Play is my work since 2005, when I completed an HNC in Early Education and Child Care at Dundee College. In 2017 I qualified with a Postgraduate Certificate in Therapeutic Play Skills, and recently with a Postgraduate Diploma in Play Therapy, from the Academy of Play and Child Psychotherapy. Between 2020-22 I attended the Foundation and Intermediate training in systemic therapy with the Family Therapy Training Network. I have also undertaken shorter training courses in the arts therapies, dramatherapy, filial play, childhood trauma. I am registered with PTUK, AFT, ICO and Disclosure Scotland.
Originally from Greece, I have lived and worked with children and their families in East Scotland for about twenty years. I have worked, and played, with hundreds of babies, children, young people, their families, and the professionals around them. In education, in playwork, in kinship and foster care, indoors and outdoors, in a variety of settings.
My therapeutic approach is child-led and person-centred, working with the belief that each person knows better what is right for them, that each one of us will strive for personal growth if we are given a safe space and an understanding collaborator. The same non-judgemental, non-expert approach I apply to my work with families. Even when I work with individuals, I offer a systemic view, considering the bigger picture of the person’s ‘world’ and close relationships.
I take a trauma-informed perspective, looking behind troublesome behaviours, and seeing troubled individuals and unhelpful ways of communication. Therapeutic work can help children experiment, express themselves, and find their ‘voice’ through play. With playful minds Dundee my hope is to join the effort of truly listening to children, in their many languages of play and creativity.
playful minds 