The Power of Connection: Play, Creativity, and Healing with Peppy Hills

A Childhood Rooted in Movement and Creativity

Peppy reflected on how her own childhood shaped her path. Movement, imaginative play, and physicality always felt like “home.” Climbing trees, creating new worlds through play, and later training in dance and choreography all gave her a sense of freedom and belonging. What mattered most wasn’t performance or rules but connection with others through creativity.

Creativity as a Way of Connecting

Peppy discovered early in her career that creativity could help people find their voice, even when words felt out of reach. In community arts and inclusive dance, she saw how people could choreograph, express, and connect. Creativity, she believes, is a universal language: “Given the right environment, everyone can create.”

This belief carried into her work in residential care, where she noticed that creative sessions often led to fewer incidents and deeper trust. Whether through movement, rhythm, or shared play, children who had been labelled “difficult” found new ways to relate and build relationships.

The Language of the Body

A central theme of our conversation was the importance of noticing our bodies and nervous systems. Peppy’s training in Synergetic Play Therapy helped her articulate something she had always felt—that our nervous systems are constantly communicating, even when words aren’t.

This approach draws on polyvagal theory, recognising that children (and adults) move through different states: calm and connected, heightened and agitated, or shut down and withdrawn. The role of the therapist—or parent—isn’t simply to demand calm, but to notice what’s happening in the body and ask: “How are you? How do you know? What do you need right now?” (Synergetic Play Therapy Lisa Dion).

Playfulness, Attunement, and Belonging

For Peppy, playfulness is not frivolous—it’s fundamental. Play, dance, song, and creative expression offer safe ways for children and families to attune to each other. Sometimes this might be running, throwing, or jumping; other times it might be clay work, storytelling, or sitting quietly side by side. What matters is the felt sense of being with another person.

She describes this as “wordless chatter”—the unspoken communication that builds trust and safety. When adults tune into it, children feel truly seen and valued.

Project Salam: Supporting Refugee Families

Peppy now brings these principles into Project Salam, part of Beacon Family Services, which supports refugee families resettling in the UK. Many of these families arrive with layers of trauma from conflict, loss, and displacement. Through approaches like Theraplay, Project Salam helps parents and children reconnect, strengthen relationships, and rediscover moments of joy together.

The project also works hard to make its support culturally sensitive, with translated resources, interpreters, and family-specific activities. As Peppy explained, joy and laughter in a family session do not erase the pain—but they offer balm, hope, and resilience.

Supervision and Holding the Work

Alongside direct work, Peppy also supervises other play and creative therapists. She sees supervision as a space of both challenge and support—helping practitioners reflect, stay grounded, and bring their whole selves to their work without being overwhelmed.

At the Heart: Connection

Whether in dance, play therapy, refugee support, or supervision, one theme runs through all of Peppy’s work: connection. As she puts it, being present with another person—seeing them, feeling them, and holding space for them—is a privilege and a profound part of healing.

✨ To find out more about Beacon Family Services and Project Salam, visit Beacon Family Services https://www.beaconservices.org.uk/
📩 For supervision enquiries, you can reach Peppy directly at peppyhills@gmail.com

For more information about Synergetic Play Therapy visit https://synergeticplaytherapy.com/