Caroline P. Cárdenas is a play researcher, coach and, public speaker on play. With more than two decades of experience as a nurse turned psychotherapist, she melds affective neuroscience with embodied play to nurture compassion, healing, and reconnection. Her doctoral work—The Significance of Play in Restoring Compassion—is the first psychological study to examine how body‑based play can revive empathy and purpose in helping professionals who have become burned out from their work. Dr. Cardenas is the visionary behind The Circle of Play, a body-and-movement-play based approach for nurses, doctors, social workers, educators, therapists, and caregivers who are navigating burnout, compassion fatigue, or a loss of joy. Her approach is centered around workshops in which Dr. Cardenas guides participants through immersive play experiences structured to evoke the imagination, ignite creativity and innovation, and cultivate empathy and compassion. Dr. Cárdenas’s mission as a Latina play researcher is to expand the conversation, amplify representation, and inspire a more inclusive vision of play—championing humanity’s well-being through play as the birthright of every soul, flowing freely across identities, cultures, and generations, weaving joy, compassion, and belonging into our shared humanity.
- The Significance of Play in Restoring Compassion, Doctoral Dissertation
- HoopDancing to Prevent and Decrease Burnout and Compassion Fatigue Among Nurses, Journal of Emergency Nursing
- Teaching Nurses Self Care – Acts for Good
