Now bringing you therapeutic thinking and doing…..

Why would someone who regularly wrestles with and worries about cash-flow , who is precariously balancing childcare with self -employment and who has already dragged herself through a PhD seek solutions in another course? I think I can just about tentatively still tell you why that might be.  She – that’s me of course- has finally found a type of work that aligns with my values and my commitment to supporting children and young people’s creativity and wellbeing, that potentially combats some of that short-termism I wrote about in my last blog, and that should fit alongside parenting.  So here I am currently training as a play therapist and aiming to eventually set up a local provision in my district of Leeds.  I’m determined to find ways to make a living from offering play therapy as part of mainstream health and education provision rather than exclusively relying on private practice.  Maybe what I’m actually missing is economic education but hey it’s way too late for that,  I’ve always been a dreamer / schemer…..

I am currently undertaking a placement in two local primary schools, after 100 hours I will qualify as certified Play and Creative Arts Therapist.  I am mobile with the boot of my car now completely given over to my play therapy kit and a trusty wagon to transport it in and out of school. There is so much about play therapy practice that draws upon my theatre knowledge and know-how – not least the weekly rituals involved in the ‘get-in’ and ‘striking’ of my kit!  Could this be considered an extension of applied theatre in the way I write about a cheesemonger still practising applied theatre (See my PhD thesis for more on this: https://research.manchester.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/applied-theatre-and-the-promotion-of-spiritual-wellbeing-a-critic).  However, this is actually more a process of unknowing and unlearning, stripping back all of my facilitative and directive urges and habits to be fully present and responsive to a child for the best part of an hour week on week.   That doesn’t sound like that big a deal but actually, the sad truth is, that it is all too rare an experience –  for a child to have an adult’s undivided attention for an hour and for an adult to be able to clear the decks sufficiently to give that attention.  As a parent I feel this too, a sense of constantly trying to get to sharing some quality, fully present time with my children but 1001 life admin and domestic tasks  stand in my way and often I just don’t quite get there.  

Already there is lots that I am curious about, and further down the line might  like to find ways of researching, particularly the significance of space within,  and how spaces are created for, play therapy practice. This connects to my broader research interest in care in arts practice and how space as a concept often connects creativity and care (for example see my work for 20 Stories High with Dr Anni Raw: https://www.20storieshigh.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Chronicles-3-Final_compressed.pdfand). More immediately though I am hoping that I can find a way, or some financial support, to progress to the Diploma course next autumn so that I can start to work with children who have more complex needs and with groups.  Perhaps there’s an organisation or setting out there with whom I could undertake my diploma placement in return for support with my training costs (I’ve taken out a credit card to pay for the certificate fees, my kit and the fortnightly supervision.  I can’t afford to prolong this speculate to accumulate faith beyond the certificate)?! 

I also intend to keep working in a freelance capacity to support creative and cultural engagement.   I now bring a new understanding of working and thinking therapeutically and of play.  I am plenty busy until the end of this calendar year but I am looking to take on more work from January 2024.  Please do reach out if there are any ways in which my support might be valuable to you whether that’s as a critical friend, a researcher / evaluator, a project manager, a facilitator/ trainer, a resource creator, a partnership / network broker or something else!  

To give you a flavour of the range of my work, currently I am: supporting the development of Bradford’s Local Cultural Education Partnership; working with a team at The British Library North to evaluate a young people’s co-creation project; delivering IVE’s Advanced Skills Creativity Labs in schools and colleges across the region; supporting a theatre in Leeds with a community asset transfer; creating an education resource for dance theatre company, designing an evaluation approach for a Men’s Health programme, supporting a Liverpool based arts organisation as a critical friend, delivering several team away days, and, with Dr Anni Raw (of Anni Raw & Associates), I am working on a two-year evaluation of an arts and social care programme delivered by Artlink West Yorkshire.  

Previous evaluation work includes:-

• A review of the Culture and Learning North programme for the British Library
• An education case study for IVE: https://www.anewdirection.org.uk/research/arts-in-schools/case-studies/bradfords-digital-creative-crusaders
• A case study presenting the learning from a collaboration between Artlink West Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire Eating Disorder Service:  https://artlinkwestyorks.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Connecting-Thoughts-Final-Report-Feb-2022_Final.pdf
• An evaluation of Forced Entertainment’s participatory programme Subject to Change: https://www.forcedentertainment.com/participation/subject-to-change/
• The Brick Box, The Mills Are Alive in Manningham: 
• https://thebrickbox.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/TMAA-Executive-Summary.pdf

So if there’s anything that resonates, if there’s anything I can help you with or you can help me with then please do get in touch at madiirwin90@hotmail.com.