In this episode of Pondering Play and Therapy, host interviews Georgie, a children’s occupational therapist from Little Peaks OT, about her move from NHS roles into independent practice to address a gap in sensory processing support. Georgie explains OT as helping children overcome barriers to everyday “occupations” (e.g., dressing, handwriting, cutlery, sitting in lessons) through play-led, child-centred therapy, focusing on strengths and confidence. She describes sensory regulation as helping children feel calm, safe, and grounded, using individualised sensory profiling and toolkits (often called “sensory diets”) such as movement, deep pressure, compression, and environmental adaptations. They discuss neurodivergence (autism, ADHD, DCD/dyspraxia), masking and after-school meltdowns, transitions, coaching parents and schools, and OT delivery (assessments, ~six-session blocks, school/EHCP input). Georgie shares how to access her clinic in Leek, online assessments, and ND360 for finding neurodivergent services.

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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.

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Philippa interviews Lee Smith, a mental health nurse with 30 years’ experience in Tier 4 inpatient children’s services, whose NHS roles included ward management, clinical specialist and consultant posts. Lee describes entering nursing via an interest in psychology, working in forensic CAMHS, and helping rehabilitate highly detained young people through structured leave and relationship-based work. He explains CAMHS tiers 1–4, the emergence of psychiatric intensive care units, and how detention under the Mental Health Act operates. Lee and his late wife Beverly Cyrus founded Cove Care (2008–2025), a specialist residential step-down service integrating mental health and social care, supporting about 300 young people with high staffing ratios and clinical input to prevent readmission. He discusses “contamination” and institutionalisation, the value of creative therapies and play, and a patented flexible inpatient unit design with integrated pathways. After Beverly’s death in 2023, Lee sold Cove to ResiCare Alliance in 2025 and now consults in the West Midlands.

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