Lisa K. Forbes, PhD, LPC, RPT-S™
I’m a faculty member at the University of Colorado Denver, a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Registered Play Therapist Supervisor, an author, and a speaker. I co-founded Professors at Play, a global network of faculty exploring playful pedagogy in higher education.
My work moves across teaching, therapy, adult life, organizations, and culture. What connects it is a fascination with the conditions that help people feel more connected, curious, courageous, expressive, and alive.
I’m especially interested in what happens when rigid expectations loosen: when children are given space to tell their stories through play, when adults reclaim permission to experiment and wonder, when educators stop confusing control with rigor, and when organizations make more room for humanity.
For event programs & introductions
Lisa K. Forbes, PhD, LPC, RPT-S™, is a speaker, author, educator, and play therapist whose work explores how play can rehumanize learning, deepen therapeutic practice, challenge rigid cultural norms, and help people remain connected to curiosity, imagination, and aliveness. She is a faculty member at the University of Colorado Denver, co-founder of Professors at Play, and author of Play and the Heart’s Refusal to Harden.
Three connected lanes
- Speaking and training on play, adulthood, organizations, education, belonging, and human connection
- Narrative Child-Centered Play Therapy and child-centered clinical training
- Writing and speaking about play as resistance to hardening in adult life and culture
Want to work together?
For speaking, training, interviews, partnerships, or other inquiries, get in touch.