Hi

I'm a play specialist, and I would say that if you really want to do it is worth every minute of the effort you put in.

 

You can work as a a hospital play assistant / worker / leader (three different names for the job) which is a post within the hospital play service team working under the guidance of qualified play specialists, which is a great way to get a better understanding of the profession. Normally you would need a level 3 child related qualification, but you may be able to get a job in this role with your current GNVQ qualification, however you would need to have a range of varied experience with children & young people.  If you don't already have a wide range of experience with children, and you cannot afford to leave your job in the bank to gain this experience, you could gain some very useful experience with children & young people doing voluntary work in the evenings and at weekends.  What about finding out about becoming a voluntary assistant at something like Rainbows, Beavers, Brownies, Guides, Scouts etc you can

 

If you are interested in jobs as a Play Worker / Play Assistant / Play Leader you can search on the NHS Jobs website www.jobs.nhs.uk The best job title search to put in is Play Specialist, then all jobs with the words Play Specialist will come up, and since both of the above posts would be supervised by a play specialist the right posts should come up.  However, you will ALSO get all the posts that have either the word "play" or the word "specialist" in them so be prepared to wade through lots of posts that are not relivant to you.  It may also be useful to read some of the job descriptions for a play specialists, as it will then help you to know what is required for these roles.

 

If you want to work as a play specialist would would need to complete futher training.

Currently, inorder to train to be a play specialist you would need a level 3 child related qualification such as Playwork, NVQ in Children's, Care Learning Development, Nursery Nursing etc and two to three years post qualifying experience with children.  Then you can apply to do the current play specialists qualification which is the Edexcel Level 4 Professional Development Diploma in Specialised Play for Sick Children & Young People. However Sept 08 is the last year this current qualification will be running.  Currently, work is being undertaken to develop the new qualification which will replace this course, for more info on this visit the following website: 

Hospital Play Staff Education Trust www.hpset.org.uk

 

I personally feel that that being a play specialists is a really wonderful profession, that is varied and interesting.  I would suggest that if you feel that you are interested in this area you should find out much more about it. You can find out more about the profession by visiting the National Association of Hospital Play Staff (NAHPS) website www.nahps.org.uk You could also consider joining (NAHPS) for a year, which is £20 for Associate Membership and you would receive magazines, newsletters, discounted addmission to study days & conferences and much more.  

 

I would also suggest that you contact the hospital play service at one of the larger hospitals around the country that have large units for children, such as Great Ormond Street Hospital, Alder Hay Children's Hospital, Birmingham Children's Hospital, Addenbrookes Hospital, Bristol Royal Infirmary etc. and ask if you could spend a day visiting the hospital and see what play specialists work involves.  This would give you a better idea if this maybe the area of work you would like to go into.

 

Glad you found this Hospital Play Specialist discussion site on yahoo, do post more questions if there are other things you would like to know.

 

Hope this all helps

 

Harriet

--- On Thu, 11/9/08, jemma ainsworth <jemmainsworth@...> wrote: