Play as Primer [in the Therapeutic Encounter] - Dr. Francesca Bernardi

This is the third workshop in a series of three events: Silence as Primer, Kindness as Primer, Play as Primer.

‘Play as Primer’ is a joyful provocation towards play practices for eliciting memories and past experiences that can help clarify the present and give the inner child permission to be, contributing to self-discovery and healing.

This session offers a space to explore a range of definitions of play and practical opportunities to extend these ideas to working with clients of different age groups. The emergent possibilities of play can also be applied to working within a group dynamic, in communities and in business, and with individual clients who may prefer creative modalities for action and healing.

Defining and re/defining play, intentionally, can elicit unexpected solutions, priority-setting and therapeutic pathways. Play can also serve as a method for interaction and intervention that has the potential to engage clients’ creative authority and participation, with and beyond words. Play also allows for an appreciation of aesthetic, transformational and material possibilities, emerging in concrete and poetic ways, that can (and should) remain inexplicable, mysterious, even sacred.

Learning Objective Participants Can Expect From This Event

• Expect an interactive space for reflection and action that offers a series of ideas to ponder upon as well as ‘playful’ statements that invite a material response from each member of the group. For this purpose, please bring with you (small) found objects, for example: paper cutouts from magazines and newspapers, paper cups, bus tickets, business cards, jam jars (almost anything…). This way you may experience the playful and divergent possibilities for self-expression, surprise and reflection, which can become primers for the therapeutic encounter.
• By identifying different definitions of play, inspired by process over talk, these ideas can be integrated in your approach to therapy, coaching and practices for self-healing.
• Participate in a three-part facilitated gathering to share ideas and shape these in ways that are relevant to you, re-imagining what it means to play, drawing on experiences to engage your originality and resonances from the collective.

Who is This Workshop Appropriate For?

• Anyone hoping to engage in reflection and collective meaning-making; therapists, coaches and socially-engaged practitioners.

How May This Workshop Impact Your Practice?

• We often think of play as an age-bound recreational process or activity, yet play is at the centre of our inner joy, in collectiveness and in solitude. Play can be a primer for the therapeutic encounter with adults and children. This workshop welcomes the creative synergies of the group and offers you some techniques for generating ideas, looking to the joy of play as a source of inspiration.

Please bring with you: (small) found objects, for example: paper cutouts from magazines and newspapers, paper cups, bus tickets, business cards, jam jars (almost anything…).

This workshop will be recorded and you can use the ticket function to pre-purchase the recording before the event. This will be useful for colleagues who are not able to attend the event live and also for those who attend the event live and want to watch it again.

This workshop will be hosted on the Zoom meeting platform where we will use our cameras and microphones to interact with each other as a group.

The self-select fee is a radical inclusion policy to open learning for all colleagues. The guide price for this event is £20.00, however, we appreciate that income varies greatly in different locations and circumstances. Please contribute what you can to help us maintain inclusive professional training.

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All the colleagues at ONLINEVENTS and the presenters we collaborate with are committed to working in a manner consistent with the BACP Ethical Framework, which can be accessed on the link below. When registering for this event you are agreeing to be present and interact in a manner that is consistent with this Framework.

https://www.bacp.co.uk/events-and-resources/ethics-and-standards/ethical-framework-for-the-counselling-professions/

Dr Francesca Bernardi (PhD, FRSA, MA, QTS), is a creative facilitator and coach, community artist, writer and advocate. She trained in Art and Design education and therapy and has worked as a teacher and artist-in-residence in schools, alternative provision and further education. She most consistently engages in multi-disciplinary research, setting up creative environments for critical participatory work with marginalised communities. Francesca has published international research on arts-informed methodologies, autism, childhood and children’s rights; is founding chair of the Antonio Gramsci Society UK, international board member of the Disability Without Abuse Project (Los Angeles), Councillor and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and Associate Member of CATA (Canadian Art Therapy Association). Francesca is a Visiting Lecturer in Childhood Studies and Research Methods at the Carnegie School of Education (Leeds Beckett University) and Arts Therapies at the University of Roehampton, Francesca is also a translator (Queen’s University Belfast; Routledge).

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