Contributed by Dafna Lender
Video Intervention Therapy
Using Client's Home Videos as a Clinical ToolWhat if you and your clients could play back their everyday interactions outside of therapy, moment by moment, to uncover blind spots and reimagine family... Read more
The PACE Attitude
A Guide for ParentsThe PACE attitude is a way of interacting with your child, especially around difficult topics or situations, that will help them feel less defensive and more... Read more
When senseless tragedy turns a child's world upside down, parents are looking for mental health support for the whole family. Read more
Awakening the Playful Self
A Depressed Client Rediscovers ConnectionMost therapies are missing out on a fundamental tool for healing when they ignore the power of feeling playful embodiment with others. To help our clients grow... Read more
Doing Our Own Work Differently
An EMDR Portal to Our Clients’ HealingHow stepping outside our comfort zone when doing our own work can change therapy for our clients. Read more
"Networker Live" with Dafna Lender
Intergenerational TraumaThe Networker's director of CE, Zach Taylor, sat down for a live conversation and Q&A with therapist and author Dafna Lender, discussing Dafna's recent... Read more
A New Family Narrative
Transforming Intergenerational TraumaThe key to working with a family may be getting parents to see the intergenerational trauma underlying present-day issues. Read more
Some Days Are Too Much
A Therapist Gets Real about Families Struggling to Cope in QuarantineSome clients in quarantine with their families report a constant feeling of being out of control. That danger lurks around the corner of every family... Read more
VIDEO: Using Play with Adults in Therapy
Dafna Lender Demonstrates Three Proven TechniquesAny therapist who works with kids will tell you that incorporating play in therapy is a great way to break the ice, reduce anxiety, and strengthen the... Read more
VIDEO: Dafna Lender on Harnessing Your Social Engagement System
Strategies for Building the Therapeutic Alliance More EasilyWe all know therapists who seem magically able to establish a powerful sense of trust and connection with even the most distrusting clients. But are there... Read more
A Playful Path to Attachment
A Mother and Adopted Daughter Learn to BondThrough games that encourage small moments of laughter, a struggling mother and her adopted daughter learn a different way to bond. Read more
Tuning into Attunement
How to Harness Your Social Engagement SystemWe all know people who have the magic touch when it comes to relating to others. They can instantly connect with strangers and put people at ease without even... Read more
Daring to Play
The Challenge of Embracing Our Youngest ClientsAlthough they make up nearly a quarter of the population, children are rarely a central part of therapists’ practices. Why? The most effective interventions... Read more
Dafna Lender
Dafna Lender, LCSW, is an international trainer and supervisor for practitioners who work with children and families. She is a certified trainer and supervisor/consultant in both Theraplay and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP). Dafna’s expertise is drawn from 25 years of working with families with attachment in many settings: at-risk after school programs, therapeutic foster care, in-home crisis stabilization, residential care and private practice. Dafna’s style, whether as a therapist or teacher, is combining the light-hearted with the profound by bringing a playful, intense and passionate presence to every encounter. Dafna is the co-author of Theraplay: The Practitioner’s Guide (2020). She teaches and supervises clinicians in 15 countries in 3 languages: English, Hebrew and French. Visit her website.