Jessie and Jonathan met back in the 1980s, when it was still early days for board games such as Trivial Pursuit, Boggle and Pictionary. Our families would take turns to host a bi-annual dinner catch-up. After sharing a Chinese takeaway meal that left the table scattered with remnants of egg fried rice and sweet & sour chicken balls, the children were excused to… play games!

Advance to Go! Atari, Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum were not yet household names and it was before the internet would become widely available. Instead we played Yatzee!, PIT, Cluedo, Monopoly and Guess Who? We sought out hiding places for ‘Sardines’ – where all the finders squeezed in together until they were found by the final member of the group.

Looking back, these evenings were therapeutic. They took place in a familiar setting with people we trusted. They provided a release for the adults who chatted and the children who played, each comforted by a predictable format but enjoying the excitement of unknown outcomes to both the games and conversation. This ritualistic experience allowed space for us children, at varying developmental stages and ages, to manage and enjoy aspects of chance, luck, strategy, spontaneity, competition, cooperation and play.

We have continued to meet up for games and playful activities in our adulthood (including watching volleyball games at the 2012 Olympics), demonstrating the value and connection those early experiences provided. The habits adopted through play in those formative years are subliminally repeated. This repetition enables us to relive nostalgic memories, while also creating new ones. There remains the anticipation of unboxing a new game, impatience at learning the rules, cooperation, cathartic competition and the same goal – to have fun.

With work, social and therapeutic connections suddenly happening remotely in 2020, we were grateful some activities could be adapted to online. Socially, for instance, it was possible to play games on Steam (video game digital distribution service) or use the whiteboard on Zoom for activities such as Pictionary. For therapeutic sessions, however, where time and simplicity are of the essence, we realised there was a ‘Fairground-shaped’ hole! While peers generously shared resources and offered ideas, there lacked a single destination practitioners could visit with clients to explore a variety of activities and play therapeutic games. From here, the idea behind the ‘Therapy Fairground‘ began to form.

We decided to combine our skills, knowledge and interests, by inventing an engaging place for people to visit together. Our aim is that this interactive resource will help you to support connections, creativity, relationships, play, emotional development, wellbeing, self-esteem and self-expression.

We hope this has drawn you a picture of our long-standing passion and therapeutic relationship with play – an enthusiasm that culminated in the creation of this platform on which therapists and clients can meet.