Help our Indigo Team to support children affected by Bereavement, Trauma & Change

Donations will help children and young people who are supported by the Indigo Team at Croydon University Hospital (Croydon Health Services NHS Trust).

Indigo Team is a specialist service made up of Creative Arts Psychotherapists (dramatherapists and music therapists) who are registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. They deliver therapy and support to children and young people from the ages of 4 – 18. These are: children who may be facing a life limiting, life threatening, or life changing condition (such as cancer or epilepsy); children and young people who may have experienced trauma due to their treatment, diagnosis or procedure; siblings of children with trauma or illnesses (including bereaved siblings); children or young people whose parent has died in hospital.

It can be hard for children and young people to talk about their experiences. Often it’s very difficult to find words to express what they have gone through. Indigo Team uses dramatherapy and music therapy to help them explore the feelings and changes in their lives through different expressive mediums that might be easier than talking about it.

Dramatherapy may include using story-making, music, movement, visual art, sensory play and drama games. This allows the therapist to create a safe, contained space to explore difficult feelings and situations and help make sense of experiences. Music therapy includes live musical interaction and play between the therapist and the child or young person, using a wide range of musical styles and instruments including the voice, and is often improvised. Using music in this way enables people to create their own unique musical language in which to explore and connect with the world and express themselves. Both dramatherapy and music therapy use methods that are not solely dependent on speaking, and so are particularly effective in working with children and young people who may have difficulty communicating verbally.

Indigo Team is a highly specialist service that works alongside family link workers and nurse specialists to deliver individualised care and support to each child or young person. No person’s situation is the same, so Indigo Team meets with each family individually to figure out what kind of help would be the most useful to them.

Donations will also be used to support the work of the Play Team on the Rainbow Unit

• The Play Specialist role is to provide support using distraction techniques and preparation methods, to help patients and their family understand their procedure. They also provide activities by the bedside, 1 to 1 sessions, group play and sibling play, to support their development and create a positive experience in hospital.

• They also make an unfamiliar environment inviting for patients and their family, where they feel safe to play and express their concerns. They provide appropriate age and stage activities depending on their developmental needs.

• They can be contacted by phone if there is a distraction of preparation needed. They created posters and information cards to promote their services on RCU and ED.

• The Play team have created their own Instagram to promote their services, to show day to day activities and events happening throughout the year.