Host Julie interviews Glasgow-based play therapist and With Kids trainer Jeanne McLaughlin about children’s play involving death, dying, and violent themes, based on McLaughlin’s workshop “How to Die Well in the Playroom.” McLaughlin shares her career path into play therapy, With Kids’ work in schools and its MSc training with Queen Margaret University, and why she avoids the term “aggressive play,” reframing it as high-energy play linked to underdeveloped sensory and regulation systems. She describes how children can self-regulate and negotiate rules (e.g., sword-fighting), how reduced free play and adult intervention affect children, and how therapists/parents should set clear, shame-free boundaries based on tolerance and triggers. They discuss literal vs metaphorical “deaths” in play, transitional play like harming baby dolls, play as regulation even in adversity, and the importance of grounding and transitioning children out of intense play at session end.
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Jeanne McLaughlinGuestJulieHostPhilippaHost