The Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow has marked Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week by bringing its community together to create impactful artwork.
The theme of this year’s week is ‘Let’s Connect’, with a focus on making meaningful connections and the positive impacts communities have on wellbeing.
Staff at the RHC, including the Play Team and Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity, decided the best way to bring everyone together would be to use arts and crafts to create a paper chain in the hospital’s atrium, with each link containing messages from patients and their families.
Lottie and her mum Susan attached their messages to the chain watched it grow with more links over the last week.
Susan said: “Making the paper links for the chain downstairs has been really enjoyable. Lottie made sure her name was on the link with lots of stickers and bright colours. It’s really important to raise awareness of mental health, considering the number of children that are admitted to hospital with issues surrounding their mental health.
“The week itself is a really big thing and hopefully seeing activities like this going in the hospital will help people connect to others and start conversations.”
When people hear the term ‘Play Team’ they may think of a service that gives children the chance to have fun while they spend time in hospital. And while the team build great relationships and encourage learning through play, they do so much more to ease concerns and worries.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Play Assistant Aillie McMeighan said: “Our service aims to promote positive mental health through play, providing a more positive hospital experience. Play is the way children grow, develop and make sense to the world around them, it provides a channel of communication at their level of understanding which is important in navigating their Hospital journey.
“This week we have been making links to join the paper chain in the hospital atrium. Making the links has helped spark conversations and allows the children to express what is important to them through designing their paper chain links, it’s been a really positive activity to do with the children and their families”
Kirsten Watson, CEO of Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity said: “It has been so inspiring to see the children and young people at the hospital add to our atrium display over the course of Children’s Mental Health Week – and after the last few years, we’ve enjoyed exploring the theme of ‘Let’s Connect’.
“Our support for children’s mental health also includes funding the Play Programme to keep young patients’ minds engaged in fun activities while they are in hospital, while the charity-funded Teddy Hospital helps to reduce anxiety around certain medical procedures.”
