Insight Therapy

Day 3 Boston Trauma Conference

This day got me thinking a lot about relationships and play, and how when we are at play with another person, it can also become a way for us to reorganize ourselves.

In play, we are able to negotiate with experiences in a way that feels less threatening. Play allows us to explore things we may not always have access to and gives us the opportunity to try something different. While, for me, the therapeutic relationship is always at the centre, I am looking forward to bringing more of this into the therapy room.

A little on the research: play is far more than just recreation. Research by Jaak Panksepp identified PLAY as one of the brain’s primary emotional systems and found it plays an important role in social, emotional, and neurological development. Research also suggests that play can help bring flexibility to our stress responses and create opportunities to safely engage with activation related to fight, flight, freeze, and other survival responses. Through connection and play, we can begin to negotiate these responses rather than remain stuck in them.

Another dense but impactful day.