Playful Therapy Connections

04/03/2026

😅

03/31/2026

On International Transgender Day of Visibility, we celebrate trans leadership, resilience, and right to live openly and fully.

But visibility alone is not enough.

Right now, Congress is advancing legislation that would restrict access to medically necessary, evidence-based gender-affirming care for trans youth.

These proposals would:
- Interfere in deeply personal medical decisions
- Undermine families and trusted healthcare providers
- Limit access to care through programs like Medicaid
- Increase harm for trans youth, including higher risks of depression and su***de

Trans disabled youth face even greater risks when care is not available.

Gender-affirming care is supported by decades of medical research. It saves lives.
Decisions about care belong with patients, families, and providers, not politicians.

As this moves to the Senate, we all have a role to play in ensuring access to care and affirming the humanity of trans youth.

Take action: https://action.aclu.org/send-message/protect-trans-care-now

Everyone has a right to dignity, autonomy, and the freedom to seek care.

03/17/2026

Flashback Friday: Originally posted April 4th, 2021

Autism is more accepted that it was 20 years ago, and in 20 years my hope is that it'll be more accepted then than it is now. I want the future to be better for autistics, in hopes that we have more acceptance, and less trauma.

Please like, share and follow! It really helps to support me!

[Image description: A six panel comic of Honeydew speaking about autism and trauma. The comic is titled "Harm Prevention" and is made by Theresa Scovil.

Panel 1:
Honeydew says to the audience "It's speculated that there's no such thing as an untraumatized autistic."
Panel 2:
Honeydew says "That trauma may be from ABA, bullies, abusive authority figures, such as a parent, or teacher."
Panel 3:
Honeydew says "Some scars are emotional, and some are physical."
Honeydew rolls their sleeve up an show scars on their arm.
Panel 4:
Honeydew happily says "This is why autism acceptance is so important! The more accepted autism is the less likely autistics will be subject to trauma!"
Panel 5:
Honeydew smiles and says "Autism acceptance isn't just about being accepted right now."
Panel 6:
Honeydew cheerfully says "It's about future harm prevention!"]

03/06/2026

Join our wonderful clinician Janelle McCarthy and Sixx Cool Moms for his upcoming Coffee & Connections!

Join Coffee & Connections, a free 30–40 minute virtual chat led by a clinician from Playful Therapy Connections. You’ll get practical tools, real language, and the chance to ask questions in a supportive, judgment-free space.

03/05/2026

Competing access needs are real. Accessibility is too important for us to ignore just because it can be difficult or unpopular.

02/27/2026

02/19/2026

Let me make something clear:

Everything I do, everything I write, everything I stand for here is inherently political.

Play is inherently political. If I say “we need to let children play freely” then I’m also saying “parents need to be making enough money at their jobs to be able to come home and hang out with their kids for unstructured hours in the evening so the kids aren’t being shuffled from care service to care service.” I’m also saying, “teachers need to be paid enough and trusted enough to be capable of breathing without over-standardizing everything the children do.” I’m also saying “we need to listen to scientific evidence telling us how important play is” and that means I’m also saying “we need funds for the sciences” and that means I’m also saying “evidence is knowable and a thing worth leaning on”; and I’m *also* saying “we need to pay attention to the people who are being left out of the studies and see how we can bring in their lived experience” and that means that I’m saying “Black and brown people and women and q***r people and, ironically, disabled people and also inconvenient people of all kinds sometimes get left out of the literature and we need to find ways to bridge that gap” and that means that I’m yet again saying “fund the sciences”.

If I’m saying “let children play freely” then I’m saying “let neurodivergent children play the ‘wrong’ way, too,” because I’m saying “there’s not a wrong way to play”; and that implies that I’m saying “we need safe spaces for neurodivergent children to be allowed to be neurodivergent children” and that means “we also need to allow neurodivergent people to be neurodivergent people” and that means an entire cascade of things about our current society and political system, the absolute bare minimum of which is that people deserve human rights and that those should be protected.

Sensory processing is inherently political. When I say “here is how to listen to your body and perhaps hear what it is telling you and nobody can tell you that you are wrong,” I am also saying, “you have to respect somebody else’s report of what their body told them they needed.” I am also saying “somebody else may need a different thing out of a public space than you.” I am also saying “our collective taxes fund the things we all need.” When I say “some people are sensory-seeking” then I’m also saying “children need spaces to get loud, move their bodies, and touch and explore things in public” and that means “everywhere can’t be an absolutely completely sanitized space where noise, movement, or touch are policed”.

Respecting children is inherently political. When I say “children deserve respect as full human beings” then I am also saying “trans children deserve respect as full human beings and it is wrong to police the lived experience of human beings,” and I am also saying “Palestinian children deserve respect as full human beings and it is wrong to murder human beings,” and I am also saying “Autistic children deserve respect as full human beings and it is wrong to police the bodily existence of human beings,” and so, so much more.

Neurodiversity-affirming practice is inherently political. When I say “being autistic is a type of brain wiring and autistic people deserve full acceptance as they are,” I am also saying “being disabled is not a barrier to being accepted as a human being.” I am also saying, “society owes it to disabled people to make space for them to thrive.” I am also saying, “diversity, divergence, and disability are a natural part of the human condition.” I am also saying, “access to healthcare — mental healthcare included — should be a human right.”

Knowing about child development is inherently political. When I say “a two-year-old is not ‘being bad’ for feeling an emotion” then I am also saying theoretical things like “I call into question the entire system of morality that suggests that people are ‘being bad’ for feeling emotions, ever” and also practical things like “stop kicking small children out of daycare or school for struggling.” I’m saying “a child is not an adult and can’t be responsible for adult crimes.” I’m saying “we need community services that are trained in child development and there to support parents.”

Learning to self-regulate is inherently political. When I say “humans are inherently social creatures who co-regulate as a primary tool to learn how to cope with overwhelming emotion” I’m also saying “this includes men.” I’m also saying “people need support from one another that isn’t exclusively romantic support and love.” I’m once again saying “we need comprehensive mental health care.” When I say “kids do well when they can” I’m also saying “adults do well when they can.” I’m saying “everyone wants the same basic things, just some of us have skills to get those in ways that work better than others.” I am also saying “punitive justice systems don’t do anything to restore what’s been lost or help solve the underlying cause, they just satiate a desire for vengeance.”

And no matter what the heck I write on this page, any words I ever write at all, I’m saying, “I don’t believe these thoughts should only be accessible to you if you have US health insurance.” I’m saying, “I want to try to make your life easier in some way by sharing this thing I know with you.” I’m saying, “You don’t only deserve this if you pay for it.”

In this society, you are worth what money someone can make off of you. Off of your contact information, off of your body, of even where your eyes rest. I am saying, "This has nothing to do with money. This is love."

I’m saying, “Take care of yourself.” I’m saying, “Take care of your child.” I’m saying, “I want to take care of you as best as I can.” I’m saying, “We all have to take care of each other.”

That’s a political statement. It’s always been a political statement. This page has always been political and will always be. My writing has always been political and will always be.

We all have to take care of each other.

[Image description: A background with pink, white, and blue striped fabric. Over top it reads: "Play is inherently political." End description.]

02/11/2026

**Free Virtual Event**

Playful Therapy Connections is joining Sixx Cool Moms of Montgomery County ™ for Coffee and Connections *next Wednesday (Feb. 18th) at 9:30am* for a free 30-40 min caregiver chat! We will be tackling Tough Talks with with Kids, focusing on how to approach difficult conversations in age-appropriate, supportive ways that build trust, emotional safety, and understanding.

The event will include a short presentation where you'll receive guidance, practical tools and real language followed by a Q&A to ask questions in a supportive, judgement-free space. To register for this event, visit: https://www.sixxcoolmoms.com/event-details/sixx-cool-moms-coffee-and-connections-tackling-tough-talks-with-kids
ID: Image is a flyer detailing information of the "Coffee & Connections" event hosted by Sixx Cool Moms. The flyer is titled, "Coffee & Connections" and reads, "Join Dr. Jaclyn Halpern for our first free virtual caregiver chat. Topic: Tackling tough talks with kids. Date: Wednesday February 18th. Time: 9:30-10am. Register here." Below is the Playful Therapy Connections logo and links to sixxcoolmoms.com & playfultherapy.net. Flyer has a grey background with pink and yellow accents and a digitally drawn image of a coffee mug with a white foam heart sitting on a saucer with a small spoon.

02/10/2026

Playful Therapy Connections is offering a free drop in virtual support group this Thursday (Feb. 12th) 5:30-6:45 for anyone looking to receive or offer support around the Wootton High shooting. This is such a hard time for our community in so many ways, and we understand fear is heightened.

This will be a place to process feelings and support each other. If the community feels it would be helpful, we'll repeat the meeting over the next several weeks.

We are asking people to register by email so that we can ensure a secure and safe environment for everyone who attends.

To receive a Google Meet link, please email: testing@playfultherapy.net

Therapy for Children, Teens, Parents & Adults. You’re not looking for just any therapist for your child or family, you’re looking for the therapist who is finally going to get it. Individual Therapy (ages 3+), Group Therapy and Parent Coaching. Celebrating Neurodiversity & Affirming Identiti

02/05/2026

01/30/2026

What are some of your interests?? We want to hear them!

Flashback Friday: Originally posted March 24th, 2021

Having someone you can enjoy your hyperfixations with is so incredible! While others may tell me to stop, to be quiet, or to give it a rest, my friend and I will fuel each other, and happily go on, and on, and on, and...

[Image description: A six panel comic of Honeydew trying to find someone to share their hyperfixation with. The comic is titled "Share Interests" and is made by Theresa Scovil.

Panel 1:
Honeydew comes up to a person and excitedly yells "Star Wars! Star Wars! Star Wars!"
The person angrily yells "No Star Wars!"
Panel 2:
Honeydew comes up to another person and excitedly yells "Star Wars! Star Wars! Star Wars!"
The person look shocked and says "Too much Star Wars!"
Panel 3:
Honeydew is sad and alone.
Panel 4:
Honeydew looks up an new person and asks "Star Wars?"
The person also asks "Star Wars?"
Panel 5:
Honeydew looks hopeful and asks "Star Wars?"
The person smiles and says "Star Wars!"
Panel 6:
Both start cheerfully yelling "Star Wars! Star Wars! Star Wars!"]