Dr. LeAnne Steen is Department Chair & Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling. She completed her Ph.D. in Counselor Education at the University of North Texas where she specialized in play therapy, counselor supervision, child-parent relationship therapy (filial therapy), and activity therapy. Dr. Steen is the Director and Founder of the Play Therapy Center for Education & Research at Loyola University New Orleans. Dr. Steen developed multiple courses in play therapy including Intro to Play Therapy, Child Parent Relationship Therapy, Activity Therapy, Advanced Play Therapy & Theory, Sandtray Play Therapy (experimental). Dr. Steen acquired (2016) an endowment and a grant for the play therapy center to create both a legacy at Loyola University New Orleans for Play Therapy Education and to develop a Continuing and Professional Education Program at Loyola in Play Therapy. Both the Endowment and the grant were from the Heebe Family Fund at Touro Hospital. Dr. Steen has appeared on multiple media outlets discussing play therapy and parenting tools.
Dr. Steen is currently the Past-President of the Louisiana Association for Play Therapy (LAPT), and she has been on the LAPT Board since 2006. Dr. Steen completed an edited book titled “Emerging Research in Play Therapy, Child Counseling, and Consultation” (2017), published by IGI Publishing. She has published multiple research articles and chapters on play therapy and counselor education & supervision during her tenure at Loyola, as well as presented papers at international, national, and regional conferences. Dr. Steen’s research interests include parenting populations, diversity in play therapy, spirituality in play therapy, treating digital addiction in play therapy, consultation in play therapy, youthful counselors & supervision, hospitalized children, siblings of hospitalized children, and counselor supervision. In teaching, Dr. Steen Dr. Steen enjoys presenting extensively on many topics related to play and activity therapy, child-parent relationship therapy, parent consultation, and clinical play therapy consultation.
Degrees
Ph.D., University of North Texas; M.A., Texas State University
Areas of Expertise
Play Therapy, Child Counseling, Child Parent Relationship Therapy, Family Therapy, Sandtray Play Therapy, Activity Play Therapy, Parent Education, Counselor Supervision, Play Therapy Supervision