Presenter Spotlight: Marquita Garrett, PhD, LPC, RPT-S, NCC, ACS
- RTC Staff
- Jan 27
- 2 min read
Meet Marquita Garrett, PhD, LPC, RPT-S, NCC, ACS, who is conducting the Anchoring Hope: Play Therapy for Climate-Related Trauma in Marginalized Children workshop aboard our inaugural Play Therapy Symposium at Sea!
Who is Doc G?
Marquita Garrett, PhD (who is affectionately known as Doc G) is a Clinical Director, counselor supervisor, professor, and podcast host who loves exploring transformation, growth, and the deeper questions that shape both people and systems. She brings creativity, curiosity, and heart into every space she enters, inviting others to engage with complexity through imagination, reflection, and connection.
What does Doc G do?
By day, Doc G serves as a Clinical Director and supervisor, shaping the next generation of counselors. By night, she teaches within clinical mental health programs and educates future clinicians. She is also the host of a podcast centered on exploring the chrysalis and asking meaningful, expansive questions about identity, healing, and purpose.
How does Doc G work?
Doc G’s work is grounded in mentorship, imagination, and relational connection. She believes adolescents don’t need more directives, but spaces where they are allowed to be kids again. Through play, creativity, and exploration, she helps children and teens navigate a complex world while gently drawing out resilience, curiosity, and hope.
Why play therapy?
Doc G's journey into play therapy began in her work with adolescents, where she quickly realized that traditional, lecture-based approaches often fall flat. Play offered a language rooted in expression, movement, symbolism, and imagination. Through play therapy, Marquita found a powerful way to meet youth where they are and support emotional regulation, meaning-making, and healing.
What drives Doc G?
Doc G is fueled by her passion for adolescents, climate change, sexuality education, and a deep commitment to elevating the counseling profession, rather than exclude or gatekeep. She believes good counselors change lives, and great counselors change systems. Her interest in climate-informed play therapy is personal; she envisions a future where her grandchildren inherit not only a cleaner planet, but healthier minds.
Why does Doc G's session matter?
Children and adolescents are already carrying the psychological weight of climate uncertainty, eco-anxiety, and environmental injustice. Marquita’s session highlights play therapy as a powerful tool for helping young people process these realities, build emotional regulation skills, and re-imagine hopeful futures. Attendees can expect an inspiring blend of play therapy, climate psychology, environmental justice, and trauma-informed practice that reconnects clinicians to their “why.”
What are some fun facts about Doc G?
Has published several coloring books and a journal
Loves coloring, tending to houseplants, and playing with her grandchildren
Enjoys water aerobics and adventuring with her huskies
Self-described kid at heart and former gymnast who loved the parallel bars
An ambivert who enjoys both deep conversation and quiet reflection
Drawn to the water and affectionately called “the mermaid” by the children and teens she works with
While this is not her first time, Doc G is excited to relax, connect, and exchange meaningful ideas on this special cruise
