Hello Reader,
How are you?
Honestly?
I was going to wish you a Happy New Year, but I am aware we are already in February.
If you are like me, Reader, you may be only just now getting through the things you had on the go in 2025!
I believe it is important to honour the time it takes some of us to kick into gear with the turning of the calendar, and I hope your year is starting gently, or at least as gently as a new year can feel, given what horrors we are witnessing in the world.
For many of us, creativity can be shoved aside when life gets busy or stressful, or when we're navigating total societal collapse amiright?
Our art supplies sit untouched, drying out, tucked away in drawers. Ideas spark in the shower, then fade when we don’t make time to nurture them. We start and stop because there’s always something else to do - lunches to prepare, laundry, work meetings, deadlines, or those **familiar** old messages about not being “good enough” sneak in and throw our glimmer of creativity out the window before we even give it a second glance…
That’s exactly why I created Permission to Play.
I’ve been running this community for over 2.5 years, with nearly 100 live play sessions now hosted, and it has become a space where folks can reconnect with their creativity at their own pace - no pressure, no perfection, no obligation.
Before I tell you what it is, it might help to say what it isn’t.
Permission to Play is not:
- An art class - there’s no teaching you how to do it “right”. I offer permission prompts and guidance, but your way is always the right way.
- A paint-and-sip or step-by-step format - it’s less about following instructions and more about curiosity, compassion, and discovering your own creative voice.
- A challenge or productivity push - you don’t have to show up every week or make finished pieces. You might scribble once and disappear for a month. That’s completely welcome here.
There’s nothing to keep up with or to prove. But there is everything to gain in discovering yourself and trusting your creativity.
It’s simply a space to show up as you are, make marks, explore ideas, and feel less alone while doing it – plus the community is made up of the best humans around, you have got to meet these legends!
Inside Permission to Play, you WILL find:
- Gentle weekly permission prompts to explore, create and make
- Free Play Friday audios: short, playful bursts of creativity and mark-making encouragement
- Twice-monthly live play sessions on Zoom: join live or watch the replay
- A supportive private Discord community (see ya Meta!): share when you like, observe when you don’t and connect with others who “get it!”
Everything is optional. Nothing is judged. You belong simply by showing up and saying, “I matter”.
If this feels like the kind of space you need this year, you can start your 14-day free trial and see how it feels to create for yourself again. No pressure.
If it’s right, you’ll know. It’s honestly time to start trusting yourself, as hard as that can feel.
What PTP Members have said about the creative community:
“Feeling you can connect with like-minded people that have similar struggles just to create and explore is the best part of this group.”
"The most nourishing thing for me is the community; I treasure our talks"
"For me, the group chats, people sharing their lives and struggles. Being able to explore creatively."
"The sessions, the people, the routine, the prompts, sharing art and life."
I’m really looking forward to seeing what we’ll create together. It’s time to reject the productivity machine that tells you how you MUST be and find a community that loves you just as you are right now.
Come, let’s play!
Before I sign off today, if you’re new here, hello. I’m Delphie Joy.
I’ve spent the last 23+ years working across art, design, and creative mental well-being. With postgraduate studies in Mental Health and Neuroscience and a Master of Creative Arts, I bring a diverse range of experience to the spaces I engage in. Over the past 2.5 years, I’ve run the Permission to Play community and facilitated nearly 100 live creative play and connection sessions.
Holding safe, low-pressure spaces where folks can reconnect with themselves through creativity is the work I keep coming back to.
You’re in gentle hands here. I can’t wait to work alongside you.
Until soon.
Delphie Joy xox
PS: If you are unsure about the group, if it will work for you or any other factors that are holding you back from trying us out, please reply and I will set up a time to chat with you to see if it's worth your time to explore.
Want to ask current members about the group? Send me an email and I can put you in touch.
We can't wait to welcome you and see you start to thive in your creative life! More Info Here.
