CALL FOR PROPOSALS
AAP SUMMER WORKSHOP 2026
Callaway Resort and Gardens, Pine Mountain, GA,
June 24th to 28th, 2026
We invite you to be part of the program for next year’s Summer Workshop. Bring your curiosity, playfulness and wisdom to the community by leading or co-leading a workshop inspired by our theme:
The Playful Path: Exploring Authentic Connection
In times of stress and uncertainty, play can be a lifeline. Play can help us shake off our stressors and become more present in our bodies and with others. There are many ways to contemplate and engage in play: Play as performance, play as silliness, play as competition. Play can be solitary, grounding, and exploratory. Play can invoke levity and lightness, or it can be used as a defense or an act of aggression. Play can be connecting or used to work through hostility.
At Next Year’s Summer workshop, let’s walk the Playful Path together!
We invite you to draw from both your professional expertise and personal experiences to present experiential workshops that explore the use of play in connecting with self or others, and that enhance the psychotherapy process. We welcome workshops that explore creativity, cooperation, and fun as well as workshops that explore the darker sides of play, such as using humor/play as a defense or as an act of aggression.
Engage with this topic as creatively and broadly as your inspirations may take you! Proposals for 3-, 6-, and 9-hour workshops and process groups enthusiastically considered. Workshops should allow for 12 participants (or more).
Soft deadline November 1, 2025; HARD deadline December 1, 2025.
Summer Workshop 2026 Mission Statement:
As humans, we learn how to interact with the world and with others through play. We learn about connection and relationships through cooperative play, and we learn about aggression and power through competitive play. Through silliness and fun, we learn to relieve stress and to enjoy our human experience. As adults, however, we can forget the transformative impact that play has on our lives.
The mission of summer workshop 2026 is to help members reignite their inner playfulness and to explore authentic connection through the eyes of a child at play. We believe that playfulness, whether solitary, cooperative, or competitive, is a resource that can build resilience, creativity, and stronger relationships. Through play-oriented workshops, activities, and environments, we hope to create the possibility of self-discovery that only comes when one accesses their inner capacity for play.
Submit proposals here: https://www.aapweb.com/events/upcoming-events/summer-workshop-2026-call-for-proposals/
