DrElrika

27/04/2026

So grateful and proud to celebrate 10 years of Coachmind Consulting today!

It has not been easy but so worth it. ✨️

Here is to ten more!

21/04/2026

If your work involves supporting others, who supports you?

In clinical and coaching practice, we call this supervision. In my experience, the difference a good supervisor makes to my work is undeniable.

Good supervision stays with you. It sharpens your thinking, steadies your decisions, and gives you perspective you can carry into your work and your day. A good supervisor keeps three relationships in mind: your clients, your role, and you. Knowing you have a place where you will be supported or heard broadens the capacity you have to hear and support others.

Poor supervision does the opposite, and it can feel unclear, critical, or absent. That can lead to self-doubt, hesitation, and a sense that you are getting it wrong.

My doctoral research into Playfulness in Coaching Psychology Supervision showed that adding curiosity and lightness supports clearer thinking, even with complex material. I am now extending this into academic supervision for my talk in June, with a workshop using puppetry!

So it is worth asking: what kind of supervision are you receiving?

08/04/2026

I am so excited to present the opening keynote at this year's Playful Learning Conference in the UK.

As part of preparing for my keynote I have been spending more time in our local "woods".

Last weekend, one of those walks was with my 15-year-old. Reluctant. But the forest did its work, and he remembered the fun of climbing trees, splashing rocks into the water and noticing mushrooms and moss in the shadows.

A reminder that play does not need to be taught or pushed. Even when we arrive reluctantly, it has a way of finding us.

This emerging knowledge is how I research to inform my keynote, "When the Woods Darken: Playful Ways of Working with Long Shadows". Not just the light, visible, easy parts of play, but also considering what emerges when we step into the less obvious spaces, stay a little longer, and allow something to unfold.

I am looking forward to sharing this work.

20/02/2026

On Saturday, I had a meaningful full-circle moment.

In the basement of an iconic bookshop in Cambridge, I stumbled across a soft copy of Dibs: In Search of Self by Virginia M. Axline.

Twenty-five years ago, as a trainee clinician in South Africa, the only way to access books from abroad was to photocopy the single library copy and guard those pages carefully. Since living in the UK, I have systematically replaced those pages with real books. This weekend, I bought my copy of Dibs.

Dibs has stood the test of time. As I see more children and families in my practice, I find myself returning to the classics. Axline wrote with such clarity about the power of play, long before it became fashionable language in leadership or organisational development.

What strikes me is how timeless Play is across the different parts of my practice: working with a child in therapy, a family navigating complexity, an executive leader under pressure, or integrating playful elements into an ADHD assessment, the underlying principles remain relationship, safety, agency, symbolic expression, and growth.

I remain deeply grateful to pioneers like Axline, who eloquently articulated that when we take play seriously, real change becomes possible.

18/02/2026

I often reflect on the tension in my work between being a clinician and being an advocate for playfulness and creativity.

In therapy, I hold very serious and sometimes deeply sad material. It is a sacred space filled with pain, uncertainty and loss. And yet, it is through sitting in those spaces that I have become more convinced of the importance of playfulness and creativity in mental and physical health.

Playfulness is not the opposite of seriousness.

For many people, playfulness is a pathway back to regulation:
For some, playful or creative activity supports rest-and-digest.
For others, playfulness restores a sense of competence and achievement.
Playfulness can also offer a way to experience and tolerate higher levels of arousal or adrenaline in a safe space without real-world consequences.

Research increasingly shows that playful exploration supports nervous-system regulation, learning, and cognitive flexibility: those capacities often under strain in chronic stress and ADHD.

As a diagnostician and clinician, much of my current interest lies in the ADHD space, particularly what happens post-diagnosis.
Do people find a space where play and creativity are permitted (not trivialised or gamified) as supportive? Not as another thing to get right, but as a way to experiment, regulate, and reconnect.

I’m curious: Have you found playfulness or creativity helpful in managing ADHD, personally or professionally?

31/01/2026

Stem + Arts! We need divergent creative thinkers for the future!

02/12/2025

? Why would a psychologist offer a FREE Advent Calendar focused on adult play?
! The evidence shows that small moments of play can support emotional well-being and serve as a protective factor against mental health decline.

Sign up today and receive gentle, daily prompts straight to your inbox.

https://preview.mailerlite.io/preview/1701679/sites/171975535816083204/W0baMG

26/11/2025

Work can be challenging for many reasons.

Adding a bit of bubbles to it acts as a wonderful circuit-breaker!

15/11/2025

15/11/2025

Play is everywhere!
And during a work trip to London recently I was delighted to find has created a space for Adults to play in Covent Garden!

30/03/2025

For one night only... I was buzzing to share my online talk, 'Safe to Play', with the fantastic Coaching Psychology PSI Special Interest Group of Ireland last week!

We explored playful ways to boost psychological safety and sparked some bold experimentation. It was such an engaging session with a cracking audience!