Return To Play:
Rebuilding Resilience, Risk and Reconnection
Can play be the answer to some of our most significant and complex social challenges of the 21st Century? No one cures cancer, solves environmental challenges, or builds inclusion without the ability to play in the unknown and unexplored.
Play gives us the inspiration and courage to confront, “what do we do when no one has the answer?” Play invites us to risk connection in the face of the unexpected and unfamiliar. The ability to imagine solutions to some of our most significant challenges lies in gifts that we already have but that we might have let go of too soon. Reconnect to the best parts of yourself that you may have left on the playground. Play might be one of the most outstanding resume skills you are not including.
In play, we are extraordinary! It’s time to reinstate the power of the do-over. Join me on this journey as I show you that play is worth risking a little of yourself to become more yourself in the process.
From the science of play to personal communications with leaders like Seth Godin and Daniel Pink, Brandi Heather takes you on a journey back to childhood. She reminds us all that if we do not face the unexpected, new and unfamiliar as children that we can find ourselves more prone to the fear of change and the unexpected as adults.
Brandi Heather is an award-winning Disability and Inclusion Educator and Therapeutic Play Specialist with over 25 years of experience. She utilizes the power of play to navigate diversity, inclusion, change management, self-care, and mental and physical health. She reveals how play is the catalyst to igniting and developing innovation and productivity and the foundation of moving from diversity to belonging.
People and organizations that can play in both times of challenge and success will flourish because they have learned how to build from the unexpected and unknown, a skill built first in play.
“It’s like many of the most important things in our culture we don’t understand the word we don’t understand what marketing means we don’t understand what play means. Play is a willingness to not win and still be okay with the journey that’s what it is for me.” (personal communication, Seth Godin, September 2020)
“The key is that play involves both taking risks and assuming good intent on the part of others. Both of those are in short supply today. But if we rehabilitate play, we might simultaneously resurrect our ability to get along and trust each other.” (personal communication, Daniel Pink, September 2020)
“What Brandi touches is magic! A book that the world has awaited for the longest time. Now is the time to play, if not now, then when?” Susanne Mueller, “Take it from the Ironwoman” (Podcaster, author) Executive Coaching & Consulting, New York & Switzerland.
About the Author
Brandi Heather is an award-winning Disability and Inclusion Educator and Therapeutic Play Specialist with over 25 years of experience.
Brandi began her career as a college and university professor in Kinesiology and Sport Studies specializing in Adapted Physical Education over 25 years ago. She achieved certification in Play Therapy and Advanced Play Therapy and uses those unique skills as her foundational tool kit for change. She founded AMPED2PLAY INC. in 2017 and serves as its Chief Knowledge Officer creating products and professional services, including the original ISOLOVEPLAY Box, Braving Connection, Policy2People and SenseABLE Certifications and Training.
Brandi has built multiple community movement and play programs for children living with disabilities and their families. She has taught 1000’s of adult students and teachers how to create more inclusive teaching, coaching and instructional spaces, starting first by reigniting play as a tool for innovation and possibility.
She is a fierce advocate for mental health and wellness as a professional woman living and learning with a lifelong major depressive disorder. Brandi’s lifelong work advocates for a change in how we see and value all people, including ourselves, as stronger and more creative than we believe.
A percentage of each book’s net profit is donated to Right To Play Canada and Right To Play International. Helping children worldwide return to play and transforming the lives of 2.3 million children each week using all forms of play. Right To Play creates a lasting impact and empowers children with the knowledge and skills to drive change in their lives and in the lives of their families and community.
She utilizes the power of play to navigate diversity, inclusion, change management, self-care, and mental and physical health. She reveals how play is the catalyst to igniting and developing innovation and productivity and the foundation of moving from diversity to belonging.
People and organizations that can play in both times of challenge and success will flourish because they have learned how to build from the unexpected and unknown, a skill built first in play.
Remember when someone let go of the back of your bike without training wheels? Our ability to stay upright is created by falling to one side or the other at some point. We are holding on to the back of the bike too long now; it’s time to let go.
Come play for a change.
Brandi can be found in play at Amped 2 Play
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Brandi’s podcast “Play For A Change” can be found at
https://play-for-a-change.simplecast.com/
She writes on Medium, and you can follow her work at https://brandiheather.medium.com/
“My life started in paint and wood and mud pies and folk songs and playhouses. At least that’s how I choose to remember it. When I heard that there was such a thing as “A Creative,” it was like someone had created a new label for me – like a new hair colour, title, or colour in the rainbow. This one was mine … and there were others: not just creative people but “Creatives.”
This is why I show up every day … because that “creative”, the play in me has saved my life more than once. It has not just been an incredible sense of what is possible with paint and clay or how to make anything with a pool noodle and a popsicle stick. It’s more than that.
I’m here, for you and for me…”
Brandi
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