Peer Play Psychotherapy: Unlocking the Power of Peer Relationships
Join expert Emily Fried, LCSW, for a webinar on Peer Play Psychotherapy—a powerful attachment-based therapy model for young children. Learn practical strategies to foster emotional development through peer relationships.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the elements of attachment theory that serve as the foundation of Peer Play Psychotherapy.
- Assess the mental health, behavioral and developmental needs of young children and form appropriate groups.
- Utilize psychotherapeutic techniques to create an emotionally responsive environment, where young children learn to negotiate peer relationships.
- Monitor and evaluate the progress of children engaged in Peer Play Psychotherapy using standardized screenings.
- Collaborate with parents, caregivers, and teachers to reinforce social-emotional skills established in the peer playgroup.
About Instructors
Emily Fried is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an expert in infant/early childhood, and perinatal mental health and development. Her clinical background and therapeutic approach are based in psychodynamic principles and attachment-based interventions. Emily has extensive knowledge of infant-parent attachment development and attachment disorders; trauma in infancy and early childhood; trauma in pregnancy and childbirth; assessment, diagnosis, and evaluation of infants and young children with developmental delays and disabilities; neurodevelopmental and neurobehavioral disorders; and meeting the clinical needs of neurodivergent children. Emily received her B.A. from Binghamton University and completed a dual degree for her graduate coursework.
Emily earned her MSW in Clinical Practice with a concentration in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy from Hunter College School of Social Work, and an MSEd in Infant-Parent Development and Early Intervention from Bank Street College of Education. Emily also completed a two-year fellowship, Relationships for Growth and Learning, at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services Institute for Infants, Children, and Families, where she trained in Peer Play Psychotherapy and early childhood mental health consultation. Emily holds an Infant Mental Health Endorsement (IMH-E®) as a Clinical Mentor and a Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C) in psychotherapy and perinatal loss. She is a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC), where she utilizes an infant/perinatal mental health approach in addressing breastfeeding challenges. Emily is also trained in FASCETS Treatment for Neurobehavioral Disorders and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), Infant-Parent Psychotherapy, and Solution Focused Brief Therapy. Emily has worked in a variety of settings, including community mental health, Head Start and early childhood centers, pediatric primary care clinics, and in private practice. Early in her career, Emily worked at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC), where she provided relationship-based trauma therapy to parents and children 0 – 6 years old, and young children with developmental delays. While working at Einstein, Emily was certified as a PCIT Within Agency Trainer. Emily also has 15 years of experience providing integrated behavioral health services in primary pediatric clinics. After moving to Colorado, she spent 10 years developing and overseeing integrated infant/early childhood mental health and integrated behavioral health programs for children birth through 21.
Emily is currently the HealthySteps Program Manager at Every Child Pediatrics, a non-profit group of safety-net clinics. She also owns a private practice where she provides relationship-based mental health care to infants, young children, and families, as well as Reflective Supervision/Consultation to infant/early childhood mental health providers.
