I lost play, too.
That’s why I built this.
A Thai–Australian psychotherapist. A play person who forgot how to play. And a practice built from finding the way back.
I'm a psychotherapist based in Melbourne, นักจิตบำบัดคนไทยในออสเตรเลีย, offering therapy in Thai and English for adults who feel quietly disconnected from themselves.
Growing up in Thailand, I was surrounded by a big family and cousins my age. We were always playing. Not organised play, not purposeful play. Just playing. Looking back, that was when I felt most like myself. Curious. Expressive. Not monitoring anything.
When I first moved to Melbourne, there was a moment in a gallery, quiet, unhurried, surrounded by art, where I felt my own spark again. The part of me that had been quietly set aside in the push to be serious.
It didn't last. Immigrant life has a weight of its own, and I became more serious without really deciding to.
When I started working as a therapist, I felt the pressure to be a certain version of myself. More composed. More together. Less just me. I couldn't fully name what felt off, but I knew something had been set aside again.
Going to my own therapy changed that. I thought I knew myself well. What I didn't expect was how much more there was to see. Therapy gave me a kind of clarity I couldn't have reached on my own, not because something was wrong, but because that's what it's for. That's where this realisation surfaced.
Since when did I become so harsh on myself?
Around the same time, the idea of play kept surfacing. When I came across Donald Winnicott's thinking on play, that it is not an activity but a state of mind, the place where we feel safe enough to be curious and to express ourselves, something settled in me. This was the thing I had lost. And it was the thing worth building a practice around.
That's how SoulPlay came to exist. Not from having it all figured out. From finding the way back.
I offer therapy in Thai and English because I know what it is to carry something that doesn't quite translate. Some things only have words in one language. Some things barely have words at all. In our sessions, we can move between both, whichever feels true in the moment.
Mae · Thai-Australian Psychotherapist
PACFA Reg. Certified Practising · 31164
Based in Melbourne · Online and In-Person
