The 2026 Black Play Therapy® Symposium is structured around the most critical biases that contribute to the criminalization and institutionalization of Black children, with concrete ways play therapy and mental health professionals can recognize and counteract them.

Black children are disproportionately suspended, expelled, labeled, removed from their families, and funneled into juvenile justice systems—not because they are more troubled or troublesome, but because of unconscious biases that shape how adults perceive, interpret, and respond to their behavior. From preschool to prison, these cognitive biases operate like invisible machinery, stealing childhoods and limiting futures.

This two-day symposium brings together mental health professionals, educators, child welfare workers, juvenile justice personnel, and parents of Black children to examine the cognitive biases driving these disparities and develop concrete strategies to interrupt them. Through an interactive panel, expressive arts experiences, and skills-based workshops, participants will examine how cognitive biases manifest at different points along the criminalization continuum through professional perspectives from schools, community mental health, and correctional settings.

This symposium centers Black voices, Black resistance, and Black joy. Parents, the primary experts on their children’s lives, gain tools to advocate effectively against biased systems, challenge harmful labels, and demand the protections their children deserve. Mental health professionals leave equipped to provide culturally responsive, trauma-informed care that challenges, rather than reinforces, oppressive systems. Educators gain strategies to protect Black childhood in schools. Community advocates and leaders develop frameworks for systemic change and collective healing.

Whether you are a parent fighting for your child, a therapist seeking to do better, a supervisor building accountable teams, or an advocate working for systemic change, this symposium offers both the knowledge and the community to strengthen practice and protect Black children.