Make a Referral
If you’re a professional supporting a parent, carer or family who could benefit from some dedicated support to make it along to a Playbus session, you can refer them to us using our online referral form, or get in touch with Anja on 07961 139 204 or [email protected].
Once we receive a referral we get in touch with the family to tell them more about Hackney Playbus, to answer any questions they may have and to find out about what support they need to attend their local Playbus session. We communicate with families over the phone, by SMS, Whatsapp or email – whatever is easiest for them! We can also access telephone interpreting where needed.
Partnership Working
We’ve welcomed lots of amazing people onboard the Hackney Playbus over the years! Our partnership work includes collaborations with a range of organisations, services and community groups who are interested in giving families with young children the best start in life. Some of our partners include:
- Children’s Integrated Speech and Language Therapy Service for City & Hackney
- The BookTrust
- Shoreditch Trust
- City & Hackney Health Visiting Team
- Kids Kitchen
- HENRY (Healthy Exercise and Nutrition for the Really Young)
- Wheely Tots
We’ve also worked closely with children’s centres in Hackney, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets. We love working collaboratively to create more opportunities for families with babies and young children to thrive!
Community Engagement
Hackney Playbus is a highly visible and attractive community resource that invites participation. We have experience working with a range of organisations to raise awareness of their services in the community. If you have an idea for a project, please get in touch at [email protected].
Speech And Language Sessions
Hackney Playbus has been working in partnership with The Children’s Integrated Speech and Language Therapy Service since 2014. Speech and Language Therapists come aboard Hackney Playbus sessions that have been specially commissioned to increase engagement with the Speech and Language Therapy Service. The therapists provide advice to parents and carers during our play sessions about how to support children’s speech, language and communication development. This way of working creates opportunities for parents and carers to speak to professionals in a relaxed and informal setting and allows for assessments to be carried out during the Playbus session, rather than in a clinic.
“Being on the Playbus was a great opportunity for us to meet families who we don’t usually get to meet, as some of them don’t access services in their children’s centres. We took the chance to raise the awareness of communication development among the community and we also received some new referrals to SLT, which is fantastic.”
Jenny Marcall, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
