy theories, skills, and methods. In Season 4 we outgrew the boardroom of Alexander JFS and transitioned to offering trainings at Congregation Emanu El. It was also this year that we adopted Unicorn Jo as our official mascot and began selling branded merchandise to fundraise for program scholarships.
Season 5, Fall 2023 – Spring 2024, we welcomed our largest cohort ever of 19 clinicians including three scholarship recipients. We also transitioned to our current training location at United Way of Greater Houston. Summer 2024, we launched our A Time for Play Louisiana program – a week of in-person Play Therapy workshops in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Season 6, Fall 2024 – Spring 2025, is currently supporting a cohort of 8 clinicians through the full program. Additionally, we welcome clinicians from all over the greater Houston area and beyond to our in-person workshops and from all over the country and world into our virtual workshops. A Time for Play has settled into its training location at United Way Houston. Besides a website, the program has developed a registration portal through the platform CE-Go and continues to expand programming. In 2025, A Time for Play restructured itself into an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization.
A Time for Play continues to strive towards its mission of expanding access to Play Therapy primarily by educating mental health professionals on the theories, skills, methods, and interventions of Play Therapy. A Time for Play offers hundreds of hours of Play Therapy Continuing Education each year. A Time for Play seeks to diversify the Play Therapy profession through expanding scholarship opportunities to clinicians in need and supporting clinicians throughout the learning and credentialing process. The organization continues to offer a wide variety of continuing education workshops in-person, virtually, by request, and on-demand.
Donate Now
A Time for Play seeks to diversify the field of Play Therapy by providing scholarship opportunities to clinicians in need. Please consider submitting a tax-deductible donation to our organization. All donations received will go toward scholarship opportunities for clinicians in need who are working in high-impact contexts.
Play Therapy Training Series
SOCIAL MEDIA
CONTACT
56 Sugar Creek Center Blvd
Sugar Land, Texas 77478
979-464-9744
Steven@ATimeforPlay.org
* A Time for Play is an independent 501c3 nonprofit organization.