Return To Play: Rebuilding Resilience, Risk and Reconnection - Softcover

Heather, Brandi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1777352703 ISBN 13: 9781777352707

Publisher: Library and Archives of Canada (LAC), 2021

Synopsis

We are biologically driven to play, yet with the best of intentions, we’ve made life more structured, scheduled, and supervised - and something has changed.

We have become less comfortable with uncertainty and the unexpected, less willing to take risks, less able to stay steady under pressure.

We changed how we grow, and it’s starting to show.

Brandi Heather blends research with lived experience to show how perfectionism and our drive for predictability are quietly reshaping how we create, connect, and respond to change.

And how to return to play.

“Play is a willingness to not win and still be ok with the journey.”
Seth Godin, in conversation with the author

“If we rehabilitate play, we might simultaneously resurrect our ability to get along and trust each other.”
Daniel Pink, New York Times bestselling author, in correspondence with the author

Brandi Heather is the CEO of Playful Intelligence™, an award-winning educator and entrepreneur helping organizations rebuild the human systems that keep people “in play”.
With over 25 years of experience across education, healthcare, and business, Brandi blends the science of play with the soul of lived experience.
She is trusted by people and organizations around the world who are ready to return to play.

About this title

About the Author

Known for her humor, hopefulness, and depth of experience as a college professor, therapeutic play specialist, and speaker, best-selling author Brandi Heather brings a unique and valuable perspective to growing organizations that want to restore, retain, and reengage their caring workforce.

With 25+ years of experience in education, human services, and healthcare, she is tackling fatigue, burnout and disengagement in the compassionate workforce by utilizing the serious science of play.

Her ground-breaking strategies and research delivered in high energy, high impact keynotes and workshops drive innovation, inclusion and productivity by taking care of people who take care of people!

With an emphasis on mental wellness and the often-underappreciated superpowers of creativity, courage, and connection, Brandi shares her work from the heart of an educator, entrpreneur and practitioner who has been there. As a women living with a disability who teaches disability inclusion, she has taught thousands of people how to take care of themselves so they can take care of others.
 
With a master's degree in physical education, a B.Ed. in Special Education, and advanced certification in Play Therapy, Brandi is dedicated to getting the caring professionals back "in play".

From the Inside Flap

Once upon a time - children stayed out until the streetlights came on; they played in unsanitized spaces, unsupervised, they got messy, fell down and got back up.

Every day, they navigated the new and unfamiliar. Sometimes, no one was there to make sure it always turned out right. They created their own games, made their own teams and learned how to win...and lose. They were curious and tested answers outside the obvious solutions. They talked to new people and ventured into new spaces and built a storage bank of experiences that they could draw on all through their life.

One day, society decided that this unstructured way of life was detrimental to children and told parents and educators "good parents and educators" keep children safe, organized, supervised and constantly occupied.

And we did.

Because of that, we realized that children and adults were becoming less resilient, more prone to anxiety, and having increasing difficulty managing risk and relationships when things were not always predictable and organized.

Our ability to cope and adapt to change and crisis was limited by worrying about doing it wrong.
Because of that ... we went backwards to move forward. We returned to a globally and culturally universal place of humanity.

PLAY.

We created spaces for people of all ages to be curious again, to explore and test and try, to fall down and dust themselves off and try again. We gave educators and workplaces the tools to recognize their strengths in difference. We addressed inclusion, mental health, and loneliness and as opportunities to use our creativity, innovation, and connection skills again, without the hesitation of doing it "perfectly."

Until finally, people of all ages and abilities recognized the value of play, building experiences, leaning into the unknown and adapting. In a world filled with near-impossible challenges, we found the cognitive flexibility to bend without breaking and the ability to take pieces with nothing in common and create connection and belonging.

It's time to Return To Play

Edition details

• Publisher: Library and Archives of Canada (LAC)
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1777352703
• ISBN 13: 9781777352707
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 147