Leanne Hallowell

Her main collaborator, Leanne Hallowell, manages the Educational Play Therapy Department at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital.

Ms Parson and Ms Hallowell recently co-presented a paper at a conference on 'Excellence in nursing through collaboration', held in October to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the College of Nursing at Seoul National University.

"There were keynote and panel speakers from Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the USA.Apart from the key and panel topics, there were 72 paper presentations and an amazing 198 poster presentations so it was pretty full on," she said.

"The collaboration aspect was very important for me as Leanne and I were able to truly collaborate and bring the research-practice of procedural play into a complete whole, informing each other and those listening to our talk.
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PhotoID:5002, Judi Parson (right) with collaborator Leanne Hallowell and Mei-Yu Kang from Taiwan's Changhua Christian Hospital
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Judi Parson (right) with collaborator Leanne Hallowell and Mei-Yu Kang from Taiwan's Changhua Christian Hospital

Play therapist Leanne Hallowell said Macadamia gives children something other than medicine and operations to focus on.

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"It gives kids control in an environment where they don't have any," Ms Hallowell said.

For children who can't make it to the studio, Macadamia goes to them.

"If you go to a ward and ask a child if they want to be on Macadamia, no matter how sick they are their whole face lights up," Ms Hallowell said.
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"It humanises the staff for the kids and makes them feel more comfortable," Ms Hallowell said.

Leanne Hallowell - Chief Educational Play Therapist - The Royal Children's Hospital

"What we need to do with the children is move their minds away from the fact they're in hospital, and to have high profile sportsmen visit allows us to do that," said Leanne Hallowell, Manager of Educational Play Therapy.