...as well as extensive research, we know play reduces trauma and mental health problems in children receiving medical care.
It helps children process what’s happening, supports them through painful or frightening procedures, and builds resilience during what can be harrowing times.
While we strive for a world where no child experiences trauma or mental health problems due to healthcare treatment, we are not naive about the realities of funding. There aren’t nearly enough health play professionals to reach every child who needs one, and limited resources mean there likely never will be unless change happens.
But here at Starlight, we don’t give up. It’s not only designated play professionals who can provide play-based mental health support in paediactric care: our ambition is for everyone in healthcare settings to learn to operate in ways that enable children in their care to thrive. From doctors to receptionists, nursing staff to physios – all these professionals can make simple changes to their ways of working to create playful environments.
That’s why Starlight has started providing play training for people who work in hospitals. Play might sound easy and straightforward – even babies do it, after all! – but our training delivers a deep dive into evidence-based theories about why it’s important and the normalising effect play has on children which is so important when they are receiving treatment. Our course covers child development, including neurodiversity and other conditions that can affect interactions with young people. We zero in on mental health, for instance, delivering a full module of playful approaches for the management of anxiety in paediatric care.
Our first roll out, launched in November 2024, was with student nurses at the University of Chester: we’ve done an e-learning module and a ‘train the trainer’ approach for university lecturers. For the first three months of 2025, these lecturers taught Starlight’s approach to their nursing students at the University of Chester. Starlight colleagues and I observed this teaching, awarding those lecturers with digital badges to show their accreditation as Starlight “playful providers”.
Part-funded through the Rangoonwala Foundation, we plan to roll out the training to 12 trusts and health boards: two in our first year and five in each of the following two years. We want this kind of training given at the induction level so everyone in the trust receives it, making it become standard.
It’s such an exciting time for play in healthcare. I truly believe there is a tipping point that we’re reaching and play is starting to become widely recognised as invaluable in healthcare. We’re observing a national and international groundswell on this, so Starlight is right on the zeitgeist.