Professional Experience / Biographies
Charlie Steffens and Spencer Gorin, co-authors of Learning to
Play, Playing to Learn, Curriculum and Activities for
Classroom and Playground Management, started Creative Spirit in
1992. Their behavioral, character education and team-building program uses
fun, humor and creativity to effectively cultivate student executive
function and self-regulation, reduce bullying, increase problem-solving
and foster personal and professional growth. Their clients include many
colleges and universities, elementary, middle and secondary schools,
convention bureaus, churches, mental-health organizations, businesses and
professional organizations.
Charlie and Spencer have given
hundreds of teacher-oriented seminars throughout North America in
utilizing therapeutic play to manage aggressive behavior in children,
build their self-esteem, foster cooperation, cultivate their social skills
and invigorate academic performance. They have worked directly with over
250,000 students. Goals 2000, a program established by the Presidential
Summit on Education evaluated Creative Spirit's Healthy Play program in
twenty-nine schools. Over a five year period the study continually found
that 85% of the teachers who used the program three to five times per week
reported a 50-100% reduction in behavioral problems, including acts of
aggression, bullying, threats, non-cooperation and teasing.
Charlie received his initial training in therapeutic play from the New
Games Foundation in San Francisco in 1976. Since then, he has organized and taught
programs using play to children of all ages in many settings, including classrooms,
after-school programs, chemical-dependency programs and hospitals.
Contact Charlie at Charlie@JoyInLearning.com.
Spencer has designed and facilitated programs for mental
health organizations that used art, play, and music therapy; groups that
dealt with relationship building, relaxation, creative visualization,
sexuality, personal safety and values clarification; and therapy sessions
for individuals, groups and families. In 2009, Spencer created, The Buzz,
an original, innovative and interactive alcohol education program for the
University of Arizona, now utilized at other universities. He writes
monthly for the Red Cup Q & A column published in the Arizona Daily
Wildcat and is a health educator/consultant on various UA projects
focusing on college student mental health/wellness in the areas of alcohol
education, alcohol diversion programming, suicide prevention, healthy
relationships, and LGBTQ issues. Spencer is also a semi-gifted and modest
artist, songwriter and musician.
Charlie and Spencer met when they were working in the
children and adolescent unit at Palo Verde Hospital, a Tucson psychiatric
hospital. Contact Spencer at Spencer@JoyInLearning.com.
