Salina Ballout & Kate Kalamidas

Salina Ballout:

• BA Psychology (Concordia University, Canada)
• Accredited Play Therapist (PTI; Canterberry Christchurch University, Kent, UK)
• Filial Play Coach (PTI)
• Attachment Play Practitioner (Big Toes, Little Toes - UK)     

 

Kate Kalamidas:

• MA Psychology (Aberdeen University, Scotland) 

• Accredited Play Therapist (PTI; Canterberry Christchurch University, Kent, UK)

•  Attachment Play Practitioner (Big Toes, Little Toes - UK)

• Kids Yoga Instructor (Yoga Alliance)

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We are two like-minded Play Therapists who met doing our post-graduate studies in 2013 and became instant friends. We’re both creative and lovers of the natural world.

Our paths crossed again in January 2015 when Kate moved to the UAE, which was Salina’s then home. As we were were both working in schools and the only Play Therapists we knew in the UAE, our friendship really blossomed.

We also began working more closely with one another as we realised that we had a shared interest in developing our support for parents, not just the children we were working with.
 

In 2018 we began our training journey as Attachment Play Practitioners. We then went on to deliver workshops for parents together in the UAE where we received such positive feedback that we decided to take our workshops to Qatar (Salina’s now home). Sadly, due to the pandemic we to postpone things and Kate returned to Cyprus (where she now lives).

We knew we still wanted to reach parents but were struggling with the ‘how’ and ‘where’. Hold and Play was born in 2020 when we decided to adapt our programs to reach parents together online, whilst still providing the support and community we believe is so crucial to parents and integral to the success of our programmes.

Our hope it to guide you as parents to find your style and the kind of parent you want to be by giving you enough relevant information to make the choices that suit you and your family best.

There is so much information out there that parenthood can become quite overwhelming very fast. Hopefully with a touch of Hold and Play and sprinkling of our community, the magical journey
through parenthood will become a wee bit more playful and feel a little lighter.

K + S xx