The Vine

Congrats to our friend Steve Gross, who in 2008 put a charge into The Vine—first by getting us all dancing onstage, then with his stirring talk about the healing properties of joyfulness and play.

Grossie was recently honored with the 2010 Ruffled Feather Award at the Plymouth Rock Comedy Festival. The award recognizes the achievements of those who have positively “ruffled the feathers” of the world: socially, emotionally and optimistically through the use of humor and creativity.

A social worker by training, Gross founded Project Joy (now Life is good Playmakers) in 1989 as a nonprofit organization using play to strengthen and heal children whose lives have been deeply impacted by trauma. He and his team have just returned from Haiti, where they trained and equipped Haitian community leaders and childcare workers in the art of Playmaking.

“We understand the neurophysiology of trauma, but oftentimes we don’t understand the neurophysiology of joy and love,” Gross said. “Disaster response focuses on the negative. I’m not saying you ignore that. But what you pay attention to grows. If you work with children and all you talk about is fear, loss and sadness, and you don’t try to tap into joy you’re never going to help them heal.”

Kudos to you, Steve. We’re proud to call you our colleague and friend.