A new project is taking puppetry, play, music, movement and sensory stimulation into healthcare settings, writes Sylvia Thompson
THE VALUE of play as a therapy for children in healthcare settings is widely acknowledged. And the new research project, Infant Imaginings of puppeteer and clown doctor Helene Hugel, offers further evidence of how children can cope better with physical examinations and hospital interventions after guided play sessions.
Hugel's project, which was outlined at a public forum in Tallaght Community Arts last week, involves the use of puppetry, play, music, movement and sensory stimulation with children in three different healthcare settings.
"The aim of our work is to provide a creative environment for babies and their parents to experience wellbeing," explains Hugel, who is also qualified as an arts and health practitioner. "And when you consider that up to 50 per cent of all children who spend a night in hospital are under four, you realise how important that is," she adds.
The first setting for Infant Imaginings was a health centre where mothers and their babies were waiting for the baby's developmental check-up. Together with musician Jonathan Wilson, she played with the mothers and children at the Millbrook Lawns Health Centre in Tallaght, Dublin.
Sheila Geoghegan, director of public health nursing for Dublin southwest, was initially sceptical of the benefits of play in this setting but later changed her mind.
"The children had fun waiting for their developmental check-up and were happy and relaxed going in to see the nurse which made it a more pleasant experience for both staff and parents," she says.
"We also realised that a lot of these families wouldn't have been open to the idea of art so they also brought this new dimension to their worlds," adds Geoghegan.
Florence Burns is a public health nurse on secondment to the Community Mothers Scheme in Tallaght. The scheme runs a volunteer home visiting service in which trained experienced mothers visit new mothers and their young babies.
As part of Infant Imaginings, Hugel and Wilson visited six families on the Community Mothers Scheme four times. "Their visits gave parents lots of ideas for creative play with their babies and helped them to relax," says Burns.
Maria Vesselico, photographer and mother of one, was visited by Hugel and Wilson. "Their visits gave me new games and songs and ways to communicate with my child. It helped me get to know my child better," says Vesselico.
Working with children alongside physiotherapists at the children's physiotherapy department at the Adelaide and Meath Hospital in Tallaght was the third strand of the project.
Ciara Sheridan, physiotherapist, says the project offers benefits both to parents and physiotherapists.
"The more relaxed children are in this setting, the more engaged they will become and the better work we can do with them. The play sessions gave us some more ideas of how to relax the children and ways in which we can pass on skills to parents as well," she says.
"It was great how Helene was able to tune into the children during the physiotherapy sessions and go with the flow which meant changing direction as the child needed it.
"We would love to do this form of joint therapy in group sessions with parents and children," adds Sheridan.
Tim Webb from Oily Cart, a British-based theatre company, acted as Hugel's mentor on the project. Oily Cart specialises in theatrical work for babies and toddlers and young people with complex disabilities or an autistic spectrum disorder.
"The social interaction is important in our work. For babies and toddlers, there always has to be an interactive element but the adults also need to be absorbed in the work. If they aren't, they will send out cues to the young participants," he says.
At the forum last week, Webb showed the audience beautiful examples of multisensory theatre that Oily Cart has developed for babies and toddlers.
The first show, Jumping Beans, introduced young children to the kinetic, sound, visual and tactile experience of jumping with ball pools, small trampolines and rubber tyres to play with.
Then, the characters led the children into a giant inflatable space where they interacted with new characters. The second show, Baby Balloon, was a multisensory show built around big and small balloons.
"Health agencies see a lot of value in our work now," says Webb.
Hugel's company, Helium, which received an Arts Council grant for the project, worked in partnership with Tallaght Community Arts on Infant Imaginings. And together, they are currently developing a plan to roll out the project to other services in the Tallaght area.
"We would like to tour health centres in the area and develop the idea of play in a social space so that parents and children could continue with the process after the play session," explains Tony Fagan, director of Tallaght Community Arts.