In this insightful conversation, Ali Chown shares her experience of intuitively moving her practice of Play Therapy from the indoors to the outdoors at a time when no-one else was doing it. Acknowledging what Richard Louv calls 'nature deficit disorder', Ali took the decision to go against the grain and work with nature as a way to address the healing we so desperately need in these times of disconnection. We explore the idea that the Earth is our Mother, our Source and the one truly stable connection we all have. There are so many benefits for everyone to having a strong connection to the Earth but where children have had interrupted early childhood experiences they can benefit from having a stable, nurturing, safe relationship to 'mother nature' and find a deeper understanding of themselves and their relationships with others as a consequence.
Things we talk about in this episode
Links mentioned in this episode
The collaboration of Outdoor Play Therapists https://cooptuk.com/
Email- cooptuk@gmail.com
Our website is www.livewild.org.uk/connectionmatterspodcast
Connect with us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/livewilduk/
My personal Instagram is https://www.instagram.com/leona.connection.matters/
The music for this podcast is -Hermosa Dia by Ray Johnson https://soundcloud.com/visionray
Biography
Ali Chown is a Play Therapist, Supervisor, Trainer and qualified and experienced Specialist Teacher for children and young people with complex BESD.
As a Play Therapist, Ali has worked with children and young people with complex behaviour, emotional and social needs (BESD), those who have experienced early childhood trauma and loss and have attachment difficulties and pupils with autism, language and communication and other complex special needs.
She is an experienced trainer and supervisor and has presented on ‘working in nature’ at the BAPT Annual Conference and Romanian Institute for Play and Drama Therapy and lectured on trauma and learning to teachers from the MYME Mobile Education Project in Myanmar (Burma).
Ali is one of the pioneers of play therapy in the outdoors. She has published two books, Play Therapy in the Outdoors (Kingsley, 2014) and The Practical Guide to Play Therapy in the Outdoors (Routledge, 2017). Ali also has two chapters in the forthcoming International Handbook or Play Therapy to be published this autumn. She is the director of Phoenix Play and the co-founder of COOPT which she now facilitates. Ali lives in Dorset where she loves being outdoors, connected to nature with sea swimming, just ‘being’ on the beach, walking, camping and gardening.