Meet Your Facilitators
Dr Tanya Defferary
DPhil, M.Soc.Sci (Counselling Psychologist) | Registered RST-CT | EMDR Level II Practitioner
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Founder & Director Global Therapy Connect
Host & Facilitator
Tanya is a counselling psychologist with a DPhil in Psychology, practicing in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), South Africa. She has a special interest in contextual therapy and sandtray work, integrating intergenerational frameworks to support healing within families and individuals.
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Her work explores invisible loyalties, inherited patterns, and the relational legacies that continue to shape present-day experience.
She is deeply committed to creating reflective, ethically grounded spaces where clinicians and clients alike feel seen, supported, and invited into meaningful exploration.
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Tanya facilitates with compassion and curiosity, holding depth and structure in equal measure.
Lisa Dion
LPC, RPT-S
Facilitator
Lisa Dion is an international teacher and the creator of Synergetic Play Therapy®, a neurobiologically informed model that integrates attachment theory, nervous system regulation, and therapist authenticity into the therapeutic process.
She is the founder and President of the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute and co-founder of the Synergetic Education Institute.
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Lisa is the author of Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity and host of the Lessons from the Playroom podcast. A recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s Professional Education and Training Award of Excellence, her work bridges neuroscience, embodiment, and relational depth, supporting clinicians to expand both presence and clinical integration.
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Her facilitation style is experiential, attuned, and deeply integrative — inviting therapists into greater nervous system awareness and therapeutic authenticity.
Marshall Lyles
LPC-S, LMFT-S, RPT-S | EMDRIA Approved Consultant
Facilitator
Marshall Lyles is a licensed marriage and family therapist based in Texas, USA, specialising in attachment theory and trauma-informed care. His work integrates expressive arts, sandtray therapy, EMDR, and family systems within a depth-oriented and relational framework.
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With over two decades of clinical experience, Marshall provides international training and consultation to therapists seeking to deepen their work with complex trauma and attachment wounds.
His facilitation style is grounded, experiential, and clinically integrative, supporting practitioners to expand both skill and embodied understanding.
Abby Esquivel
LCSW, RPT-S, ACS
Facilitator
Abby Esquivel is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist Supervisor. She is the founder of a group practice in Colorado, USA, and specializes in supporting women, children, and families impacted by trauma, toxic stress, and attachment injuries.
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A bicultural therapist, she is particularly passionate about serving the Latinx community and working at the intersection of identity, belonging, and relational healing.
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Her work integrates Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), EMDR, and expressive therapies with an ecological and relational framework. Abby recognizes the role of the natural world in supporting regulation, meaning-making, and resilience, and incorporates nature-informed perspectives into her teaching and mentorship.
Using an intergenerational lens, she facilitates with warmth, cultural attunement, and clinical depth, guiding practitioners to embody attachment-informed and nervous system–aware approaches in their clinical practice
