What Is Play & Process
Therapy, but not as
you know it.
Most people imagine counselling as sitting across from someone in a quiet office, trying to find words for things that are hard to say. That works for a lot of people. But not everyone.
Play & Process is still individual counselling — real, confidential, clinically grounded sessions with a Registered Clinical Counsellor. The difference is where we meet. We meet on a pickleball court. You play. I observe. When you are ready, we talk.
Movement helps the nervous system settle. A settled nervous system opens up more easily. The court is just how we get there.
Still Counselling
Billed as individual counselling. Covered by most extended health plans. Session notes, therapeutic goals, confidentiality — all of it. Same professional standards, different setting.
Clinically Grounded
Rooted in Polyvagal Theory. Movement activates the part of your nervous system that makes connection and healing possible. This is not a gimmick. It is good science.
Genuinely Human
No couch. No tissue box. No awkward silence. Just movement, fresh air, and a conversation that happens naturally — because your body got there first.
How It Works
Why It Works
Your nervous system
runs the show.
Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, explains that your nervous system has three states. Only one of them — the ventral vagal state — allows you to truly connect, process, and heal.
When you sit down in a therapy office and someone asks you how you feel, your nervous system might not cooperate. But when you move your body, play something simple, and laugh a little — it settles. And a settled nervous system is one that can do the work.
Pickleball is not the therapy. It is the warm-up for the part of your brain that makes therapy possible.
What this session is.
✗ A pickleball lesson. Your counsellor is not coaching your backhand.
✓ A real counselling session, billed to your extended health plan.
✗ A fitness class. There is no performance standard or athletic expectation.
✓ Fully confidential. Everything stays between you and your counsellor.
✗ Group therapy. Sessions are individual and focused entirely on you.
✓ Suitable for beginners. No pickleball experience needed whatsoever.
✗ Only for people who love sports or the outdoors.
✓ Clinically grounded in Polyvagal Theory and evidence-based practice.