In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychology Podcast, I share how I like to use picture books to facilitate a lesson with kids. Picture books are the most versatile resource you can own as a parent or clinician. I love using them to work on emotional awareness and understanding, as well as theory of mind. I share my top tips on how to use picture books and 10 questions I like to ask kids when going through a book ..read more

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I explore sleep hygiene. I think it’s something we all know is important, but maybe we need a little bit of a friendly reminder on the topic.  This episode will explore our daily habits that contribute to quality sleep and how to improve our sleep hygiene ..read more

In the final episode for Season 6, I am joined by Genevieve Muir from Connected Parenting to discuss the dreaded public meltdown. We've all been there...a busy shopping centre, people everywhere, and your little one becomes overwhelmed/overstimulated and just loses their cool. This episode is going to break down ways to manage these situations and also explores the impact they have on us as parents. This episode will explore the following questions: 1. What does a public meltdown look like and what are they often triggered by? 2. What feelings are often underlying that meltdown for a child? 3 ..read more

In this week's episode of The Playful Psychologist Podcast, I am joined by Nadija Johnson. Nadija is a mum of two gorgeous, young, autistic children.  In this episode, Nadija shares the obstacles she has faced when trying to advocate for her children, the isolation she has felt from friends and family, and the criticism she has received for the therapeutic choices that she has chosen for her kids.  You can follow Nadija's journey via her instagram account @spectrum.souls ..read more

In this week's episode of The Playful Psychologist, I am joined once again by Jacquie Ward from The Brave Space to talk about school holidays. More often than not, parents feel like the 'wheels fall off' in the school holidays and that behaviour can in fact be worse, despite there being less pressure on our kids. In this episode, Jacquie and I discuss why this may happen and offer some advice on how to navigate this with your children. You can learn more about Jacquie and her work via her instagram page or website: @the_brave_space https://www.thebravespace.com.au ..read more

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I am joined by Sarah from Secure Foundations to discuss how our own childhood experiences impact our parenting. Sarah is the founder of Secure Foundations, a unique support and education service, helping parents and carers find the magic in parenting by overcoming their parenting challenges. Secure Foundations specialises in infant and toddler sleep struggles and other common behaviour challenges for children aged 0-5. In this episode, we explore gentle parenting, how societal pressure affects our parenting choices, and how our childhood exp ..read more

Welcome to a brand new season of The Playful Psychologist Podcast! I'm so excited to be back sharing content and interviewing some amazing women for you guys. In this weeks episode, I will be exploring PDA. PDA, or Pathological Demand Avoidance, is a condition associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is a rare behavioural phenotype of ASD that is characterised by an overwhelming or obsessional need to resist or avoid demands, which can often lead to prolonged tantrums and violent outbursts. This episode will break down the components of a PDA profile and explain how this may differ ..read more

In this weeks episode of The Playful Psychologist, I explore employee vs contractor positions. Recently, so many new graduates have reached out to me about how stressed they are when it comes to employment. They don’t know whether to accept an employee position or to accept a contracting role. This episode will discuss the pro’s and con’s of both. Please note, this is my personal/professional opinion and everyone is going to have different thoughts on this! This episode explores: What the difference is between an employee and a contractor The pro’s and con’s to being an employee The pro’s and ..read more

In this episode of The Playful Psychologist, I discuss some of the common misconceptions about routines and why parents try to ‘avoid’ them. I also discuss how routines can actually help with spontaneity and creativity! Routines are a normal part of life for most people, even those who consider themselves spontaneous. Routines don’t have to be rigid. They don’t have to become boring for you and your child, and they definitely do not have to feel like ground hog day. They can, in fact, inspire us and release us to experience higher levels of creativity and success because they offer us a level ..read more

In the final episode of Season 5, I am joined by New Zealand author, Trace Moroney. You may know Trace from her famous 'When I'm Feeling' and 'The Things I Love About' series. Trace is a wealth of knowledge on emotional intelligence and resilience, and creates beautifully written books to help children develop these skills. I'm sure most of you have at least one of Trace's books...I know I have them!! In this episode, Trace answers the following questions: Your books are so well-known, where do you draw your inspiration from? One thing that resonates so much for me with your books, is that ..read more