Unlocking Empathy: Play as a Catalyst in Therapy and Social Work. With Pete Ayling

Julie interviews play therapist and social work lecturer Pete Ayling about how playfulness supports understanding, empathy, and perspective-taking for children and adults. Pete describes his roles teaching social work students, supervising play therapists, and quality-assuring UK play therapy training, and reflects on play in his life through relationships, arts, nature, and identity exploration. They discuss play as symbolic representation that can loosen thinking when experiences are hard to verbalise, and emphasise embodied awareness as a key lens for emotion and connection. Pete explains his PhD on empathy in children and family social work, using Lowenfeld-style sand trays in interviews with social workers to elicit titles, narratives, and emotional insights; some participants processed distressing events during interviews. He concludes that sustaining empathy requires both individual agency and supportive organisational cultures, especially through emotionally literate supervision and informal networks. Send us Fan Mail  Instagram, Facebook, | Linktree