About us
Team
United by a common vision
Spielzeit bases its work on a vision that is shared by all team members: “Not only persons with disabilities or psychological burdens are different, but also healthy persons. Impairment, like health, has its place in the diversity of human forms of being. We are committed to ensuring that otherness is researched, recognized and integrated.”
All our psychotherapists are recognized by the cantonal health authorities as service providers for psychotherapy.
Job and therapy management
Counseling and supervision
Founder of the playtime method
“It’s different to be normal.”
Robin Mindell
Psychotherapist SBAP.
Counseling and psychotherapy
Luzia Nay
Specialist psychologist for psychotherapy FSP
President of the MLFI Foundation
PD Dr. sc. nat. Mark Adams
40 years of Spielzeit
Psychology and counseling
For 40 years, we have dedicated our work to young and adolescent persons with illness, trauma and disabilities and their families. With new and specialized psychological approaches, we are committed to providing psychological support and psychotherapy for special concerns.
We support professionals in schools, socio-educational or medical institutions and other specialist departments with advice and presentations on psychological issues.
All members of the Spielzeit team accept physical and mental differences and allow them to coexist without judgment, because we are all different.
40 years of experience: 1984-2024
As part of our 40th anniversary, an “open evening ” was held for interested parties on September 12, 2024. You can find more information here.
Our guiding principle
Whether sick, disabled, burdened, healthy, happy, other or normal: we are all unique and we are all a facet of a vibrant, colorful fabric called human diversity. With our guiding principle “It’s different to be normal”, we put otherness at the center.
Job opportunities
Become a team member at Spielzeit
- Psychotherapy:
Child Psychotherapist, 60-80% (PDF)
We are looking for a psychotherapist in training or with completed psychotherapy training to join our team as of February 2025 or by arrangement. If you are in training, please note the requirements for obtaining a permit in the Canton of Zurich. Information on this can be found in the leaflet from the Health Department of the Canton of Zurich.
- Child psychologist for test psychology, 20-40%.
We are looking for a psychologist for our internal and external diagnostics assignments as of March 2025 or by arrangement. Are you interested in psychodiagnostics as well as educational and developmental psychology issues and have experience with standard school psychological assessments? Are you interested in learning more (like ADOS-2 or SEED-2, etc.)?
If you are interested, please contact Mr. Robin Mindell, robin.mindell@spielzeit.ch, Head of Job and Therapy Management Spielzeit.
Research
Effective therapeutic methods
Since 1984, we have been involved in psychotherapeutic follow-up research and long-term studies in order to gain a deeper understanding and investigate new ways of treating children and young people who are burdened by illness or disability.
We regularly present our experience and research findings in the field of child psychotherapy to professionals and the interested public at events/speeches and in the form of specialist articles.
In interdisciplinary cooperation, we share our knowledge in supervision sessions and show effective therapeutic approaches. We also work regularly with foreign specialist disability, psychology and social work centers in Italy, the USA and Israel. The focus is on questions of developmental psychopathology and clinical work with severely stressed children.
Person-centered aggression intervention program
In 2007, Spielzeit, in cooperation with experts from Israel, developed a non-violent person-centered aggression intervention program(AGGRIP®) for use in aggressive behavior in institutions for people with intellectual disabilities. We are also repeatedly given the opportunity to present the program for the treatment and de-escalation of aggression in German-speaking countries.
The German-language article published in 2008 in “punktum”, the journal of the Swiss Professional Association for Applied Psychology, provides an overview of the topic. Download PDF
Activities
2024
Dear guests at the open evening 2024
Thank you very much for visiting us on our anniversary on 12.9.24!
You can download the display boards here:
- It’s different to be normal – change of perspective and guiding principle of the 2024 season
- 40 years of the season – milestones and core competencies in 2024
- Facts and figures – The season at a glance
- Specialist focus of the season – specialist papers from recent years (Robin Mindell). If you are interested in any of the papers, please contact our office at admin@spielzeit.ch.
- Understanding the autism spectrum – neurological characteristics and support options in AS (Robin Mindell)
- Mindfulness-based techniques in psychotherapy.
(Luzia Nay and Béatrice Dill)
2018
Whether big or small, jogging, walking or hiking: anyone who wanted to do something good for their health could take part in the “Run4Kids” charity run and donate to the well-being of children at the same time. The proceeds also went to the Spielzeit.
Private individuals or company employees had the opportunity to run any distance during October, regardless of the location and date, and to register and pay for the distance run as well as a donation per kilometer or a fixed contribution. Those who preferred to do their laps together instead of alone took part in the running event on October 28, 2018 on the Zürichhorn. Of course, the Spielzeit team and its numerous supporters also showed their full commitment on this occasion!
2016
Signed objects and prizes from well-known Swiss athletes and sponsors such as Ted Scapa, Roger Federer, Breel Embolo, Murat Yakin, Vreni Schneider, the Tschuggen Grandhotel and the Arosa Kulm Hotel could be purchased at auction on the charity evening on September 15, 2016 or, with a little luck, won as part of a raffle. The highlight of the event was the auction under the expert direction of Cyril Koller, Managing Director of Koller Auctions, where the bidding was enthusiastically participated in.
Thanks to the generous bids and the raffle tickets sold, the evening at the Neumünster parish hall in Zurich proved to be extremely successful, as a pleasing amount was raised for psychotherapy sponsorships for severely stressed children.
Radio 1: Interview about the charity auction with Robin Mindell, Tuesday, September 13, 2016.
2014
As part of the 30th anniversary celebrations, a party was held with invited guests on June 2, 2014 at the Neumünster parish hall in Zurich. The charity concert on August 31, 2014 was the ultimate highlight of the anniversary year for children of all ages: around 300 guests sang and performed enthusiastically to the songs of the well-known musician and children’s songwriter Andrew Bond.
During his free performance, he presented rousing classics as well as new songs from his CD “Alli mached Mischt” (“Everyone messes up”). Thanks to the cooperation with the Sternschnuppe Foundation and the KVEB (self-help organization for parents of disabled children), numerous children were able to attend the concert free of charge. Many thanks to Andrew Bond, Ticketino, Wild Flavors GmbH and all the volunteers who contributed to the success of this event!
Impressions of an unforgettable afternoon with Andrew Bond.
In its anniversary year, Spielzeit published a book about its work since its foundation in 1984. Interested parties and professionals can find out more about therapy and the success of therapy for children and young people with serious illnesses, disabilities and trauma in a playful way. The publication was written, designed and published thanks to the financial support of the MBF Foundation and the Kohler-Friederich Foundation. Please use the contact form on our website for orders.
2009
Thanks to the generous support of sponsors such as Schauspielhaus Zürich, hauserundhauser and Goldbach Media (Schweiz) AG, Spielzeit was able to produce and broadcast the TV commercial with the appeal for donations “Dänked Sie dra, helfed Sie mit” (“Remember to help”), to mark its 25th anniversary.
Who in Zurich has the best experience in designing stage sets? The Schauspielhaus Zürich (Zurich Theater), of course! The production and creative team for Spielzeit’s TV commercial has been given permission to enlist the help of the stage builders at the Schauspielhaus Zürich to realize the appeal for donations.
They should create a puzzle wall with the motif of a child’s drawing in which a puzzle piece can be folded out. read more
First, a wooden wall with a flap is made in the carpentry workshop of the Schauspielhaus. The motif of the children’s drawing is then applied to the wall in charcoal using a grid and painted. In the course of the preparations, a casting with young actors and actresses takes place on the premises of Spielzeit, where the idea and the script are discussed and the right wardrobe is selected. After setting up the stage and the technical equipment, the eagerly awaited performance on the stage of the Schiffbau in Zurich can begin. The film flap closes and the shooting begins – of course only after everyone present has tried out the ingenious flap in the puzzle wall for themselves.
A look behind the scenes: Making-of the Spielzeit TV commercial “Dänked Sie dra, helfed Sie mit”.
Milestones
From pioneering project to established Spielzeit method
In the early 1980s, three young psychologists broke new therapeutic ground by treating children who were suffering not only from psychological problems but also from a physical illness.
In the course of decades of experience, the recognized Spielzeit method and new specialized forms of therapy such as the “therapy of three” have developed. Today, the Spielzeit team uses these methods to effectively support young persons with burdens, disabilities and physical illnesses and their families to develop new perspectives, build self-esteem and enjoy life.