The Use of Culturally Sustaining Practices in Play to Foster Resilience

Introduction

Medical environments place children at risk for increased stress affecting their ability to develop adaptive skills and cope with the stress of hospitalization and illness (Thompson et al., 2018). Play Specialists (PS) also known as Certified Child Life Specialist, Healthcare Play Specialist, and Child Play Specialist working in healthcare settings assess the medical needs and the impact of lived experiences of children and families that put them at risk while also assessing those that amplify children's relationships, culture, and identity as sources of strength, fostering resilience and mitigating potential medical trauma (childlife.org, n.d). For the purposes of this chapter the title Play Specialist will be used to encompass professionals who are trained in the developmental and therapeutic use of play in healthcare settings to support children and families in crisis (Perasso, 2021). Children facing additional stress from medical experiences will rely on reciprocal, attuned, culturally responsive, and trustful relationships (Osher et al., 2020). Therefore, PS supporting children and families in medical settings must consider assessment practices and interventions that support the development of complex and adaptive skills leading to resilience (Osher et al., 2020). Using culturally sustaining practices promotes and embraces cultural pluralism and equality, leading to asset- and strengths-based models (Paris, 2012). Play is a culturally sustaining practice as children embody ways of being, including languages, literacies, and cultural expressions that enrich one's understanding of children, family, and community (Paris, 2012). Play specialists looking to amplify cultural foundations can use play to assess strengths and nurture opportunities for culturally relevant interventions to support coping and assuage potential trauma. Two asset-based approaches will be discussed for use in play assessments and interventions. Using Community Cultural Wealth and Funds of Knowledge frameworks that redefine strengths in much broader and encompassing ways opens the door for creativity and understanding that deepens relationships with children and families as they feel supported, cared for, and understood. Both examine and consider the connections to culture, language, identity, family, and community as tools for supporting, building, and fostering resilience and identifying cultural connections that can be used in play interventions.

Play specialists using culturally responsive practice must also be aware of their biases. Dewey (1938) believed that “the purpose of education is to allow each individual to come into full possession of his or her personal power” (p. 10), grounding strengths-based education in the notion that children are equipped with strengths that should be used to support their learning. However, examining what is typically considered a “strength” as defined by the white middle to upper-middle-class society leaves out large groups of people as being deficient (Yosso, 2005). Play specialist using culturally sustaining practices offer a more expansive view of children and families' existing strengths that can be nurtured for the hospital environment and understand how culture (their own and others) functions in healthcare settings (Ladson-Billings, 1995).