Exploring how practitioners make use of play's developmental benefits
and therapeutic healing properties to aid the child's healthcare
journey, this reflective book expands and enhances the knowledge base
underlying the practice of play in hospitals.
The work of health play specialists and child life specialists in
hospitals in the UK and around the world requires a deep level of
clinical knowledge, so that preparing children for procedures can be
done with skill and precision. It builds on an understanding of both
child development and the impact of traumatic experiences so that
children's deepest fears and biggest emotions can be faced without
flinching. It also relies on an acceptance that play is the foundation
of everything - the child's safest, most natural space - and from this
trust, strength and resilience can grow and be nurtured. This new edited
text explores the breadth, depth and skills of these trained healthcare
practitioners providing play for babies, children, young people and
adults, and places the power of play squarely at the centre of most
clinical settings. Its starting point of the theory that underpins
practice is explored and developed through a combination of reflective
essays, case study chapters from the UK and around the world, and the
newly emerging use of play in diverse settings.
Drawing on the collective work of over 30 play specialists, child life
specialists, play service managers, lecturers and researchers, this book
is unique in all it offers to paediatric practitioners and settings, in
training and in practice. It is an important resource for healthcare
play specialists, playworkers, children's nurses, occupational
therapists and more.