🌱 OUR STORY

Village of Play didn't start with a business plan. It started with a breaking point.

 

It was 2020. The world was locked down. I was working full-time from home, homeschooling a Grade 1 student on a laptop, and grieving the loss of both my parents - my mom suddenly in 2019, and my dad to COVID just months later.

 

And in the middle of all that chaos, our 7 year-old son was diagnosed with ADHD.

Based on recommendations from his doctor, mental health professionals and educators, I dove into the research the way drowning people grab life rafts. I read everything I could find about ADHD, brain development, and something I'd never heard of before: executive functioning skills.

 

The 9 brain skills that help us focus, regulate emotions, control impulses, plan, organize, start tasks, adapt to change, and keep going when things are hard.

 

Skills I didn't even know existed.

 

Skills I'd spent 40 years struggling without.

 

Because just a short time later, in my 40's, I would receive my own ADHD diagnosis. And suddenly, my entire life made sense.

 

The struggles through school. Dropping out of university multiple times. The shame. The constant feeling of "not enough." Even the hyper-organization I'd developed as a survival strategy, it was all connected to executive functioning gaps I'd been navigating my entire life without a map.

 

I wasn't broken. I just didn't have the skills.

 

And neither did my son. Neither did so many kids and families I knew. Neither did most of the adults I worked with in my 20-year corporate career.

 

Because nobody teaches this.

 

We expect people to "just know" how to focus, regulate, and organize. We punish them when they can't. We call them lazy, defiant, or difficult.

 

But these are SKILLS. And skills can be taught.

 

So I left my corporate job and built Village of Play.

 

What We Believe

We believe every child and every adult, deserves access to the brain skills that shape life.

 

Not just the families who can afford $150/hour therapy.

Not just the kids in well-funded school districts.

Not just the adults who stumbled into these skills by luck.

Everyone.

 

We believe executive functioning isn't a luxury. It's a birthright.

 

We believe learning should be joyful, strategic, and rooted in real-world connection - not sterile, clinical, or shame-based.

 

We believe play is the most powerful learning tool we have, backed by decades of neuroscience research from Harvard, MIT, and leading child development experts.

 

We believe in equity over equality, meeting people where they are, removing barriers, and building systems that work for ALL brains, not just neurotypical ones.

 

And we believe it takes a village.

 

Because one parent, one teacher, one coach can't do this alone. Children need entire ecosystems of support: families, schools, communities, workplaces that all speaking the same language, building the same skills, creating the same safety.

 

That's what we're building here.

 

How We Work

At Village of Play, we don't just teach executive functioning. We embed it into everything we do.

 

For kids and teens, we deliver Brain Bloomers classes, camps, and programs using play-based, movement-rich activities that make skill-building fun.

 

For parents, we offer workshops, courses, and coaching that give you the tools to support your child at home - without burning out.

 

For educators, we provide professional development, classroom resources, and in-school programming that reduce teacher stress while building student capacity.

 

For organizations, we bring brain fitness into workplaces, sports clubs, and community programs, because executive functioning isn't just for kids.  It's for all of us.

 

And we do it all using evidence-based learning science: spaced repetition, retrieval practice, interleaving, dual coding, and metacognition. Not because we're academics, but because we want the learning to stick.

 

We're not here to fix people. We're here to build skills, build confidence, and build villages where everyone can thrive.

 

Why It Matters Now

We're raising kids in a world that's moving faster than ever.

 

AI is evolving. Attention spans are shrinking. Mental health challenges are rising. Expectations are higher. Support systems are stretched thinner.

 

Our kids aren't broken. The systems just haven't evolved to meet them where they are.

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That's why executive functioning matters more now than ever. Because the world ahead will demand:

• Adaptability

• Emotional intelligence

• Self-regulation

• Complex problem-solving

• Collaboration with humans AND machines

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These are the skills that can't be automated.

 

These are the skills that will define the future.

 

And we're teaching them now - one child, one family, one community at a time.

 

Our Commitment

We're committed to accessibility. We offer sliding-scale pricing, community-funded spots, and scholarships because no family should be turned away due to cost.

 

We're committed to inclusion. We serve neurodivergent and neurotypical families alike, and our programs are designed to affirm, not "fix."

 

We're committed to quality. Our team is trained, certified, and deeply invested in this work. We don't just show up, we show up WITH expertise, heart, and lived experience.

 

We're committed to transparency. We share our methods, our research, our wins, and our struggles. We're building this WITH you, not for you.

 

And we're committed to impact. Every child who learns to regulate their emotions, every parent who feels less alone, every teacher who has one less behaviour to manage, every workplace that understands brain-based performance - that's why we're here.

 

This Is Just the Beginning

Village of Play started in Cochrane, Alberta, as one fed-up, passionate mom who is a fierce advocate for human potential, children's emotional health, safety and community.

 

Today, we serve families across Alberta and beyond. We partner with schools, recreation centers, and community organizations. We're building a movement.

 

But we're not done.

 

We're expanding our digital reach so families anywhere can access these tools. We're developing coach certification programs so this work can spread. We're advocating for system-level change so executive functioning becomes part of every school, every workplace, every community.

 

Because the world needs more than what it's currently offering.

 

And we're here to build it.

 

One brain. One skill. One village at a time.

 

Welcome to Village of Play. We're so glad you're here. 💚