PlayfulPooch > Training

About the Human and Animal Presenters...

RISË VANFLEET, Ph.D.
Dr. Risë VanFleet is the Founder and President of the Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc. in Boiling Springs, Pennsylvania, an organization specializing in the training and supervision of child, family, andplay therapy professionals as well as the provision of mental health services for children and families. She holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and The Pennsylvania State University. A licensed psychologist in Pennsylvania, Dr. VanFleet is also a certified Filial Therapy therapist, supervisor, and instructor, a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor, and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant. She specializes in strengthening family relationships through play, and has subspecialties in chronic medical illness, disaster mental health, child/family trauma and attachment interventions using play therapy and Filial Therapy, and the training and involvement of animals in play therapy. She also provides family-oriented positive dog training and behavior consultation.

Dr. VanFleet brings over 35 years of clinical, supervisory, and leadership experience in community mental health, health care, education, and independent practice settings to her workshops. She has trained and supervised thousands of clinicians internationally.

Risë is the author of Filial Therapy: Strengthening Parent-Child Relationships Through Play, A Parent’s Handbook of Filial Play Therapy, coauthor of Child-Centered Play Therapy, coeditor of the Casebook of Filial Therapy, and author/photographer of The Faces of Play. Her book, Play Therapy with Kids & Canines, won a major writing award. She has written dozens of chapters and articles, several of which have earned writing awards. Her materials have been used by professionals and families in over 70 countries, and her writings have been translated into several languages. She is featured on three best-selling play therapy DVD workshops: Child-Centered Play Therapy, Overcoming Resistance: Engaging Parents in Play Therapy, and Introduction to Filial Therapy, as well an American Psychological Association DVD, Filial Play Therapy.

Dr. VanFleet has been the inaugural honoree for three major play therapy and training awards: the Bernard G. and Louise F. Guerney Award for Outstanding Contributions to Practice and Training in Filial Therapy (The Association for Filial and Relationship Enhancement Methods), the Play Therapy Professional Education and Training Award (The Association for Play Therapy), and the Louise and Bernard Guerney Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Play Therapy (Pennsylvania Association for Play Therapy). She is a cofounder of the International Collaborative on Play Therapy and a Past President/Board Chair of the Association for Play Therapy.

Risë is also involved in the development, practice, ethics, and research of Animal Assisted Play Therapy, and regularly works with one of her dogs in Canine Assisted Play Therapy. She is the Director of the Playful Pooch Program, a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (IAABC), an Approved Evaluator for the AKC’s Canine Good Citizen? program, a member of the Dog Writers‘ Association of America, and a frequent contributor to the Association of Pet Dog Trainers‘ Chronicle of the Dog. Her Play Therapy with Kids & Canines book was the 2008 winner of the Planet Dog Foundation’s Sit-Speak-Act Canine Service Award given by the Dog Writers Association of America. She also received a Maxwell Award in the 2009 DWAA writing competition for best magazine series related to dogs. In addition to her work in the play/family therapy field, Dr. VanFleet is President of VanFleet Associates, an organizational development and training firm, an accomplished pianist, and an award-winning nature photographer specializing in Alaskan wildlife.

Risë can be contacted at:
Family Enhancement & Play Therapy Center, Inc. / Playful Pooch Program
PO Box 613, Boiling Springs, PA 17007 USA
717-249-4707
risevanfleet@aol.com

TRACIE FAA-THOMPSON
Tracie Faa-Thompson, BA, Social Work, MA, Crim, PG NDPT, Clin Hypno, Cert EAGALA. Tracie is a specialist social worker in adoption working with traumatised children and their adoptive and foster families. She is a British Association of Play Therapists-registered play therapist who uses a mix of individual play therapy, filial therapy, and group filial methods. Tracie is a practice teacher of social work students and a trainer in Life Story Work and Attachment Theory. Hailing from a Scottish/Romany Traveller family Tracie has grown up with dogs and horses as integral to her native culture. As a clinical hypnotherapist, Tracie incorporates Eye Movement Integration with Emotional Freedom Technique as an effective approach to trauma. Tracie is a member of the Classical Riding Club and Natural Horse People. She is the Founder of Turn About Pegasus, an Equine Assisted Programme for at risk youth. Tracie is EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) certified, dual approved as both mental health and horse specialist. She is the founder and, for 20 years, the Chairman of her local Riding for the Disabled Centre until its recent amalgamation with another purpose-built centre.

Tracie has a life time of experience of living and working with dogs and horses and over 25 years of working with vulnerable children and families. Tracie believes that patience and a focus on building relationships and partnerships are the key to healing. She is the author of numerous manuals, articles, and training programs on attachment and resilience, life story work, sibling contact in adoption, introductions of adoptive families and children, EAGALA, and Animal Assisted Play Therapy.

Tracie lives in rural North Northumberland in the United Kingdom on a rural estate with husband and best friend Michael, her 3 dogs and 3 horses.

Tracie can be contacted at:
Turn About Pegasus
(44) 01289 388 411
playtherapyfaa@yahoo.co.uk
www.turnaboutpegasus.co.uk

Suzanne Clothier
Suzanne Clothier has been working with animals professionally since 1977, with a deep background of experience that includes obedience, agility, puppy testing, breeding, Search and Rescue, conformation, instructing, kennel management and canine midwifery. She is well respected for her holistic, Relationship Centered Dog Training™ to dogs and the people that love them. Whether the audience is companion dog owners or experienced trainers, Suzanne's broad knowledge, common sense and humor offer exciting, practical information and approaches that will enhance the dog/human relationship.

She has taught in the US, Canada, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Japan, Australia and New Zealand for groups as varied as Wolf Park, NADOI, Association of Pet Dog Trainers, FEMA (Northeast Region Disaster Dog Teams), Alaskan Dog Musher Association, Chicago Anti-Cruelty Society, AKC Obedience judges, many national specialties, and numerous obedience, agility, breed, rescue, shelter and SAR groups.

An award winning author of videos, books, booklets and numerous articles, Suzanne has written articles for the AKC Gazette, Dog Fancy, Dogs In Canada, Off Lead, Clean Run, Wolf Clan and breed magazines and newsletters around the world. She served as a committee member for the AKC’s Agility Advisory Board, and as a committee member of the American Humane Association’s Task Force for the Development of Humane Standards in Dog Training.

Her book, Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships With Dogs has received wide spread praise from every corner of the dog world, including twice being included in the Wall Street Journal's list of Top 5 Dog Books. Bones has been translated into German, Italian and Croatian.

From 2007-2010, she served as a consultant to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, one of the world's largest guide dog schools. Her Relationship Centered Training philosophy served as the structure for the updating of GEB's puppy raising program. Additionally, Suzanne developed a new puppy testing protocol, a broodstock/IFT (in for training) test.

In 2007, she developed an exciting new temperament assessment tool, CARAT (Clothier Animal Response Assessment Tool). She is also the developer of the Relationship Assessment Tool (RAT). Currently, she is involved in a number of research projects involving CARAT and RAT, and as of 2011, will be teaching seminars on these exciting new tools.

A German Shepherd breeder for 24+ years, her Hawks Hunt German Shepherds have been successful in obedience, agility, SAR, tracking, herding and therapy work; she is also the co-breeder of a National Specialty BOB Brittany. She lives on a working farm in upstate New York with husband John Rice, and their considerable animal family of dogs, cats, parrots, tortoises, Scottish Highland cattle, horses, donkeys, pigs and more.

Some of the welcoming committee at Suzanne's farm where we will hold the AAPT trainings in 2012:

Kirrie is a trained play therapy dog. She is a 8-year-old rescued Border Collie mix. Kirrie will assist with the workshop, and other dogs will be available for work during the training as well.

Sailor is an 11-year-old Gypsy Vanner. His motto in life is that strangers are friends he hasn't met yet! DVD clips of Sailor's work will be shown during the training, and other horses will be available for demonstrations.