Biography:
Priscilla (Peachy) Gonzalez Fernando is a Registered Psychologist, Certified Specialist in Clinical Psychology and associate member of the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP), and a Play Therapist with more than 15 years of experience. She has been a board member of the Philippine Association for Child and Play Therapy (Philplay) since its founding in 2009. She is in private practice here at The Rainbow Playroom, where she sees clients every other week. She is also in private practice in Makati at her home, and at In Touch Community Services, Inc.
She uses play, sandplay, creative arts, journaling and other forms of expression to help clients achieve clarity, enhanced self-awareness, self-expression and healing. Her specialty is children, adolescents, and young adults who are going through life changes or transitions, or who have emotional difficulties such as sadness, grief, depression, anger, anxiety or confusion; and behavioral issues, such as aggression, tantrums or fearfulness.
She also sees children and adults who are seeking to heal from trauma and/or abuse.
Peachy has an AB major in Psychology, minor in Family Life and Child Development, from U.P Diliman (1982), and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the Ateneo de Manila. She worked as a preschool teacher, a university teacher of Psychology, and a research and curriculum consultant for children’s television shows such as Sineskwela, Bayani, Hirayamanawari, MathTinik, Epol-Apple, Pahina and Art Jam. In 2005-2007, she was the Head Psychologist for the Bantay Bata Children's Village, a shelter for abused children, and in 2007-2008 worked at the UP Manila - PGH- Child Protection Unit.
Peachy has had more than 15 years of training and experience in play therapy and the use of creative expression for healing.
She trained for many years under the generous tutelage of her mentor, Dr. Ma. Lourdes "Honey" Carandang, who is the pioneer of play therapy in the country and who founded the Philippine Association for Child and Play Therapy (Philplay) in 2009. In 2006, together with colleagues at the Bantay Bata Children's Village, Peachy also had the good fortune to receive introductory training in sandplay therapy from Karen Daniel and Anna Russo of the Institute of Therapies for Emotional Transformation, Australia.
Key findings from her masteral thesis are featured in her article “Pagkatao, Pagkababae, at Seksuwalidad (Self-Concept,Womanhood, and Sexuality): A Phenomenological Study of the Inner World ofthe Girl Child Prostitute,” which is included in the book “Children in Pain: studies on children who are abused, and are living in poverty, prison and prostitution” (Ma. Lourdes A. Carandang, ed.).
