Reinstalling Hope: Play Therapy for Children Experiencing Sexual and Physical Abuse.

Karen Ewing, M.S., LPC-S, RPT is a Licensed Professional Counselor and a Registered Play Therapist. She is a clinical supervisor at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County, and also in private practice with Payson Counseling Group. Karen provides counseling services, both individual and group therapy sessions to children who have been victims of sexual and physical abuse, traumatic grief and neglect, and their non-offending family members. Karen also supervises Mater’s Level Interns, LPC Associates and clinical staff at the center. Karen’s base theoretical model is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; she uses a multi-modal approach in therapy, tailoring her approach to each individual client needs. Karen is EMDR trained and working on her certifications in EMDR and Trauma Play Therapy. She has received training in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Trust-Based Relational Therapy, Child-Parent Relational Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Phase Based Treatment of Problematic Sexual Behavior in Children, Child and Family Traumatic Stress Intervention, EMDR, Trauma Play and Play Therapy. Karen has presented at multiple conferences including the International Symposium on Child Abuse, Texas Association for Play Therapy, NAMI of North Texas Conference, amongst others. Karen received her bachelor’s in psychology and her Master’s of Counseling at Texas A&M University-Commerce. Outside of her clinical work, Karen also volunteers as a choir director for 2nd and 3rd grade children’s choir at her church and has been the co-director of a children’s camp for over 20 years.

Kelly Pullen, M.A., LPC-S, RPTTM RST is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Registered Play Therapist, and Registered Sand Therapist, certified in TraumaPlayTM and waiting for her papers to clear for her EMDR certification. With over 15 years of dedicated service at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County, Kelly provides comprehensive individual, group, and family therapy services for children and families navigating trauma. A respected leader in the clinical community, she supervises numerous clinicians, helping shape the next generation of trauma-informed practitioners. Kelly is also a sought-after speaker who has shared her expertise at major conferences nationwide, including Texas Association of Play Therapy, and the National Children's Advocacy Center as well as being chosen as the Keynote speaker for the Texas SandTray Association. Kelly has contributed to several books as well as coauthored 2 articles on Child Abuse. Kelly was awarded Child Advocate of the Year award in 2019, a peer nominated, prestigious award recognizing individuals who have demonstrated exceptional, fierce, dedication and advocacy in working with child abuse and neglect cases throughout Collin County. Kelly was honored to serve as the Chapter Representative for North Texas Chapter of APT in 2019. She is a proud member of the "Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of 2004 as well as received her Master’s from Dallas Theological Seminary. In her spare time, she likes to workout, do puzzles, watch college football spend time with friends and laugh.