PLACES WHERE PLAY HEALS PEOPLE - Vanesa Lainez

How play can help children and caregivers to recover from the impact of COVID19 in their mental health?
Healthy environments in all neighborhoods to promote family mental health in a post-pandemic context in developing countries.

Our Guest :
Vanesa’s professional career focuses on the design and management of innovative social projects. Expert in process management, and creating conditions for adequate early childhood development in local urban settings. President of COPERA Infancia for the period 2022-2023.
COPERA Infancia is a network of organizations (12), from different specialties, and independent professionals (21) that advocate for better conditions for Peruvian youngest children to grow up.
Project Description:
Neuroscience has shown the effect of the experiences of babies in their first years of life. These shape our developing brain architecture and determine the quality of our future mental health. The Harvard Center on the Developing Child (2020) warns that "the emotional well-being of young children is directly linked to the behavior of their caregivers", so it will be "essential to treat the mental health problems of young children in the context of their families, their homes and their communities”.
COPERA has been collecting data since 2020 on indicators that measure the effects of COVID-19 in the development of children (indicators of complaining behavior, fear or psychosomatic difficulties) and other variables of the caregivers (behavior, stress and mental health of the caregivers) and of the family (access to health services , satisfaction of economic needs) based on the report of caregivers of children between 6 months and 6 years of socioeconomic status.
Recent studies show that the lack of access and current degradation of the environment not only have direct effects on the increase, for example, in the incidence of diseases such as asthma in young children, but also pose significant challenges to the mental health of adult caregivers.
In COPERA, our organizations and professionals advocate for transforming streets and public spaces into better places where to meet others, play and reconnect with nature.
Link to her work: https://coperainfanciaperu.com/
PLACES WHERE PLAY HEALS PEOPLE
PLACES WHERE PLAY SUPPORTS CLIMATE ACTION
PLACES WHERE PLAY UNITES US ALL
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The Real Play City Challenge awards inspiring cities and urban practitioners that have successfully used placemaking to create environments that give people time, space and opportunities to play. The Real Play City Challenge is an international competition led by the Real PlayCoalition (Arup, Ingka Group [IKEA], The LEGO Foundation, National Geographic, and UNICEF) and PlacemakingX (represented by STIPO and Huasipichanga).
Register Here:  https://www.realplaycitychallenge.org/2022edition 
Apply Here:  https://www.realplaycitychallenge.org/apply