Due to the current situation staff have adapted to deliver Play in a variety of different ways.
While some of us were a bit wary at first, everyone has welcomed technology with open arms now we have realised how beneficial it has been and what a game-changer it is too!
We haven’t let Covid-19 beat us and still delivered some fantastic sessions via social media.
Staff have had fun working on apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams to do meetings and plans, although no-one has been accidentally clicked into a potato filter yet!
On our Parents Facebook Page we have been busy doing different slots to deliver information and videos to support parents and children.
We have Music Mondays, where our music therapist Wendy holds musical-themed sessions alongside the play team.
Our physio and counselling teams have been busy feeding the parents helpful links and information during this scary time and parents have been really keen to receive these and chat with us.
The Play team have had fun delivering play sessions, instead of one to one or group work within a room, we have been showcasing our skills (and story voices) in videos which parents and children can watch.
We have so far been able to provide story times, Makaton sessions, nursery rhyme singing, arts and crafts sessions (like a how to make gloop) and offer some great links to give families positive, fun ideas. We plan to deliver story massage master classes and of course an interactive action-filled disco (Joe Wicks eat ya heart out).
We asked ALL staff in the hospice and families to take five minutes out to colour or decorate a rainbow. Most importantly it was a bit of an ‘umph’ as people had to state what makes them happy…. Along with some escapism from the chaos this gave everyone a chance to really think about what is important to them.
We then laminated everyone’s rainbow and put them everywhere outside the hospice so that we filled the drive up with the lovely artwork. We got some amazing feedback from staff driving up to start or leave their shifts – they really enjoyed the positivity. After every storm, there comes a rainbow. A little reminder that this won’t last forever and so staff and families have really latched onto this concept!
It’s not the best way we would like to deliver Play but who could have thought that anything like this would have happened? So, for now were making light out of a bad situation and trying to get our families and children through this uncertain time!
