Description
Endings are one of the most emotionally significant and clinically important aspects of therapeutic work with children, yet they are often underexplored in training and practice. The process of saying goodbye can evoke a wide range of emotions for both the child and the therapist, including sadness, anxiety, relief, avoidance, or unresolved attachment needs. Within the playroom, endings are not simply administrative closures—they are meaningful relational experiences that can shape how a child understands loss, separation, and continuity in relationships.
This Continuing Professional Development (CPD) webinar explores the emotional, developmental, and ethical dimensions of therapeutic endings in play therapy. Participants will consider how attachment styles, previous experiences of loss, and relational patterns influence how children and therapists navigate the goodbye process. The training will also reflect on the therapist’s own emotional responses to endings, acknowledging the importance of awareness, containment, and reflective practice during this stage of therapy.
A key focus of the session will be the ethical principle of justice in endings, ensuring that all children experience consistency, clarity, and fairness as their therapeutic work concludes. Participants will explore how safe and secure endings contribute to emotional integration, resilience, and the ability to make sense of past experiences. The webinar will highlight how thoughtful and well-held endings can become a therapeutic intervention in their own right, offering children a meaningful experience of closure, continuity, and care.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this webinar participants will be able to:
Understand how different attachment styles and experiences of loss influence a child’s response to endings and goodbyes in therapy.
Recognise the emotional impact of endings on both children and therapists, including the importance of reflective awareness.
Apply the ethical principle of justice to ensure consistency, clarity, and fairness in therapeutic endings.
Explore the role of endings as a therapeutic process that supports integration, meaning-making, and emotional resilience.
Understand how secure endings can support children in reframing past relational experiences and losses.
Identify strategies for managing the closure process in a way that is developmentally appropriate and emotionally attuned.
Reflect on personal responses to endings and how these may influence therapeutic practice.
Develop confidence in holding endings in a way that supports containment, continuity, and emotional safety.
Why Attend?
Endings can be some of the most powerful moments in therapy, shaping how a child experiences loss, continuity, and relational security long after the work has finished. When handled with care and intention, they offer an opportunity for repair, integration, and emotional growth.
This webinar provides a reflective and practical space for therapists to deepen their understanding of endings and goodbyes, supporting them to navigate this process with greater confidence, emotional presence, and ethical clarity.
