Biography

I am a researcher, psychologist, and educator passionate about fostering safe, sensitive and playful conditions for learning. I studied Psychology in UCA, Nicaragua and later an MPhil in Psychology and Education at the University of Cambridge with a Chevening scholarship. I have worked as a teacher, therapist, researcher and implementer of educational projects in Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa. Coming from the Nicaraguan permanent state of emergency, I am confident in the transformative power of education and play to promote collective wellbeing and lasting peace. Instead of a deficit narrative regarding children in emergencies, my research proposal aims to acknowledge the creative ways in which children facing adversity use play. In the midst of pain, play sneaks in to offer not only a moment of joy, but agency over the narrative, control over the uncontrollable. Play offers the possibility to practice the strategies that allow children to overcome the adversity from which we have unjustly failed to protect them.

Previous Education

University of Cambridge Psychology and Education 2021
Universidad Centroamericana Psychology 2019