Black Play Therapy Foundation

03/05/2026

03/04/2026

It’s Official. Early Registration Is Now Open.

The work of protecting Black childhood cannot wait, and neither should you.

Join us for the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium:

Reclaiming Black Childhood: Identifying and Disrupting Cognitive Biases Behind the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

Early Bird pricing is limited and will increase.

The 2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium is happening July 10-11, and we want YOU there.

Be in the room where change begins.

💜 12 CE Hours Available for Mental Health Professionals.

EARLY BIRD PRICING: $489 (Save $100!) Regular Registration: $589

This symposium is for mental health professionals, educators, parents, advocates, and anyone committed to protecting Black childhood.

Over two days, you’ll: 

- Examine the cognitive biases driving the school-to-prison pipeline.
- Gain practical tools to interrupt bias in real time.
- Learn from professionals across the continuum.
- Participate in LEGO® Serious Play activities.
- Build community with others doing this work.
- Party at Grown Folks Recess Friday night!

Don’t wait. Secure your spot at the early bird rate.

Register now on the Black Play Therapy website!

Be in the room where change begins.

Unicorn Life Training, #2031, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 01/24/2026 – 01/24/2029. Social workers participating in this symposium will receive up to 12 continuing education credits.

Up to 12 Contact CEs Sponsored by Unicorn Life Training APT Approved Provider 18-532

Play Therapy CEs Available to Mental Health Professionals & Graduate Students in a Mental Health Program.

Black Play Therapy Symposium has been approved by NBCC for NBCC credit. Unicorn Life Training is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. NBCC Approval No. SP-4918.

03/04/2026

It’s Official. Early Registration Is Now Open.

The work of protecting Black childhood cannot wait, and neither should you.

Join us for the 2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium:

Reclaiming Black Childhood: Identifying and Disrupting Cognitive Biases Behind the School-to-Prison Pipeline.

Early Bird pricing is limited and will increase.

The 2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium is happening July 10-11, and we want YOU there.

Be in the room where change begins.

💜 12 CE Hours Available for Mental Health Professionals.

EARLY BIRD PRICING: $489 (Save $100!) Regular Registration: $589

This symposium is for mental health professionals, educators, parents, advocates, and anyone committed to protecting Black childhood.

Over two days, you'll:

- Examine the cognitive biases driving the school-to-prison pipeline.
- Gain practical tools to interrupt bias in real time.
- Learn from professionals across the continuum.
- Participate in LEGO® Serious Play activities.
- Build community with others doing this work.
- Party at Grown Folks Recess Friday night!

Don't wait. Secure your spot at the early bird rate.

Register now on the Black Play Therapy website!

Be in the room where change begins.

Unicorn Life Training, #2031, is approved as an ACE provider to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Regulatory boards are the final authority on courses accepted for continuing education credit. ACE provider approval period: 01/24/2026 – 01/24/2029. Social workers participating in this symposium will receive up to 12 continuing education credits.

Up to 12 Contact CEs Sponsored by Unicorn Life Training APT Approved Provider 18-532

Play Therapy CEs Available to Mental Health Professionals & Graduate Students in a Mental Health Program.

Black Play Therapy Symposium has been approved by NBCC for NBCC credit. Unicorn Life Training is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. NBCC Approval No. SP-4918.

03/02/2026

MEET OUR PANELIST: Audrice Johnson 💜

What happens when systems fail Black children, and what does it look like when they arrive on the other side of the pipeline?

While some panelists have experience working in schools, child welfare, and community mental health, Audrice works in a regional jail. She sees what happens when every intervention fails. When every bias compounds. When the pipeline delivers exactly what it was designed to deliver.

Audrice represents the voice from inside the correctional system, the end of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Audrice isn’t just bearing witness. She’s doing the work. She brings play therapy, developmental restoration, healing, reclamation, into spaces where Black youth have been told they’re beyond saving.

Audrice brings 25 years of cross-system expertise to our Breaking Free from Bias panel. From schools to jails, she’s witnessed how the pipeline operates, and she’s committed to dismantling it.

Her work inside the correctional system asks the hard question: Can we restore what was stolen?

Join us to find out.

Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field. Friday, July 10, 2026 | 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM
Hotel Belvoir, Springfield VA (just outside of WDC)

03/02/2026

MEET OUR PANELIST: Audrice Johnson 💜

What happens when systems fail Black children, and what does it look like when they arrive on the other side of the pipeline?

While some panelists have experience working in schools, child welfare, and community mental health, Audrice works in a regional jail. She sees what happens when every intervention fails. When every bias compounds. When the pipeline delivers exactly what it was designed to deliver.

Audrice represents the voice from inside the correctional system, the end of the school-to-prison pipeline.

Audrice isn't just bearing witness. She's doing the work. She brings play therapy, developmental restoration, healing, reclamation, into spaces where Black youth have been told they're beyond saving.

Audrice brings 25 years of cross-system expertise to our Breaking Free from Bias panel. From schools to jails, she's witnessed how the pipeline operates, and she's committed to dismantling it.

Her work inside the correctional system asks the hard question: Can we restore what was stolen?

Join us to find out.

Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field. Friday, July 10, 2026 | 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM
Hotel Belvoir, Springfield VA (just outside of WDC)

02/25/2026

2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium

July 10-11, 2026

Reclaiming Black Childhood: Identifying and Disrupting Cognitive Biases Behind the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Interactive Panel (July 10, 2026) - Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field

Real stories. Real systems. Real solutions.

What does bias actually look like in practice?

It looks like:

• A child labeled “defiant” instead of dysregulated.

• Trauma misread as aggression.

• Play interpreted as pathology.

This powerful panel brings together professionals who are confronting bias in real time, in therapy rooms, schools, and systems.

If you are serious about disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline, this conversation is essential.

2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium

Reclaiming Black Childhood

Register for one day or the full conference.

Continuing Education Hours Sponsored by Unicorn Life Training 💜🩷🩵

02/25/2026

2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium

July 10-11, 2026

Reclaiming Black Childhood: Identifying and Disrupting Cognitive Biases Behind the School-to-Prison Pipeline

Interactive Panel (July 10, 2026) - Breaking Free from Bias: Perspectives from the Field

Real stories. Real systems. Real solutions.

What does bias actually look like in practice?

It looks like:

• A child labeled “defiant” instead of dysregulated.

• Trauma misread as aggression.

• Play interpreted as pathology.

This powerful panel brings together professionals who are confronting bias in real time, in therapy rooms, schools, and systems.

If you are serious about disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline, this conversation is essential.

2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium

Reclaiming Black Childhood

Register for one day or the full conference.

02/21/2026

💜🖤 Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium

July 10-11 2026

Hotel Belvoir

Springfield VA (15 minutes outside of DC)

Unicorn Life Play Therapy

02/20/2026

2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium

Bias isn’t always loud.

Sometimes it looks like:
• Over-pathologizing Black play.
• Mislabeling trauma responses as aggression.
• Punishing emotional expression.

This 2026 symposium is for people who are ready to disrupt harm at the root.

Register at www.blackplaytherapy.com

02/20/2026

2026 Black Play Therapy Symposium

Bias isn’t always loud.

Sometimes it looks like:
• Over-pathologizing Black play.
• Mislabeling trauma responses as aggression.
• Punishing emotional expression.

This 2026 symposium is for people who are ready to disrupt harm at the root.

Register at www.blackplaytherapy.com


Unicorn Life Play Therapy

09/28/2025

Sometimes I can get on a one track mind. I’ve spent the last six or so years using LEGO (before LEGO it was sand tray) as a 3D healing medium that I forgot how much I enjoyed using art-based mediums for healing. I’ve been working through grief and loss over the past few months. A therapist recommended an art therapy retreat, so this week I participated in a 5-day online expressive healing retreat that ended on Friday. Here are some of my pieces. Man when I tell you how I had to survive in this visualization to get to safety in a cave🤔😳😩. I got in the cave doing a military crawl to not encounter the monsters 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣🤣🤣. I LOVED all of hearing the stories behind the art. Healing is definitely necessary for the healer too💜🖤