first dissertation study is live

Social media launch day for one of my dissertation studies!

It’s amazing that over a year of work accumulates to me begging folks to participate so that I can have something to write about haha I trained in play therapy before I even finished my Masters of psychology at Seattle University because I knew I wanted to work with children and I knew my training as a therapist for adults was not going to be enough. So much changed since I took my first play therapy course. Including, a global pandemic that changed the way I was able to do play therapy overnight with lockdowns.

When I started considering my PhD, I remember texting my best friend late one night and asking him if it was okay to want to explore people’s experiences during something really painful and full of grief. And that conversation gave me enough reassurance and confidence to create the proposal I wrote to get me where I am today. I knew as soon as I began that I wouldn’t be doing a PhD that did not involve play therapy, play therapists, or therapeutic healing via play in some or all capacities.

This is only one of my studies that will make up a dissertation with different intersections of play therapy, trauma, and child’s wellbeing/mental health. Play therapists are a small segment of the population - affectionately called the playborhood - that I have so much hope in and for what we can do to live into a better world. I have the hardest time in psychology spaces for play therapy being respected and valued, and play has the hardest time in most spaces being respected and valued - making it an uphill battle from the beginning. But something I will never take for granted is that I am at a research center that values play, my work, and most importantly, me.

So celebrate launch day of study one with me!