From Blunders to Breakthroughs: Pondering Professional Missteps, with Julie and Philippa

In this episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, the hosts discuss how “mistakes” in therapeutic work never fully go away and are better understood as learning opportunities. They reflect on recent examples of making unhelpful assumptions in play therapy sessions and meetings with parents, including using materials that were too dysregulating and shortcutting families’ stories due to time pressure and experience-based bias. They explore the value of consistency in the play therapy room, the importance of deep listening and allowing families to define their own truth, and the shame and guilt practitioners can feel even when clients may not notice errors. The conversation also covers the learning curve from checklist-based practice to embodied presence, using examples like student training and learning EMDR, and ends by emphasising reflection, self-forgiveness, and repair after misattunement. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree