Jamie Lynn Langley had just finished teaching a room of therapists how to help kids safely assess the risk of climbing a tree — when to stop, how to guide instead of forbid — when they stepped outside and passed a dad doing exactly that with his son. She didn't plan it. This week, Jamie joins Scott to talk about what thirty-seven years of play therapy have taught her about risk, attention, and why she now writes some clients literal prescriptions to go outside.
Jamie is a licensed clinical social worker and instructor at Middle Tennessee State University, and past president of the Tennessee Association for Play Therapy. The first fifteen years of her career were traditional, indoor play therapy; the rest has been built around what she calls nature play therapy, after discovering Richard Louv's work on nature deficit disorder two decades ago.
The conversation moves through her concept of "hummingbird parenting" — flitting in and out instead of hovering — her research-backed "Big Three" case for getting kids outside, and the simple tools, a magnifying glass, a pair of binoculars, that can turn a child afraid of bugs into a discoverer.
IN THIS EPISODE
What play therapy and nature-based therapy actually look like
Why kids increasingly don't know how to play without instructions
Hummingbird parenting vs. helicopter parenting
The research case for risk: as safe as needed, not as safe as possible
The "Big Three": focus and mood, cortisol, and long-term wellbeing
Nature prescriptions, nature play kits, and trading screen time for green time
Making nature accessible when time, transportation, or safety are real barriers
ABOUT JAMIE LYNN LANGLEY
LCSW and instructor at Middle Tennessee State University, specializing in play, expressive arts, and nature-based therapy. Past president, Tennessee Association for Play Therapy.
ABOUT YOUR HOST
Scott Shepherd is the founder of Wildward Institute, based in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. 🌿 wildwardinstitute.net
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