Centre for Arts and Play work
in Palliative Care
Pilot Project: We’re Taking Flight!
In January 2025, thanks to the financial support of the Vlček Family Foundation, we launched a two-year pilot project titled "Play Work in Pediatric Palliative Care." The project is focused on bringing therapeutic play to children and their families receiving palliative care. Over the course of two years, our Vlaštovka team will engage in intensive training, complete professional placements in both the Czech Republic and abroad, and deepen their skills in therapeutic play interventions, family communication, and collaboration within multidisciplinary care teams.
With the support of this project, we hope to bring not only comfort and relief to children, but also inspiration and reinforcement to the many dedicated professionals working across the care system. We believe play work has a rightful place wherever the quality of life is at stake — and that together, we can offer seriously ill children and their families more than just treatment.
This pilot project is an important step toward integrating play work into standard care for children with serious illnesses in the Czech Republic.
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Expanding and Training the Vlaštovka Team of Play Specialists
The pilot includes the training of two new play specialists, who will join our growing Vlaštovka team working with families. As part of their preparation, the new specialists will take part in several international courses, a professional placement abroad, and attend the Child Life Conference 2025 — the world’s largest gathering of child life specialists, held in the United States.
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Delivering Therapeutic Play in the Field
Our goal is to explore and evaluate the benefits of therapeutic play across different care settings and to adapt its form to the specific needs of each child and family within their particular context of care:
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Hospital-Based Care: We will build on our existing work in hospitals and expand its scope. Play specialists will visit selected hospital wards to support children through challenging moments of hospitalization — from preparation for medical procedures to managing pain, stress, and uncertainty. In close collaboration with medical staff, we aim to create spaces where children feel safe and where play has a meaningful place within the treatment process.
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Home-Based Care: Therapeutic play will also take place directly in the homes of families caring for a seriously ill child. In this intimate setting, the play specialist becomes part of the family’s trusted environment and can offer highly individualized support — not only for the child but also for siblings — while empowering parents to talk openly about illness and death. The goal is to bring relief, calm, and joy right into the heart of family life.
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Long-Term / Respite Care: We also plan to implement play work in settings that provide long-term or respite care — such as children’s hospices or specialized post-acute care units. Here, we will focus on developing sensory, creative, and dramatic play activities that offer children with complex or multiple disabilities opportunities for active engagement, self-expression, and joyful experience, despite the limitations of their condition.
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Development of Play Methods
The pilot project also includes the systematic development of play methods, drawing from established international practices while being thoughtfully adapted to the Czech context — taking into account local care settings and the specific needs of families.
Our aim is to design tools and materials that will be available not only to play specialists, but also to healthcare professionals and families themselves. These resources are intended to help create a safe space for play, communication, and emotional processing, making them a vital part of care for children facing serious health challenges.
Based on our hands-on experience, we will also develop a comprehensive training curriculum for preparing future play specialists working in the field of pediatric palliative care.
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Raising Awareness of the
Field of Play Work
The project also includes advocacy and awareness-raising activities aimed at both professional audiences and the general public. We are planning expert meetings, participation in conferences, and a roundtable discussion.
Our goal is to help create an environment in which the profession of the play specialist can not only be introduced, but also sustainably developed and embedded within the care system as a standard and accessible form of support for seriously ill children and their families.
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Raising Awareness of the
Field of Play Work
Another key part of the project is the education of professional caregivers in the use of play-based approaches within healthcare. The project will offer training seminars for medical students, frontline caregivers working in hospitals and hospices, as well as professionals providing home-based care.
Our aim is to equip those who care for seriously ill children with practical tools and insights that make play a meaningful part of their everyday support.
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Research on the Impact of Play Work in Pediatric Palliative Care
An essential part of the pilot project is the research component, which will run in parallel with the implementation of play-based interventions. Our goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the specific benefits that play work brings to children and their families in palliative care — including its impact on emotional well-being, the ability to cope with challenging situations, communication, and the quality of shared time together.
The findings will help us evaluate the effectiveness and meaningfulness of these interventions and provide evidence-based arguments to support the formal recognition of the play specialist profession within the Czech healthcare system.
We believe that by combining hands-on practice with rigorous research, we can contribute to long-term, high-quality improvements in the care of seriously ill children.
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Project Outcomes and Real-World Impact
The main output of the project will be a comprehensive research report summarizing data, insights, and recommendations drawn from two years of hands-on play-based interventions across various forms of pediatric palliative care. The report will highlight the benefits of play work from the perspectives of children, families, and professionals, and will serve as a foundation for the continued development of the field in the Czech Republic.
We plan to share the project’s findings through professional conferences, publications, and advocacy initiatives — with the goal of supporting the establishment and long-term integration of the play specialist profession within the national care system.
We are committed to making sure the results of this project lead to real, practical improvements in the care of children and their families in palliative care.