Play Education Unit
The Play Education Unit was established at the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital in 1976.
It relocated to its current location at Monash Medical Centre Clayton in 1987 and is currently headed by Paula Matthews.The 1970s saw the expansion of play therapy in children’s hospitals. This approach to treating children was derived from the Swiss developmental psychologist, Jean Piaget (1896-1980). From 1976, children “played out” their fears of operations at the Queen Vic using “Flopsy”, a huge rag doll. Between 1982 and 1983, the Queen Victoria Medical Centre received two grants totalling $60,000 to develop play and educational facilities for children in hospital. The philosophy of play education is that ideas as well as hurts and problems are best expressed through child’s play. Its premise is that play should be encouraged in order to assist adjustment to a treatment and/or an illness stage. Play acting with toy medical equipment helps children lessen their anxiety when in hospital, helping them to cope with the unfamiliar pressures of being in hospital.
The unit is currently headed by Paula Matthews with Miss Lisa Mullen working as an Educational Play Therapist for Monash Children's Paediatric Oncology/Haematology Program.