DrElrika

I’m Dr Elrika, HCPC and BPS registered Psychologist. I offer coaching, therapy, and ADHD assessments for adults, children, and professionals.

I have 25 years of experience and use evidence-based, practical approaches for clarity, resilience, and change.

07/07/2026

Spotlight speaker at .collective today: explaining how I use Play to address all sorts of stuck situations: from psychology clients to executive teams.

04/07/2026

And just like that, conference season 2026 is done.

Back to my clients and the clinic, and time to prepare training for multi disciplinary practices. Next (online) stop: a SLT and OT practice in Perth, Australia in August.

01/07/2026

Keynote Delivered!

What a privilege to open the 2026 Playful Learning Conference this year, have a room full of delightful delegates open to listen, create trees and secrets, and participate wholeheartedly.

26/06/2026

Because nothing says Vampire dinner more than a Playposium Conference during a Heatwave in a Circus Tent!

Exeter - a cool city but not cold!

22/06/2026

On the way to the in Exeter for 4 days of fun 😁 and learning about Adults who Play.

This will be the warm-up before my Keynote next week at in Brighton.

I run a workshop using Puppets to explore difficult conversations in power relationships, such as supervisors and students.

11/06/2026

Happy International Day of Play 2026!

UNICEF has chosen the theme for 2026.

Protecting Play for childhood starts with adults who encourage and enable children to play. And play along!

Today I will be going up to the Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development & Learning Research Centre at the University of Cambridge for their annual Play Celebration.

How will you play today?

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.

Address

University Of Sussex
BN1 9RH

Website

https://drelrika.com/, http://www.coachmind.net/, https://seriouslyplayful.co.uk/, http://www.playfulseasons.com/

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