Isabella Cassina, MA, TPS, PhD Candidate is a Social Worker specialized in International Cooperation and Project Development at The Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, University of Geneva. She is registered Therapeutic Play Specialist with the APTI and holds a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Expressive Arts Therapy (EGS, Switzerland). Her doctoral studies focus on the use of play and expressive arts in crisis work.
Isabella is skilled in seven languages. She is an international speaker, Head of Project Management with over 10 years of experience in
crisis contexts and trainer at the INA InternationalAcademy for Play Therapy Studies and Psychosocial Projects. In the teaching field, she collaborates with universities in Switzerland and Italy. She has been Head of Social Services for he Swiss Red Cross asylum seekers and refugees
sector, and she served as a Humanitarian Worker in a variety of countries including Colombia, Serbia, Haiti, India, Nigeria, and Venezuela.
Isabella is author and illustrator of the psychoeducational book The Magic Home: A Displaced Boy Finds a Way to Feel Better (LHP,
2020). She has published several book chapters and articles on therapeutic play and crisis work. She is the Editor of the magazine Rivista di Play
Therapy by the APTI and Founding Member of the International Consortium of Play Therapy Associations (IC-PTA)