About this episode
Sophie Friedel discusses her journey from skateboarding to Gestalt therapy and her work in mental health care.
Episode 117 with Sophie Friedel, skateboarder and Gestalt therapist from Freiburg, Germany. Together we discussed her picking up skateboarding as a young adult in Cornwall, England; in the early 2010’s traveling to Kabul, Afghanistan three times to volunteer among other things as an English teacher, skateboard instructor and program coordinator at Skateistan; in 2015 publishing her first book “The Art of Living Sideways: Skateboarding, Peace and Elicitive Conflict Transformation” based on her MA thesis; since 2018 pioneering the use of skateboarding in mental health care with a Scholarship in Germany; becoming a qualified Gestalt therapist and running her project “Drop In Ride Out” which combines skateboarding and Gestalt therapy… (00:13) – Intro (01:25) – Starting skateboarding (09:22) – Studies (19:35) – First trip to Afghanistan (28:21) – Writing “The art of living sideways” (38:09) – Transition from peace work to therapeutic work (45:26) – Gestalt therapy (49:46) – Chapter in “Skate/Worlds – New pedagogies for skateboarding” (52:28) – Starting “Drop in ride out” (57:49) – Skateboarding as a therapeutic tool (01:28:43) – Most valuable lesson learned from skateboarding…
People in this episode
Host: Beyond Boards
Guest: Sophie Friedel
Topics covered
- skateboarding
- mental health
- Gestalt therapy
- volunteering
- conflict transformation
- personal development
Keywords
- skateboarding
- Gestalt therapy
- mental health
- volunteering
- Skateistan
- conflict transformation
- personal development
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Skateistan
Books & works: The Art of Living Sideways: Skateboarding, Peace and Elicitive Conflict Transformation
Places: Freiburg, Germany, Cornwall, England, Kabul, Afghanistan
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