Poetry in the Playroom
Poetry has offered me companionship, being a silent friend during times of loss and at moments in my life where I have lacked control. Being a tool for self-reflection, helping me to contain, to externalise and to process experiences, poetry also supports me in my clinical practice, offering a way to attune more deeply to the experience of my clients.
In conversation with Lisa Dion as part of her inspirational podcast series, Lessons from the Playroom, I shared with Lisa how I use poetry to conceptualise a child’s experience, honouring the insight they offer us during every therapy session, play being a gift, a window into their world.
You can listen to our conversation by visiting the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute website.
Poems leave footprints, changing us on an emotional and a physiological level
‘Every poem breaks a silence that had to be overcome, it profoundly alters the person that writes the poem’ Adrienne Rich
In the playroom, children offer us moments of illumination, fragments of play that may be laden with emotion or evocative, repetitive or even new, these moments providing a bridge to their world.
By being mindfully aware of these moments, through observation and reflection, adding a tempo, a rhythm or a melody, a poem can offer new growth.
-
Poetry offers a deeper sense of attunement with self and other