You found your way here because something needs to change. And some part of you already knows it.
Maybe you're exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't fix. Maybe you love your kids fiercely and still dread 5pm. Maybe you've built something impressive and can't figure out why it doesn't feel like enough.
Whatever brought you here, I want you to know: you are not too far gone.
You are not too late.
And you are not alone.
Let me tell you about someone I worked with.
She was doing everything. And it was still not enough.
She came to me with an infant, twin five-year-olds, and a house that felt like it was held together with the last thread of her sanity.
One of her children had special needs. Her partner and she disagreed on almost everything, discipline, sleep approaches, how to handle the picky eating, which services to pursue. She was Googling symptoms at midnight and disappearing into rabbit holes of conflicting advice, each one leaving her more anxious than the last.
She was doing the laundry, managing childcare pickup, handling the house, showing up at work, and somewhere in the margins of all of that, trying to be present for three children under six, one of whom needed more from her than she knew how to give.
Nobody was sleeping. Nobody was getting enough of her. And she was getting none of herself.
By the time she found me, she had stopped looking for joy. She was just trying to find the next right step without letting everything else drop.
We didn't start by fixing everything. We started by finding the first thing.
Using my signature RIT framework (Recharge, Inner Power, Time to Thrive) we mapped exactly what needed to happen, when it needed to happen, and who was going to do it.
We looked at where each partner felt most confident and least anxious, and divided responsibilities from that place rather than from obligation or guilt.
We found small tasks that could be delegated without spending money they didn't have.
We solved two things right there in the session.
Not in theory, not as homework, but together, in real time. We connected her to free community resources she didn't know existed. We built structures to maintain a positive state instead of just surviving until bedtime.
And then we found something for her.
A small sliver of time between the caregiving and the chaos that was just hers. Something that filled her up instead of draining her.
She came in running on empty. She left with a plan, a partner who finally felt like a teammate, and the first full breath she'd taken in months.
That is what this work does. And that is why I do it.
HOW I GOT HERE
Dr. Erica’s Story
I had all the knowledge. And I still couldn't find my way out.
I earned my PhD in Applied Developmental Psychology and walked straight into the work I had trained for, supporting families, caregivers, and children across some of the most complex situations you can imagine. Families in crisis. Families of children with autism, intellectual disabilities, attention and learning differences. Families that looked fine from the outside and were quietly drowning on the inside.
I worked. I studied. I showed up. And somewhere in the grind of building a career and trying to do everything right, I burned out completely.
Not quietly. Not gracefully. The kind of burnout where you realize you have been running on adrenaline and achievement for so long that you genuinely cannot remember the last time something felt light.
I had bought into hustle culture completely. I believed that to be taken seriously as a professional (as a parent, as a person building something) I had to stay serious. That creativity was a distraction. That play was for children. That joy was something you got to after all the hard work was done.
I was wrong about all of it.
What I noticed in every family I worked with broke my heart a little. Even the ones who had access to education, to resources, to information, they still couldn't get out of survival mode. The knowledge wasn't the problem. Life was just too hard and too complex, and nobody had given them the tools to actually feel better right now, in the middle of it.
I went looking for a better way forward. For them and, honestly, for myself.
I discovered laughter yoga. I know how that sounds. I thought the same thing. But I showed up to a session and something shifted in my nervous system that I had not felt in years. I trained and certified immediately, while simultaneously enrolled in coach certification, going deep into mindset work and positive psychology.
And then the connection clicked.
The reason laughter works.
The reason play works.
The reason a five-minute silly moment with your child can shift the entire emotional temperature of your home.
It is not magic.
It is neuroscience.
It is the way the human brain is actually wired. To regulate, to connect, and to heal through play and genuine joy.
That is the piece everyone was missing. That is where Becoming Playful began.
WHAT THIS WORK IS REALLY ABOUT
I help parents who want one thing above everything else.
They want to know their child is okay.
Not perfect. Not ahead of schedule. Not winning. Okay. Connected.
Emotionally equipped to handle whatever life throws at them, because they have a parent who knows how to meet them there.
The parents who find their way to Becoming Playful are not people who have checked out. They are deeply attached, deeply caring, and deeply tired of feeling like they are getting it wrong.
They are looking for practical solutions they can use with what they actually have, in the moments they are actually in. Not in theory, not with unlimited time and money and energy, but right now, on a Tuesday, in the middle of real life.
My background working with families with unique learning styles has always given me one particular gift: I see what is possible in the moment you are already in.
I do not need perfect conditions.
I do not need you to have your act together first.
I meet you exactly where you are, with deep compassion and without judgment, and we find the next right thing from there.
Because the next right thing is always available. Even when everything feels like too much.
HOW THE WORK IS STRUCTURED
Every pathway at Becoming Playful is built on one framework.
Recharge. Inner Power. Time to Thrive.
Recharge is where we start. Before you can show up for anyone else (your children, your team, your partner, yourself) your own nervous system needs to be resourced. This is not self-care as an afterthought. This is the foundation everything else is built on.
Inner Power is where we go next. This is the work of understanding your own patterns, your own wiring, your own default responses under pressure. And beginning to choose differently. Not perfectly. Differently.
Time to Thrive is where it lands. Structures, rhythms, and real-life tools that make the new way sustainable. Not a temporary fix. A life that actually works for the way you are built.
This framework shows up in every coaching session, every workshop, every program, and every piece of content at Becoming Playful. It is the thread that connects everything.
THE FORMAL STUFF, BECAUSE IT MATTERS TOO
The training behind the work.
Everything at Becoming Playful is science-backed. Here is what that means in practice.
PhD · Applied Developmental Psychology
Most parenting advice comes from people who mean well. Mine comes from fifteen years of rigorous academic research into how children actually develop, cognitively, emotionally, and neurologically.
When I tell you something works, I can show you exactly why, down to what is happening in your child's brain in that moment.
That is not common. And it matters.
Certified Coach
Coach certification taught what my PhD didn't: that information alone never changes behavior. You can know exactly what you should do and still not do it, because the barrier is the thoughts, patterns, and beliefs running underneath.
My coaching training is deep into mindset and sustainable change. I help you understand why you keep doing what you've always done, and how to rewire it.
LEGO Serious Play Facilitator
LEGO Serious Play is a research-backed methodology developed at MIT and adopted by organizations like NASA and Google. It uses structured, hands-on building to unlock ideas that never surface in a traditional meeting or conversation.
The reason it works is simple: when your hands are busy, your defenses come down and your creativity comes up. I use it with teams who are stuck, leaders who need new thinking, and groups who have forgotten what it feels like to solve a problem together.
Certified Laughter Yoga Leader
Laughter yoga sounds like the punchline to a joke. I thought so too, until I walked into a session burned out and walked out feeling like myself for the first time in years.
The science is real: laughter triggers the same neurological response whether it starts genuinely or not. Your nervous system cannot tell the difference. Which means we can use it intentionally, in a coaching session, in a team meeting, or on a Tuesday morning when everything feels heavy. I am certified to lead this work with individuals, families, and corporate teams.
Applied Development · Neuroscience · Positive Psychology
These fields rarely talk to each other. I lead the intersection because I know the answers live here.
The nervous system science explains child behavior. The developmental research explains what they need from you. Positive psychology explores building sustainability (instead of survivability). Together, they form a picture of your family that most approaches never get to.
Speaker · Writer · Expert Guest
Presenting at international conferences, contributing chapters to books, and finishing my own, this work has always lived where research meets real life. As an expert guest on podcasts, television, and radio shows, I translate science into something you can use before the conversation ends.
I run workshops for families because the most important place for this research to land is your living room, on a Wednesday, when it feels like too much. Everything comes back to one question: does this actually help today? If not, it doesn't make the cut.
A FEW THINGS YOU SHOULD PROBABLY KNOW ABOUT ME
The stuff that doesn’t fit in a bio
#1. I send silly jokes during hard weeks. This is not unprofessional. This is the work.
#2. I spent years believing that creativity was a distraction and that serious professionals don't play. I was exhausted, stuck, and wrong. I will not let you make the same mistake.
#3. I have never once met a parent who didn't care enough. Not once. In fifteen years. If you are reading this page, you care enough.
#4. I think the word "just" is one of the most dangerous words in parenting. As in "just ignore it," "just be consistent," "just set a boundary." Nothing about this is just anything.
#5. I know that playfulness is a skill. A practice. A choice. And it is available to you right now, exactly as you are. It doesn’t mean frivolous. You never have to wear a silly hat, unless you like that kind of thing!
#6. I will never let you stay small. I will also never make you feel bad for where you are. Both of those things are true at the same time.
Bonus: I love baby animals. Yes, all of them. Otters in particular. If you saw an adorable animal video, please send it to me. I promise I will love it and it will fill up my heart with extreme joy! Thank you in advance.
If something on this page felt like it was written for you, it probably was.
The parents and professionals who find their way to Becoming Playful are not people who have given up. They are people who refuse to. They are curious, growth-minded, and willing to try something that actually works, even if that something involves a dad joke and a rubber duck.
If that sounds like you, I would love to work together.
Or start with something free —> 5 Minute Reset