Overview

• In a new SFGATE interview, licensed psychotherapist Jessica Vickers says Disneyland can help adults reconnect with a younger self and feel temporarily more at ease.
• Vickers emphasizes she does not prescribe theme-park trips as treatment and notes that cost, crowds, and personal preference limit who may benefit.
• She founded the Happiest Healers Club from Instagram interactions, growing it to hundreds of clinician members with bimonthly meetups inside the parks.
• Some practitioners travel from out of state to attend, using the gatherings to counter the isolation of fully virtual private practices and to build referral networks.
• Vickers models the self-care ritual with Sunday visits to Adventureland with her husband and two sons and urges people not to judge adults who find harmless joy in Disney.