When I first found out that there was a Yahoo group dedicated to hospital play specialists, I became very excited but slowly disappointed that their isn't much activity, I am already a member of ukplayworkers which has activity everyday, I feel that we could have some heavy discussion on this group, talk about problems that we encounter everyday, and how we over come them, as Katie Hill (Founder of this group) describes, "it is a way to support each another", we can also share activities/ techniques that work well within the hospital setting or  in other environments, this can be an excellent support to people like me who isn't yet an experienced hospital play specialist, my background is playwork, but from experience assisting specialists I have realised that we share the same ideas, for example, " play help's children learn about themselves, it help's children come to terms with the world around them" especially  the hospital environment.  Something which I feel so passionate about and therefore try to stress its importance, but frequently I get comments, such as "that's all you do, play with kid's" or another I have heard, "children can't play when they are ill" but all of us who know the important of play understand this isn't the case, do hospital play specialists hear comments like this on a regular basis?  If so how do you deal with such comments? As a professional playworker I can slowly see the changes in people's beliefs about play but what about play in hospital? Are people realising the importance in such an environment?  I pose some interesting questions and it will be fascinating to know your thoughts, I hope this has given people "food for thought".    

 

Nicky

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