A feather is small and light; if you are lucky, you can find them on your walk in nature. Did you know that feathers can also be used to play and help children to connect again with their parents and each other after they have experienced trauma? Play is a child's work; children love to play and will always find ways to play and interact with each other. But in times of stress, such as war, there is often no time or opportunity to play. Often children and adults are too stressed and traumatised to even think about it. Parents need to realise again the importance of play for their children.

In November 2022 WWO Europe partnered with Debi John to organise an online play therapy workshop. Debi is a play consultant with many years of experience and has created the PAUSE, PLAY, CONNECT Framework, a tool to help parents and caregivers to reconnect with children in daily life. Debi developed this play therapy tool with feathers as they are easy to find and easy to transport, especially in a situation like the war in Ukraine now with so many people who have become refugees.  

In the workshop Debi introduced the participants to the PAUSE, PLAY, CONNECT tool as well as to some of the easy games that can be played with a feather, such as stroking each other with it, or blowing feathers in the air. If you are interested to know more, watch the video of the training event, or get in touch with Debi John through her website www.playhealing.com 

We look forward to having Debi lead a workshop on Play Healing at Journeying Together in March in Sofia.