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New Bright Space opens at ellenor hospice in Dartford

February 21, 2018

We officially opened a new Bright Space for children at the ellenor hospice in Dartford on Wednesday 14th February.

The Bright Space is a carefully designed creative therapies area for children with life-limiting or life threatening conditions to engage in play and music therapy, and find comfort and distraction from pain or distress.

“Creating a dedicated room for play and music therapy at the hospice allows us to provide children the opportunity to access the emotional support they need. Whether the child is a patient themselves, a sibling, or a child of an adult patient, they will be able to use the space to explore their feelings in a safe, supportive, environment,” said Rebecca Scalzo, Head of Children’s Hospice Care at ellenor.

The idea for the Bright Space originated when staff from Bright Horizons’ Springfield Lodge Nursery in Dartford were visiting a member of their team, who was an inpatient at ellenor. They discovered there wasn’t a dedicated space for children to access therapeutic play and music and vowed to create such a space. Working together, Berkeley Homes (Eastern Counties), funded and carried out the building works and the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children provided brand new play equipment, furniture and soft furnishings to create the Bright Space.

Tracy Wilkes-Green from the Bright Horizons Foundation for Children said, “We were delighted to work with Berkley Homes on the creation of the new Creative Therapies room for ellenor. It is a special place for children and families to come together for support and therapy work, and we hope it provides respite and joy for children and families experiencing serious illness. We want to say a huge thank you to the nursery team and families from Bright Horizons’ Springfield Lodge Nursery in Dartford, who fundraised and volunteered to make this Bright Space possible.”

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