Play & Well-Being: Why We Need to Take?Play?Seriously Across?the?Lifespan (#ElevateTheConvo Twitter Chat)

When: January 27, 2022

8:00PM ET/7:00PM CT

6:00PM MT/5:00PM PT

Where:?Twitter #ElevateTheConvo

What:?1-hour conversation. Just follow the #ElevateTheConvo hashtag on Twitter and join in as our panelists -- all experts in play and well-being.

Feel free to join in the conversation. If you are new to participating in a Twitter Chat here is a brief??"how to" article . At the time of the chat just put the hashtag #ElevateTheConvo in the Twitter search field, then hit the "latest" tab and you will see the most recent posts. When you refresh the search tab new posts will emerge.

Who: All those interested in learning or sharing about the importance of play across the lifespan

Questions

1: What do we mean by play across the lifespan? What are some different forms of play? How do we define "play" and how does play change from infancy to older adulthood?

2: How is play connected to our mental health and wellbeing? What does the research say on why it matters at different ages?

3: What are the barriers that impact our ability to play well? Do these challenges change over time? How do we overcome these obstacles in our schools, workplaces, homes and communities?

4: What do you see for the future of play and its connection to our wellbeing? Ten years from now, what will "play" look like for children, teens, and adults?

Panelists

Kirsten Anderson

@KirstenPlaying

After 25 years as an entrepreneur, and over a decade as the play expert on Global TV, Kirsten sold her award-winning toy store to bridge her expertise in business leadership & the bottom-line benefits of playfulness at work. Kirsten is an international keynote speaker, facilitator, and founder of Integrate Play Solutions. Teams & leaders in diverse industries have found the fun while improving innovation, wellness, culture, team development, and adaptation to change. Some of the playful methods utilized are built on applied improvisation and certifications in LEGO Serious Play and The Four Stages of Psychological Safety.

Kathy Klotz-Guest

@kathyklotzguest

Kathy Klotz-Guest, MA, MBA, spent 16 years in Silicon Valley leading marketing communications and storytelling teams. She also spent almost 25 years on comedy stages. Today, she combines those backgrounds to help people (especially women leaders), teams, and companies use playful humor and improv principles to be braver, bolder and SAY big things that have impact. Founder of Keeping it Human?, Inc. Kathy is an author, professional speaker, and comedian who still performs at clubs and on Zoom. She graduated Stanford University (MA) and UC Berkeley (MBA), studied sketch at Second City and performed improv at ComedySportz.

Dr. Sonali Mantoo

@uniqorndoc

Sonali Mantoo is a Critical Care Physician, Simulation Educator, Dancer & Yoga teacher. Born & raised in India, she competed her training in the United States, working in Academic Medicine since. She is passionate about improving the quality of Critical Care, Palliative Care, while advocating for Gender Parity, Wellness and Play.?While traveling on a sabbatical from 2018-2020, she realized these are global issues & enjoys using Mainstream Media for education & empowerment.

Fenway Jones

@JaspersGameDay

At 11 Fenway started her gaming career with Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons. At 14 she lost two friends to suicide and decided to use the grief and pain she was feeling to take actionable steps to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. She started the 501c3 non-profit Jasper’s Game Day to use her hobby, gaming, to raise money for suicide prevention and awareness. She wants to bring the gaming community together and show everyone they are not alone. Since starting JGD just under $200k for crisis hotlines and centers has been raised.

Kaishin "Kai" Chu

@kaishinchu

Kai is a big advocate of the Design Thinking mindset, which provides agency for critical, analytical thinking and complex problem-solving. Embedding design-thinking into a person’s way of thinking and doing cultivates deeper empathy and understanding, both required for creating people-centric, purpose-driven agile solutions to answer complex problems that arise in daily life and in work.

Dr. Jamie Jones Coleman

@JJcolemanMD

Dr. Jamie Jones Coleman is a trauma and acute care surgeon at Denver Health and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver.?

She earned her MD at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis, then went on to complete residency in Chicago at the Cook County Hospital and Rush University integrated general surgery program.?This was followed by a two year fellowship in trauma and surgical critical care at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, which is sponsored by Emory University.?She is currently double boarded in both general surgery and surgical critical care as well as a Fellow in the American College of Surgeons.?

She is a medical media expert, public speaker, avid writer and blogger, contributing to?Huffington Post and US News & World Report frequently. Dr. Coleman’s work has also been featured on KevinMD, LinkedIn, and FeminEM.??

Caitlin Quarrington is an educator, coach, storyteller, and mental health advocate that has worked for 15+ years in learning and development. In her current role as a Program Manager with Amazon Web Services, she supports early career talent?with launching their tech careers and deepening leadership skills. Caitlin also serves on the Board of Directors with Two Wheel View, a Calgary non-profit organization that uses bicycles as a tool to build resiliency in youth. Her Master's degree in Critical and Creative Thinking focused on play to drive creativity and purpose, and play remains central to her research and writing interests.

Dr. Caroline Brookfield is a Reluctant Creative. She is a veterinarian, author, speaker, stand-up comic, and mom. Faced with a false ultimatum of art or science, she chose science. Does that sound familiar? If you’re a “left brainer” like Caroline, you might share the belief that creativity is for artists, kids and grandmas, and somewhat ancillary to more important goals. Feeling snubbed, eventually Caroline’s creativity demanded attention like a cat at dinnertime. She learned how to integrate her creative and scientific sides, realizing the importance of both, and that you don’t have to choose. Caroline is passionate about helping you to identify your own barriers to individual, everyday creativity, so that you can speak up, stand out, and build a uniquely satisfying future for yourself. Caroline presents balanced evidence, with easy to understand and actionable takeaways, kind of like a keynote mullet: Fun up front and data in the back. You can also learn how to balance rigor with creative expression to survive the gusting winds of change, with a smile on your face.

Caroline received honors for her veterinary degree from the Ontario Veterinary College, is a certified level 2 Creative Problem Solving facilitator, and holds a Certificate of Professional Management from the University of Calgary. She is always up for a challenge, like learning guitar, rock climbing, getting her kids to eat vegetables, surfing, meditation retreats with sniper rifles. You know, the usual stuff. Caroline lives in Calgary, Alberta, where her lectures go unheeded by her family. The dog listens, sometimes.