lent term again

Lent term is upon us!

This time last year I remember a heavy feeling the business of term beginning again, like almost a sigh of exasperation that there were “things to do” at the university level. It definitely felt like I had more time to focus on my own work when I didn’t have meetings or events. And this year, I feel very different.

I am almost antsy to get back into events, meetings, and seeing people again for forced fun lol I think now that I have passed my viva and have a more clear trajectory for my time, I feel more willing to be flexible with it, as well as I feel more focused in my meetings - knowing what I need to get out of them instead of exploratory meeting after exploratory meeting. There’s something rejuvenating about actually being able to collect data as well. That I am not just reading and writing but applying things, making things happen.

Today I sent out fourteen templated emails (with personal tweaks to all of course) to different play therapy associations around the world for my survey on play therapists experiences practicing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I am incredibly focused on including play therapists from non US & UK registries because there is often a reliance sampling from those countries out of the fifty-two countries that have play therapists. And while the US & UK typically do the most training of play therapists, and then obviously have larger membership, I am really interested in the differences between therapists in different countries with different policies handling the lockdowns as well as continued or discontinued public safety measures.

There’s so much to learn from these play therapists and it reminds me that quantity is not always absolute numbers of respondents, but of the quality of the meaningfulness of the respondents. Long post, per usual, to document the different between first year and second year Lent terms vibes for me. I’m excited for what these next weeks might hold.

Also, if you know any play therapists, please send them my way!