Advertise on podcast: Pondering Play and Therapy Podcast

Julie interviews play therapist Helen Gedge about her background growing up in Brazil, how play remains central in her adult life, and her path from primary teaching to play therapy and a PhD. Helen describes research conducted in 2018–19 at a Brazilian shelter home in Curitiba designed to keep mothers and children together after family violence, using filial therapy to teach mothers core therapeutic play skills (structuring special playtime, following the child’s lead, reflecting feelings, and limit setting). Working mainly with three families over an intensive five-week period, she observed that mothers’ empathy scores improved while she was present but worsened when she left the room, leading to the insight that her presence acted as a “holder of holders,” enabling mothers to contain their children. The conversation also covers privilege, culture, and plans to turn the 100,000-word thesis into a book to champion the mothers’ and children’s stories. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Philippa Kelly and Julie McCann continue their discussion on “mistakes” in therapeutic work, exploring how errors feel, whether to acknowledge them, and how clients, families, and colleagues perceive them. They consider conflicts between professionals (e.g., schools and CAMHS) and how systemic shortages create “mistakes” beyond any one person, raising the challenge of advocating without giving families false hope. They share in-room examples—forgetting a washing-up bowl for messy play, bringing the wrong snack, or cancelling sessions after a car crash—and show how acknowledging, apologizing, and collaboratively problem-solving can become growth points, while some situations may not need highlighting. They discuss differences between newly qualified and experienced practitioners, shame in supervision, the value of rupture-and-repair, and rare procedural breaches like a confidential report emailed to the wrong address requiring ICO guidance. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

In this episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, host interviews Georgie, a children’s occupational therapist from Little Peaks OT, about her move from NHS roles into independent practice to address a gap in sensory processing support. Georgie explains OT as helping children overcome barriers to everyday “occupations” (e.g., dressing, handwriting, cutlery, sitting in lessons) through play-led, child-centred therapy, focusing on strengths and confidence. She describes sensory regulation as helping children feel calm, safe, and grounded, using individualised sensory profiling and toolkits (often called “sensory diets”) such as movement, deep pressure, compression, and environmental adaptations. They discuss neurodivergence (autism, ADHD, DCD/dyspraxia), masking and after-school meltdowns, transitions, coaching parents and schools, and OT delivery (assessments, ~six-session blocks, school/EHCP input). Georgie shares how to access her clinic in Leek, online assessments, and ND360 for finding neurodivergent services. [email protected] WWW.LittlePeaksOT.co.uk Insta @LittlePeaks_OT Fb @LittlePeaksOT Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Julie interviews play therapist and social work lecturer Pete Ayling about how playfulness supports understanding, empathy, and perspective-taking for children and adults. Pete describes his roles teaching social work students, supervising play therapists, and quality-assuring UK play therapy training, and reflects on play in his life through relationships, arts, nature, and identity exploration. They discuss play as symbolic representation that can loosen thinking when experiences are hard to verbalise, and emphasise embodied awareness as a key lens for emotion and connection. Pete explains his PhD on empathy in children and family social work, using Lowenfeld-style sand trays in interviews with social workers to elicit titles, narratives, and emotional insights; some participants processed distressing events during interviews. He concludes that sustaining empathy requires both individual agency and supportive organisational cultures, especially through emotionally literate supervision and informal networks. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Philippa interviews Lee Smith, a mental health nurse with 30 years’ experience in Tier 4 inpatient children’s services, whose NHS roles included ward management, clinical specialist and consultant posts. Lee describes entering nursing via an interest in psychology, working in forensic CAMHS, and helping rehabilitate highly detained young people through structured leave and relationship-based work. He explains CAMHS tiers 1–4, the emergence of psychiatric intensive care units, and how detention under the Mental Health Act operates. Lee and his late wife Beverly Cyrus founded Cove Care (2008–2025), a specialist residential step-down service integrating mental health and social care, supporting about 300 young people with high staffing ratios and clinical input to prevent readmission. He discusses “contamination” and institutionalisation, the value of creative therapies and play, and a patented flexible inpatient unit design with integrated pathways. After Beverly’s death in 2023, Lee sold Cove to ResiCare Alliance in 2025 and now consults in the West Midlands. https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-smith-a143926a/ Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

In this episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, host Philippa interviews Dr. Lisa Cherry—author, speaker, researcher, and consultant—about trauma, adversity, attachment, and compassionate responses to behavior. Cherry shares how her childhood experiences of trauma, being in care, emotional neglect, school exclusion, and homelessness shaped her commitment to social justice and a career spanning residential care, leaving-care teams, education, and independent work. She discusses sustaining oneself through rest and boundaries to avoid feeling “trauma-drenched,” and distinguishes trauma-aware from trauma-informed practice, emphasizing systemic support for staff. Cherry introduces a framework of belonging, mattering, and liminality, arguing people in “in-between” transitions need to be held to prevent destructive targeting and exploitation. She describes what trauma-informed relationships feel like—safety and acceptance—and reflects on challenges in schools. She also highlights her books, including Squirrel’s Search For Love, written during her multiple myeloma diagnosis, and upcoming titles on belonging and children entering care. About Dr Lisa Cherry | Discover Trauma-Informed Solutions 2027 conference - https://www.lisacherry.co.uk/conference-2027 Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

In this episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, the hosts discuss how “mistakes” in therapeutic work never fully go away and are better understood as learning opportunities. They reflect on recent examples of making unhelpful assumptions in play therapy sessions and meetings with parents, including using materials that were too dysregulating and shortcutting families’ stories due to time pressure and experience-based bias. They explore the value of consistency in the play therapy room, the importance of deep listening and allowing families to define their own truth, and the shame and guilt practitioners can feel even when clients may not notice errors. The conversation also covers the learning curve from checklist-based practice to embodied presence, using examples like student training and learning EMDR, and ends by emphasising reflection, self-forgiveness, and repair after misattunement. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Host Julie interviews Glasgow-based play therapist and With Kids trainer Jeanne McLaughlin about children’s play involving death, dying, and violent themes, based on McLaughlin’s workshop “How to Die Well in the Playroom.” McLaughlin shares her career path into play therapy, With Kids’ work in schools and its MSc training with Queen Margaret University, and why she avoids the term “aggressive play,” reframing it as high-energy play linked to underdeveloped sensory and regulation systems. She describes how children can self-regulate and negotiate rules (e.g., sword-fighting), how reduced free play and adult intervention affect children, and how therapists/parents should set clear, shame-free boundaries based on tolerance and triggers. They discuss literal vs metaphorical “deaths” in play, transitional play like harming baby dolls, play as regulation even in adversity, and the importance of grounding and transitioning children out of intense play at session end. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Margot Sunderland joins Philippa in this weeks episode of Pondering Play and Theraplay. The conversation explores how “burying” in sandplay can mean different things, from hiding feelings to gaining control, and emphasizes therapist curiosity about what symbols mean for each child. It contrasts direct responses (“Does this feel like something in your life?”) with indirect, metaphor-based approaches for children who cannot or will not talk about feelings, noting metaphor can be more digestible and reduce fight/flight/freeze. A supervision example describes five-year-old Ella, who witnessed domestic violence and uses Pull-Ups while carefully disposing of them; the behavior is framed as protecting her mother from dangerous feelings. A therapeutic story about a tortoise, lilies, and an angry cat models empathy and safety, inviting sandplay responses to process rage and unmet needs. The speakers discuss naming feelings, creating narrative, and training/resources offered via the Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education and related books and cards. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Philippa and Julie close the UK summer term with a Q&A episode featuring listener and play therapist Becky Webb, who shares her career path and asks about working therapeutically during family transitions and around bereavement. They discuss moving beyond blanket rules about waiting for stability or set time periods, focusing instead on assessment, goals, and providing supportive, relational therapy without necessarily doing deep trauma processing, while also supporting “big people” and other professionals around the child. They explore how to respond when children bring trauma into the room, the importance of titrating and ending sessions regulated, and using clear, shared language about death to address misunderstandings and self-blame. A listener question covers when and why sessions are recorded (training, therapy play, video analysis, ethics and confidentiality). They share practical “backup” regulation activities and announce an August break, returning the first Friday of September. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Julie hosts Simon Kerr-Edwards on Pondering Play and Therapy to discuss clinical supervision for therapists and school staff, plus Simon’s parent consultations. Simon, a Buckinghamshire-based practitioner, describes training first as a drama therapist, later completing a play therapy master’s at Roehampton after meeting Anne Cattanach, and moving from local authority and CAMHS work into independent practice. They explore why supervision is essential, how it differs from personal therapy, and how supervisors are themselves contained through their own supervision. Simon outlines Hewson and Carroll’s “six supervisory spaces” model: sitting room, studio, observatory, plus office, lecture theatre, and exam room, and warns against the “manager’s office” and “cellar” of control and shame. He also describes structured supervision in schools to improve reflective practice, and parent consultations focused on nonjudgmental listening, confidence, and differing parenting styles. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

In this episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, Philippa interviews Matt Wesson, former president of EMDR Association UK, EMDR Europe senior accredited trainer/consultant, and BABCP-accredited CBT therapist with 30 years’ mental health experience across the military, NHS, industry, and private practice. Matt explains EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) as an eight-phase psychotherapy developed for PTSD and now used for wider issues (e.g., phobias, social anxiety, depression linked to bullying), noting eye movements are a key component but can be replaced with tapping, buzzers, or audio when needed. He describes his path from Royal Navy weapons engineer to Defence Mental Health Services, then private practice, EMDR training/teaching via the EMDR Academy, and current NHS forensic work in outpatient services and a Category B prison. He outlines practical challenges of prison therapy, EMDR phases (history/formulation, preparation, assessment/activation, desensitisation), and how to find EMDR via NHS talking therapies, EMDR Association UK, or private care. https://www.emdracademy.co.uk/ https://emdrassociation.org.uk/ Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

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Host Philippa interviews social worker, therapist, author, and international presenter Steph Hunter about her current work and career, largely supporting children in care and trauma-informed services. Steph describes preparing a Canada keynote, “Humanising Services,” through the international Children and Youth Care (CYC) Network, and discusses clinical supervision and training for children’s home providers, work with inpatient services, and association with Mark Finnis on restorative practice. They explore how systems can unintentionally dehumanise and re-traumatise people (e.g., being treated as case numbers, medical assessments, inpatient restrictions, frequent moves), and emphasise curiosity, story-based understanding, trust, and relationship-centred practice. Steph explains restorative practice as a system framework focused on working “with” people to repair harm, and both discuss inequities for care leavers, promising practices like staying put/close, and learning from international policy differences, such as Malta extending care beyond 18. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree

Julie interviews Tim Woodhouse of Tiptoes Child Therapy Services in northwest England, a multidisciplinary practice founded in 2010, named after Janusz Korczak’s quote about “standing on tiptoes” to reach children’s feelings. They discuss working with children affected by complex developmental trauma (including sexual harm, neglect, physical and emotional abuse, and broader ACE-related factors) and the key question of whether children replaying trauma in play therapy is helpful or harmful. Tim argues children must be free to play about what matters, while therapists monitor arousal and prevent re-traumatisation by keeping the child sufficiently in the present, working at the edges of Siegel’s window of tolerance, and using grounded, repetitive, regulated presence to bring children back if they become stuck in “there and then.” They cover congruence with carers and schools, metaphor versus direct narrative, repair after missed cues, and Tim’s new two-book “Sibling Paradox” series on trauma-informed sibling assessment. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree