ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Fraser Brown, Cindy Dell Clark, and Michael Patte introduce us to the “continuum from playing to play therapy” as it manifests in playwork, child life, occupational therapy and play therapy; all the while reflecting on the power of play to help children in medical crisis and demonstrating that children have the freedom to play as they wish, and they do so in non-clinical settings to better cope with stresses or illness. The clinical examples in this chapter corroborate that professionals trained in disparate fields act to catalyze, direct, compensate, and amplify playfulness, a testament to play’s robust, resilience-enhancing potential.
