Using Play to Enrich Relationships with Young People

The world is currently a complex and dynamic place, particularly for children and young people. Concerns around climate change, the lingering effects of the pandemic, and growing international conflict, combined with personal experiences of trauma and adversity to create a recipe for chronic stress. Communicating those feelings and worries can be difficult, and often interpreted as acting out.

Play is a universal and comfortable language for young people to understand and express themselves. They naturally use play to connect with others and understand their environment. Play (and other expressive arts) provide opportunities to develop physical and social skills, regulate personal responses to difficult situations and conflicts, and is helpful in complex situations where the risk of misunderstanding between whanau and professional helpers can be high.

By the end of this practical and experienced based workshop, participants will:

• Understand how to use the change agents inherent in play and other expressive arts.
• Be able to develop and use play-based activities to enhance relationships that can be used across all the sectors and professional contexts.
• Know how to adapt play-based activities to be appropriate and effective in different professional settings.
• Understand how to extend play activity to include other avenues such as drama, music, art, storytelling, and movement both in-person and online client interactions. 

Steve Harvey, Ph.D. is a licensed Clinical Psychologist. He has worked clinically in the United States and New Zealand for many years as a Child Psychologist & has consulted extensively internationally in the areas of Play Therapy and the use of Expressive Arts Therapies with families. He is widely published & is a member of the Association of Play Therapy & a Registered Play Therapy Supervisor. More recently, Steve has lectured in the Clinical Psychology program at the University of Guam. During the pandemic, he developed an online international forum using the creative arts as a base to facilitate resilience and cross-cultural understanding. Steve’s depth of knowledge combined with his creative, down to earth presentation style means that participants will leave with a range of new techniques that can be immediately incorporated into their own professional setting.