About the Play Strong Institute
Get to know the folks at the Play Strong Institute at The Center for Connection, the team of developers behind the PlayStrong approach. We offer more in-depth training and resources for parents and professionals.
The Center for Connection
The Center for Connection has gathered under one roof a team of dedicated and expert practitioners from various fields—psychology, social work, pediatrics, educational and occupational therapy, neuropsychology, parent education, speech and language therapy, and on and on—with each practitioner offering a connection-based perspective. Kids and adults who visit receive multidisciplinary treatment that is consistent, well informed, relationally based, and always aimed at helping them grow and thrive.
NOW AVAILABLE: THE CENTER FOR CONNECTION IS OFFERING THERAPY AND PARENTING SUPPORT VIA PHONE AND/OR VIDEO. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO GET INFORMATION ABOUT AN APPOINTMENT FOR OUR SERVICES INCLUDING INDIVIDUAL THERAPY, COUPLES THERAPY, AND PARENTING SUPPORT.
Play Strong Institute
The Center for Connection Play Strong Institute has created the PlayStrong approach, a parenting education framework for strengthening parent-child attachment, building calm emotional regulation, reducing parental stress, and developing child and family resilience.
PlayStrong can be presented in a therapeutic format, parenting classes, and interactive parent-child play groups designed to enhance parents’ ability to provide their children: safety and security, empathy and nurturing, calm discipline, self-regulation, and the building blocks of emotional resilience. Our aim is to meet the immediate needs of families who have been affected by trauma, and children who are identified as being at risk for one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).
We have also partnered with several agencies who have received extensive training in the PlayStrong strategies and are currently providing supportive play to the children and families they serve.
PlayStrong is heavily informed by the latest neuroscience research that tells us how trauma impacts the young child’s developing brain, along with the kinds of positive relationship experiences children need to rewire healthy connections and provide a layer of protective factors, or “Trauma Teflon”.
The single greatest predictor of a child’s resilience, or ability to recover after adversity, is a secure attachment relationship with at least one dependable adult. One of our primary goals is to strengthen love and security in the parent-child relationship to counteract relational stress and develop family resilience.
Meet the PSI Team
Our team of experts, including psychologists, infant mental health specialists, parenting educators, occupational and play therapists have designed a way of leveraging collaborative play with children, a process that relies primarily on non-verbal interaction, to protect parents and children from the negative effects of chronic stress and trauma.
Dr. Tina Payne Bryson, PhD
Founder & Executive Director, The Center for Connection
Dr. Tina Payne Bryson is the author of Bottom Line for Baby (due out next year) and the co-author (with Dan Siegel) of THE YES BRAIN (Random House Bantam January 2018) and the upcoming The Power of Showing Up, as well as two New York Times bestsellers: THE WHOLE-BRAIN CHILD (Random House Delacorte 2011) and NO-DRAMA DISCIPLINE (Random House Bantam 2014), each of which has been translated into over thirty languages. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Connection, a multidisciplinary clinical practice, and of The Play Strong Institute, a center devoted to the study, research, and practice of play therapy through a neurodevelopmental lens. She keynotes conferences and conducts workshops for parents, educators, and clinicians all over the world. The most important part of her bio, she says, is that she is a mom to her three boys. You can learn more about Dr. Bryson at TinaBryson.com, where you can subscribe to her blog and read her articles about children and parenting.
Dr. Bryson is a pediatric and adolescent psychotherapist who makes frequent media appearances and keynotes conferences, and conducts workshops for parents, educators, and clinicians all over the world. She is the Child Development Specialist at Saint Mark’s School in Altadena, CA, and the Director of Child Development for Camp Chippewa in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Tina earned her PhD from the University of Southern California, where her research explored attachment science, childrearing theory, and the emerging field of interpersonal neurobiology.
Tina emphasizes that before she’s a psychotherapist, or author, or anything else, she’s a mom. She limits her clinical practice and speaking engagements so that she can spend time with her family. Alongside her husband of 21 years, parenting her three boys is what makes her happiest: “As I’ve studied attachment and childrearing theory and the science of how brains work, I’ve been able to apply that knowledge and let it help me parent more the way I want: lovingly, intentionally, and effectively.”
Tina’s professional life now focuses on taking research and theory from various fields of science, and offering it in a way that’s clear, realistic, humorous, and immediately helpful. As she puts it, “For parents, clinicians, and teachers, learning about how kids’ (and their own) brains work is surprisingly practical, informing how they approach discipline, how they help kids deal with everyday struggles, and ultimately how they connect with the children they care about.”
Georgie Wisen-Vincent, LMFT RPT-S
Managing Director & Head of Faculty, Play Strong Institute
Georgie Wisen-Vincent, LMFT RPT-S is the Managing Director and Head of Faculty for the Play Strong Institute, a continuing education and training organization for professionals and parents. She is a Teaching Professor in the Play Therapy Program at Loma Linda University and a Clinical Supervisor of Play Therapy Practicum at the Loma Linda Behavioral Health Institute.
Georgie has the distinction of earning a postgraduate Master’s Degree in Child Centered Play Therapy at the University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom. She maintains a private practice working with children and families at The Center for Connection in Pasadena, CA, headed by Founder and Executive Director Tina Payne Bryson, PhD, co-author with Daniel Siegel, MD, of The Whole Brain Child, No Drama Discipline, The Yes Brain, and The Power of Showing Up.
Georgie is a frequent speaker to parents and professional audiences on the topics of Play Therapy, Collaborative Parent-Child Play, and the Neuroscience of Play. She is also a Member of the British Association of Play Therapists and the American Association for Play Therapy.
