Our Tom’s Trust Network Fund provides grants to clinical psychologists and paediatricians across the UK, to further clinical development, provide training, or to fund tools that support the clinicians in their work with children and young people who are facing a brain tumour diagnosis and their families.
In the past we have funded the Sibling Toolkit development and production, training for clinicians, and we have now funded 13 Playmobil MRI kits for 11 centres across England and Scotland, sending them to the teams at children’s hospitals/centres in Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, London, Oxford, Glasgow, Nottingham, Liverpool, Birmingham, Brighton, and Leeds.
Having an MRI scan can be a very scary experience, for both adults and children alike but they are vital to the care and treatment for children with brain tumours. Our clinicians need to be creative in finding ways to explain to and show children, what a scanner is, what it does and why it’s important so that it is less frightening for them on the day. They can also help children who feel very anxious about MRIs, to develop ways of managing that anxiety, through play and gentle exposure. These kits are just one way to help the clinicians do this.
These Playmobil kits are available for use by any member of the team, including psychologists and play therapists, and can be moved around to wherever the child is, including somewhere that feels safe for them.
Clinicians can find out more about our Network Fund and how to apply for their own materials and/or project funding here.