EP 12: Why Play Matters: Healing Anxiety and Building Safety for Kids with Stacy Schaffer, MA, LPC

In this conversation, Carrie sits down with Stacy Schaffer, MA, LPC — a children’s therapist, author, and advocate for emotional healing — to explore how play can become a bridge to safety, connection, and resilience.Stacy shares her insights from over 20 years of experience in child and adolescent therapy, explaining how play therapy helps kids process big emotions, and why understanding anxiety through a child’s eyes is so powerful.Together, they discuss how adults can help kids look for signs of safety, how to heal shame, and what happens when we don’t tend to our own emotional “cuts.” This conversation serves as a reminder that play isn’t just for children; it’s a pathway for all of us to heal.💛 Topics include: • The therapeutic power of play • Helping kids understand anxiety • Healing shame in adults and children • The importance of therapist self-care and secondhand trauma • Creating safety through connection🎙️ Learn more about Stacy at authorstacyschaffer.com and follow her on Instagram @hoperestored.🌿 Hosted by Carrie Speed — Social Worker & Founder of PlayMotion Kids💛 Have thoughts, stories, or questions? I love hearing from listeners. Send a note anytime and it might even make it into a future episode.FB & IG: playmotionkidsWebsite: www.playmotionkids.com and www.playmotionkids.com/businessownersIG: better.childhood.project