Janet A. Courtney, Ph.D., LCSW, RPT-S is Director of Developmental Play & Attachment Therapies, Boynton Beach, FL; and Founder of FirstPlay Therapy™, a therapeutic storytelling approach, that supports caring touch in parent-infant/child relationships. She is an Adjunct Professor at Barry University School of Social Work, and former President of the Florida Association for Play Therapy (FAPT). Janet resides as the Chair of the Viola Brody Award Committee and is Co-Editor of the FAPT Playful Healer.
Janet is a member of the Association for Play Therapy Ethics Committee which reviews the APT Paper on Touch. Her research in Developmental Play Therapy, examining practitioner’s qualitative experiences of touch, highlights recommendations for training in the ethics of touch, is published in the International Journal of Play Therapy and in the Journal of the American Art Therapy Association.
Janet elaborates the therapeutic value of touch in her TEDx Talk, The Curative Touch of a Magic Rainbow Hug; and her new process of Kinesthetic Storytelling® is found in her children’s book, The Magic Rainbow Hug. Janet’s chapter, Touching Autism through Developmental Play Therapy in the book, Play-based interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders, provides a case example of Kinesthetic Storytelling® in action.