Childhood Cancer Ireland provides practical and emotional support to children, adolescents and young adults with cancer, survivors and their families.
Psychosocial Support
Psychosocial support refers to a combination of psychological, emotional and practical support – recognising that all three affect our wellbeing, particularly during and after childhood, adolescent or young adult cancer.
With Dr Mairead Brennan as our Principal Clinical Psychologist and Director of Psychosocial Services, Childhood Cancer Ireland ensures that families have access to the right kind of support when they need it and at the right level of expertise.
Parent Workshops
Our workshops are aimed at parents / guardians of children, adolescents or young adults who have received a diagnosis of childhood cancer. They are most suitable for parents who are out of treatment or are coming to the end of active treatment.
As a parent and survivor-led organisation, we understand the impact that a diagnosis of childhood cancer has on the entire family. As a parent, you may only be able to try to process what you’ve been through well after treatment has ended. It can be really difficult to allow yourself to do this – it’s daunting to face the emotions of the last few years.
The aim of this 1-day workshop is to figure out what has been happening to us physically and emotionally since we heard those dreaded words that confirmed our worst fears, and to provide some strategies to help you as an individual, a parent and a partner/friend.
Find out more
Parent Peer Support
This evidence-based programme connects parents or adult family members (aunts, uncles, grandparents) with a trained, volunteer Peer Supporter to help you navigate through your child or young person’s cancer and beyond.
This programme is about connection at a time when parents need it most. Our Parent Peer Supporters will provide an empathetic, compassionate, and friendly source of support, as well as sharing practical knowledge on the supports and services that might be helpful.
Contact us if you’d like to find out more or to speak to a parent peer support volunteer.
Access to Play Therapy / Psychotherapy
We know that a diagnosis of childhood or adolescent cancer has a huge impact on the entire family. We also know that the emotional effects can last long after treatment has ended. We offer families an opportunity to access play therapy for a child or psychotherapy for a teen who has cancer, or their sibling.
Find out more.
Financial Pathways Through Childhood Cancer
A diagnosis of childhood, adolescent or young adult cancer can leave families reeling financially, as well as emotionally. It can be difficult to navigate your way through the assistance that is available to families during treatment or to figure out what financial products (such as insurance) you may have yourself that could help.
Financial Advice and Information
We are delighted to partner with LIA, the Centre of Excellence for the education and development of financial professionals, to offer free access to financial advice, information and planning to help you manage your finances, both during and after treatment. We will launch the partnership with a series of webinars to help parents begin to navigate this difficult topic.
Find out more
Beads of Courage®
Beads of Courage® enable children to tell their story using colourful beads as meaningful symbols of courage that commemorate milestones along their unique treatment path.
This international programme has been proven to decrease stress, increase positive coping strategies and help children find meaning in illness. Children have something tangible they can use to explain their experiences.
We were delighted to bring the Beads of Courage® programme to Ireland and continue to fund it.
Once enrolled on the programme, your child will receive beads for various treatments and procedures, as well as special courage beads along the way.
How to access the programme
The programme is run by the Play Specialists in St John’s Paediatric Cancer Day Ward, Children’s Health Ireland (CHI) at Crumlin. Please speak to one of the Play Specialists about the programme and they can get you started.
Sibling Beads of Courage
Over the last few years, we have worked hard with CHI at Crumlin to introduce a Sibling Beads programme. As any family who has been through a diagnosis of and treatment for childhood cancer knows, it is not just the child themselves who is affected – siblings may struggle to come to terms with the changes in their family, the concern for their siblings and they wonder what it all means for them.
The Sibling Beads programme allows siblings to work through their emotions and fears during this difficult time.
Sadie’s Beads of Courage
These are my daughter Sadie’s beads of courage – all 1179 of them. She is two and a half years old and has been in treatment for Neuroblastoma cancer since she was diagnosed at 5 weeks.
Each bead represents a part of her journey, from hundreds of routine dressing changes to ICU transfers, nights in hospital, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, general anaesthesia, blood transfusions, surgery, stem cell harvest, MRIs and many, many more. Each bead symbolises a story of strength, honour and hope.
Collecting Sadie’s beads gave us a tangible representation of all she endured and overcame on a daily basis. It gave us a way to share with our family and friends what life in treatment is like and allowed for a connection that is difficult to achieve when stumbling through the darkness and isolation of childhood cancer.
We hope that they will one day help her to understand all that she experienced and overcame in her first years of life.
Your Treatment Outside of Crumlin
Many children living outside Dublin also attend one of the 16 shared care / regional hospitals. There, they are treated in isolation rooms, which they cannot leave to use the playroom or other ward facilities.
We aim to improve facilities and supports for these children attending the 16 shared care/ regional hospitals, when not required to be in St. John’s Ward.
We fund equipment including wall-mounted cardiac monitors and thermometers, TVs, DVD players, Play Stations and other gaming devices, electric beds, lie-flat day beds for parents and vinyl wall art to brighten up the isolation rooms.
Completed Locations
Mullingar Regional Hospital
University Hospital Waterford
University Hospital Kerry, Tralee
Portiuncula University Hospital, Balinasloe
Sligo University Hospital
Letterkenny University Hospital
Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda
Ongoing Projects
Wexford General Hospital
Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise
Mayo University Hospital
University Hospital Limerick
St. Luke’s General Hospital Carlow/Kilkenny
University Hospital Galway
Cavan General Hospital
Mercy University Hospital
South Tipperary General Hospital
Advocacy
Advocacy is at the heart of our mission of achieving health justice for all children, adolescents, young adults with cancer and survivors (CAYAS), across Ireland.
We are dedicated to being the voice of children with cancer in Ireland. We do this by raising public awareness of the many issues affecting CAYAS, their families and communities and influencing policy at national level to ensure equal access to the most up to date treatment protocols, research and supportive services.
Read more about our work as the voice of children’s cancer in Ireland.
