12 episodes

PLAY is POWERFUL! Let's fall down and get messy again ... Play is practice for life.
This podcast is dedicated to finding and igniting the power of play as a catalyst for change.
Find out how play is linked to our mental health and wellness, and how play changed my life and the lives of others.
Find your play, and find out how finding yours and igniting others can change the landscape for personal and professional mental health, productivity and performance.
Come on in … this playground is for everyone.

Play For A Change Brandi Heather

    • Health & Fitness
    • 5.0 • 4 Ratings

PLAY is POWERFUL! Let's fall down and get messy again ... Play is practice for life.
This podcast is dedicated to finding and igniting the power of play as a catalyst for change.
Find out how play is linked to our mental health and wellness, and how play changed my life and the lives of others.
Find your play, and find out how finding yours and igniting others can change the landscape for personal and professional mental health, productivity and performance.
Come on in … this playground is for everyone.

    Why You Can’t Afford NOT to PLAY

    Why You Can’t Afford NOT to PLAY

    On the playground today I want to talk about why we can't afford NOT to play.
    There are a whole bunch of really frightening things happening in the world right now, and we need to talk about the importance of staying in play during times of challenge.

    Do you know what happens to inclusion when people feel afraid of what will happen next, or something unexpected changes their way of living, or they feel vulnerable to loss or massive change?
    It does not flourish…

    Research indicates that play deprivation can contribute to a reduced sense of personal control, reduced ability to control emotions, increased social isolation, and reduced happiness, all of which are associated with anxiety and/or depression. (Grey, P. 2017)

    In a time when we are reducing social contact and increasing physical isolation let’s consider what we will need to survive… it is not just food and water… without play and playfulness, we will struggle to come up with creative and innovative ideas, resilience and persistence…

    The world needs answers, and I believe the solutions are always in play.
    We need to provide space for them to grow.

    We can't afford NOT to play.

    • 9 min
    Let's Not Talk About It!

    Let's Not Talk About It!

    Today on the playground I want to talk about the fact that there are many things we all know about but do not discuss.

    Snot and gas Are two of those things we rarely talk about, but ALL have.
    That’s what talking about mental illness feels like to me and to many other people that I work with and play with. There are spaces where we feel incredibly empowered to share and connect and there are places where we whisper and hide in fear of anyone seeing our snot.

    However, play allows us to be in a space where the mess matters less or not at all… when was the last time you were there?

    • 11 min
    Episode #9 The Freedom Frog

    Episode #9 The Freedom Frog

    Today on the playground I want to share the second piece of the 4 part The Patient Lens Series in Play For A Change called The Freedom Frog…

    This is one of the parts of major depression and anxiety that I think is hard for some people to imagine. I am not trying to be mean, and I am not a heartless person, most of the time I am not anti-social.

    However, there is a threshold for certain life elements that is very low for me right now,
    I can see that I am not being kind or caring, it’s like being able to see yourself from the outside…looking down at yourself and it is full of judgement…
    A good person would have….
    Usually you would…
    A good mom, teacher, friend does this and the popper response is …this…

    But I am empty… and covering the emptiness is what gets me to this level of my illness…
    When you gift wrap your life so no one can see what’s under the wrapping its exhausting…
    And after doing that for many years of my life the gift wrap is made of Teflon and adorned with steel bows… but it pretty to look at :)

    But there is a point like in any chronic illness that you don’t have the energy to tie pretty bows and make the wrapping look right…

    It doesn’t have to be perfect, I am not perfect, but I am worthy of more than I expected and somewhere inside I actually feel that…and I will work on believing it…
    Lets continue the conversation… the story matters… the story build bridges…

    Share it, or hold it…but know you are not alone… we survive by finding an ounce of play and then adding it back slowly into our space.

    • 18 min
    Episode #8 The Patient Lens

    Episode #8 The Patient Lens

    My hope for the next few episodes is to open the conversation and connect to people living with mental illness and those who love, support, counsel, parent, care, teach, and know people … because behind many well hid

    • 48 min
    Episode #7 Fore Play

    Episode #7 Fore Play

    Let's talk about foreplay! What has to be in place before you can play and be playful?
    Create "safe" (physical, and emotional) spaces to play, recognize why people do not or cannot play, and inviting people to the play.
    Come consider the foreplay... everyone is welcome on this playground.

    • 13 min
    Episode #6 All Work And No Play

    Episode #6 All Work And No Play

    Defining play is like defining joy… or love or hope and so many other things that are personal.. and universal all at the same time… I work with definitions from research to 5 year old’s, evidence and science to the wisdom of people who have lived long enough and deep enough to remind us of its importance.

    • 10 min

Customer Reviews

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