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Neighbourly Help Service
This service continues to function satisfactorily and during the year 12 cases were served. Six
cases were still receiving service at the end of year.
DAY NURSERIES
The pressing needs and demands for day nursery placement continue. It is a matter of some concern
thatplaces are not immediately availablewhen children are exposed to the risk of traumatic experience,
because of extreme stress and crisis within the home.
Although during the year there has been an unusual number of staff shortage and changes the level
of admission has been fairly constant.
Nursery nurses are trained at an early age, usually between 16 and 18 years. It is understandable
that at times it is difficult for them to appreciate the problems of some of the parents and at the same
time take full responsibility for a group of young children immediately after completion of their
two year training. 8 students who commenced training in September 1967 were successful in
obtaining the N.N.E.B. certificate.
Many children admitted to a day nursery are emotionally disturbed - the demand for admission of
these children is continually increasing. Help for emotionally disturbed children, requiring
specialised attention, became possible, when Mrs. Phillips, Play Therapist, commenced her appointment
in May 1969.
It is appropriate to include some of the comments made by Mrs. Phillips in an article written by her
for the Nursery Journal.
Play therapy as a treatment for emotionally disturbed children has long been accepted in hospitals
and child guidance clinics. Since the war the Day Nursery has been used to fill the growing needs
for placement of under-fives whose parents are unable to care for them during the day because
of social, financial or medical reasons. It is therefore not surprising that there is a higher
percentage of emotional disturbance among Day Nursery children than among those coming. from a
more stable home background.
The Medical Officer of Health for the London Borough of Haringey and his staff had long been aware
of this increasing intake of emotionally disturbed children into their Day Nurseries. As an
Occupational Therapist who has specialised in the treatment of psychiatric patients and worked
in a Children's Unit in a Psychiatric hospital it was a great challenge to take up the newly appointed
post of Play Therapist with the Borough of Haringey. There are four Day Nurseries in this Borough
and two more will be opening in the not too distant future.
With no predecessor in whose steps to follow, it was necessary to find myself a place in the nursery
setting in which to dsicover my role as the Play Therapist. The first month was spent learning
the details of the nursery routine and getting to know the staff and children. The Matrons were
most helpful as regards providing details of the children's behaviour in the nursery and their family
backgrounds. With two hundred children to observe and make friends with / was and still am
grateful for their continued suppoit.
I work under the guidance of the Consultant Psychiatrist at the Tottenham Child Guidance Clinic
who sees some of the more severely disturbed children herself and is always ready with expert advice
concerning the other children.
/ divide my time between the four nurseries so that / can spend at least a day a week at each.
After discussions with the Matrons and their staff at each nursery we were able to agree upon the
particular children that we considered to be in need of help.
Insecurity is a big problem with children of this age and some become withdrawn perhaps refusing
to eat. play or even speak. Others less severely affected are nevertheless timid, anxious or lacking
in self confidence. The rather 'flat' expressionless child often proves depressed either at being
parted from its mother at the nursery or for some deeper cause.
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