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Category: Mental Health
It’s a Pandemic in the Playborhood: An International Perspective of Play Therapists on the COVID-19 Pandemic
7 January 2025
The COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and beyond, impacted many professions and workplaces, including therapists and their therapy rooms.
The Oxford Brain Story: Embedding an understanding of the importance of the early years
22 October 2024
In this PEDAL Conference 2024 keynote, Louise Dalton presents her programme of work entitled the Oxford Brain Story.
Centring children’s lived experiences in understanding the importance of play in hospitals
8 July 2024
We wanted to understand what playing in hospital is like from the perspectives and experiences of young children themselves.
Why and how do healthcare professionals use play in clinical practice?
1 March 2024
We explored what healthcare professionals in different roles and different countries understood to be important and useful about the role of play in paediatric practice.
Supporting play for neurodivergent children
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 recording, we hear from Kerry Murphy (Goldsmiths, University of London) and Dr Gina Gomez de la Cuesta and Abi Dodson (Play Included) share their expertise on play and its significance in diverse child development.
The therapeutic powers of play: play therapy as a mental health treatment
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 recording, Siobhán Prendiville (Children's Therapy Centre in Ireland) talks about the therapeutic powers of play and highlights how well Play Therapy sits within a neurosequential approach to psychotherapy.
Prisons, hospitals and schools: challenges and opportunities introducing play in different settings
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 recording, Dr Paulina Pérez-Duarte (PEDAL), Dina Fajardo (PEDAL) & Mercedes Castañeda (Reinserta) explore and advocate for the use of play in challenging settings, as well as those opportunities where play can enable a powerful change in children’s mental health.
Public health campaigns: supporting infant mental health through encouraging playful interactions
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 recording, Margaret Gallagher (NSPCC) and Alex Spragg (Better Start Bradford) talk about how two public health campaigns supported infant mental health through encouraging playful interactions.
Understanding & supporting mental health in infancy & early childhood: a PEDAL and UNICEF UK toolkit
5 December 2023
In this PEDAL Conference 2023 lecture, PEDAL's Senior Policy Fellow Sally Hogg presents PEDAL’s work with UNICEF UK on the new toolkit for understanding and supporting mental health in infancy and early childhood.
Play in the face of adversity
1 November 2023
Read our paper for the Scottish Children's Commissioner about the value of play for children in the asylum seeking system.