Introducing the contiguum of professional development-personal growth in challenging contexts by practical examples from over the world, in-presence and online.
The last chapter of the book Play Therapy and Expressive Arts in a Complex and Dynamic World: Opportunities and Challenges Inside and Outside the Playroom starts by sharing three main assumptions: a contemporary complex world requires professionals working with children, youths and families, to have additional qualities and preparation to support client needs in circumstances of confusion, hostility, and sufferance; play and expressive arts have transformative and healing powers that can be expanded and respond effectively to new challenges; clear and safe boundaries can enhance professional development and nourish personal growth.
Section One introduces the contiguum of professional development-personal growth by presenting the basic components of a multi-phased approach in the framework applied to a project in India. This approach is supported by a diagram showing how the two processes of professional development and personal growth reinforce each other with the first giving progressively more space to the second. Section Two focuses on creative collaborations between therapists in co-creating metaphors and overcoming shared challenges and discomfort. Two examples are provided: the first presents an online play-space dedicated to professionals from around the world. The second is related to a supervision group in New Zealand who faced a difficult situation at work and decided to find new answers and meanings through an arts-based inquiry.
The authors
Claudio Mochi, MA, RP, RPT-S is Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Director of the University Master's degree in Play Therapy and training program of the International Academy for Play Therapy (INA) in Switzerland, and Founder of the Association for Play Therapy Italy. He has conducted trainings and projects in disaster mental health field internationally, and presented on Play Therapy and trauma in 6 continents and over 20 countries.
Steve Harvey, PhD, RPT-S, BC-DMT, RDT is currently consulting in schools and is an adjunct faculty member in the Clinical Psychology department at the University of Guam. He has been an active contributor in the integration of expressive modalities in Play Therapy. He helped pioneer the field of Family Play Therapy.
Isabella Cassina, MA, TPS, CAGS, PhD Candidate in Expressive Arts Therapy is a Social Worker specialised in International Cooperation (IHEID Geneva); registered Therapeutic Play Specialist (APTI). She is international speaker, University teacher in Switzerland and Italy, Head of Project Management and trainer at the International Academy for Play Therapy (INA) with over 10 years of worldwide experience in crisis contexts.