Jacqueline Scherer, LMSW, RPT

Founder & Executive Director, THE PLAYGROUNDgr
Social Change Agent

With over 23 years of experience working with children, youth and families, Jacqueline Scherer, LMSW, RPT has tirelessly promoted healing through play, both in her home and community. 

Scherer—a foster parent of 13 years and mother to three children—has led various out-of-state initiatives and contributed significantly to the field by piloting a traumatic grief curriculum for children, advocating for educational rights, and serving as a crisis clinician for children in Kent County. Scherer actively engages in teaching and speaking engagements, sharing her expertise in grief, trauma, and play with clinicians, teachers and community members. Her recent endeavor, THE PLAYGROUNDgr Podcast, further amplifies this by inviting local experts to share their insights on healing through play. Scherer’s passion for play therapy and play-based strategies led her to create THE PLAYGROUNDgr, driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to the healing power of play. Scherer, who’s a Michigan Association of Play Therapy Board Member and Midtown Neighborhood Association Chair, continues to advocate for safe and accessible play and play therapy services for all. 

She says, “The missing link in mental and emotional health in our community is accessible access to play and play therapy. The research is clear … play heals.”