Clinical Corner: Introducing Latham’s community Playmakers

To our Latham Community,

I’d like to introduce you to our community Playmakers! Thirty Latham staff members, represented by every department on our Children’s campus, attended a Playmaker 101 “discovery” on November 28th, facilitated by Life is Good. The discovery reviewed the research around the effect trauma has on development, and the importance of play.

In the Playmaker 101 discovery, we learned how to create an “O’Playsis”—a safe space for our kids to heal, learn, and grow by engaging in playfulness. We learned how to goodify our environment—“adapting and innovating any activity, based on the environment and the development of the audience, to make it as joyful, connecting, empowering, and engaging as possible.” We played, we laughed, and we discussed what joy and play means to us as the people tasked with being the caregivers for kids whose prior experiences were not kind to them.

Our Playmakers have been given access to a multitude of Playmaker resources including games, activities, self-exploration materials, educational materials, and more. I’m looking forward to 2019 and collaborating with the entire team to goodify (what is Goodification?) the already amazing, powerful work we do with our Latham students.

Pictured are staff attendees Tracy Lanouette, Judy Sklolnick, Bonnie White, Neomie Laughren, Brogan Mulligan, Jose Martinez, Patti Hynes-Morris, Danny Anderson, Krystal Ketler, Jadon DaSilva, Cara Losapio, Bibi Charran, Kara McDowell, Sarah jane Mason, Teele Currier, Victoria Cordeiro, Patricia Thomas, Melissa Bertrand, Brittni Kliment, Kaitlyn Sawyer, Brynn Copper, Chelsea Crowe, Anne Bateman, Melissa Hyer-Mitchell, Tomas Ayala, Beth Conway, Ben Durette, Vikacha Phiri, Samantha Cronin, and Fred Walters.

We are grateful to all 30 staff members for their dedication to our community, each other, and our students.

Submitted by Brynn Cooper, LICSW, Director of Social Services