Renae is the founder and director of Play Therapy SA, a thriving private practice with five clinics located throughout South Australia, and 10 Play Therapists on the team.

In addition to her clinical work, Renae also takes on the role of supervisor, offering group and individual supervision to Play Therapists across Australia and New Zealand. Renae’s focus is on empowering her supervisees, building skills and confidence within themselves to best meet the needs of their clients.

Renae is also the founder and director of Play Therapy School, where she has developed a comprehensive clinical training program in Child-Centered Play Therapy

Kylie Ellison- BA (Psyc), PostGradDip Psyc, MCoun&Psychotherapy, Advanced Clinical Training (Play Therapy)

Kylie is a registered counsellor, registered play therapist and play therapist supervisor who has been working with children, young people and families in the human services field for the past 18 years.

Kylie commenced her career working alongside mental health practitioners in adult mental health, before moving into the area of child protection and disabilities.

More recently Kylie has discovered a passion for child centered play therapy as a way of working alongside children and their parents/ carers. In 2016 Kylie established Centre for Play Therapy, an organisation committed to supporting children to work through difficult feelings and experiences through the provision of child centred play therapy services. Today the organisation operates across Queensland, with a commitment to expanding services across Australia to reach more communities in the future.

In 2021 along with Centre for Play Therapy, Kylie co- founded Play Therapy Training Australia, to offer a professional training program and provide a pathway to registration as a play therapist for professionals in Australia.

Along with overseeing both companies, Kylie is the founder and President of the Play Therapy Practitioners Association, a professional association established for those interested in or trained as play therapists in Australia.

Kylie is passionate about creating a community of play therapy practitioners that fosters access to training and therapy services along with advocacy for play therapy in both the community and professional arenas.

After stumbling through a business degree and reluctantly starting a law degree, Lauren finally found my feet in the world of creatives and chatterboxes, eagerly finishing a degree in Comms majoring in Entertainment and Public Relations. After starting out in children’s television (thank you Totally Wild and Scope),  she discovered a desire for sharing interesting stories and innovative ideas that excite and inspire.

Lauren had the incredible opportunity to work alongside the amazing TEDx Brisbane team before becoming part of the exceptionally talented WhyNot Editorial Committee to help deliver content for young people across Australia that is both relevant and thought provoking, building an online community of like-minded, inspired and passionate individuals.

Currently she is finding her feet with the Business Models Inc. crew as a mashup of her skill set in comms, stakeholder engagement and project management to deliver projects that will shift the way businesses, organisations and the community think.

Post-Graduate Certificate (Child-centred Play Therapy)

Emma is a registered Early Childhood Professional and qualified Play Therapist working with children and families on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. Emma created Inspiring Play: Play Therapy & Early Intervention Service offering Child-Centred Play Therapy.

Emma has worked in the Early Childhood Sector over the past 20 years, as a Teacher, Early Intervention Facilitator, Play Therapist and Lead eKindy Teacher for rural and remote kindy programs.

Emma is passionate about the role of play in fostering a healthy childhood, her work with children has provided her with a rich and varied range of experiences. Her practice draws upon play-based, holistic and evidence-based methods of therapeutic support. She enjoys bringing creativity, joy and fun to her early intervention sessions.

Emma is particularly interested in the areas of neurodiversity, trauma, anxiety and children’s well-being. She is committed to empowering parents to cultivate deeper parent-child connections and family relationships.

I am a proud Gooreng Gooreng woman and traditional owner of the Gladstone region. I hold a Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology / Sociology) and Masters of Social Work (Professional Qualifying).

I am a highly dedicated mental health social worker and business owner, and welcome the opportunity to share my personal, professional and cultural knowledges with the Play Therapy Practitioners Association. I am a Registered Play Therapist and value to professional integrity, social justice and respect for all people. As the Cultural Advisor of this organisation, I commit to ensuring this association and its Directors and Members are delivering culturally responsive and appropriate care for families and children accessing Play Therapy.

PostGradCert (Child-centred Play Therapy), NLP Practitioner, BA, PostGradDip Psych, Learn to Play Therapist

Rose is a play therapist who works with children in private practice, as well as part of a multidisciplinary early childhood development team, on Kaurna Land in Adelaide.

Following a writing career and years of solo travel around the world, Rose indulged her inner child’s call to support others in finding their voice and place in the world, through the powers of play and creative expression.

A proud ADHDer and member of the LGBT+ community, Rose is especially curious about neurodiversity, anxiety, identity, creativity, and the brain – and the ways in which they interplay across the lifespan.

BA, BEd, MEd, Dip.Counselling, Post-Graduate Clinical Training in Play Therapy

Katrina has dedicated her working life to supporting young people and their families to explore and overcome challenges and achieve successful rewarding outcomes. She is a fiercely passionate advocate for supporting young people to identify, encourage and celebrate their strengths and talents.

She has decades of special education and support experience, and has worked across education sectors as a classroom Music Teacher, Learning Support Specialist Teacher, Head of Learning Support, Children and Family Counsellor, and Play Therapist.

After decades of experience, supporting families in the education sector, Katrina was compelled to pursue a diversified career in Play Therapy as she had experience the many benefits of child directed play in supporting children, overcoming learning difficulties. She wanted to find out more about how she could make a difference, therapeutically with children and their families through Play Therapy.

Katrina established The Butterfly to bring together the benefits of Play Therapy, Educational Therapy and Counselling to support children and their families.