Complementary therapies can play a part in supporting children and teenagers through treatment by offering relaxation and calmness. They are typically used alongside a patient’s standard medical treatment and though they do not treat or cure cancer, they can offer relief from symptoms and help promote feelings or emotional or physical wellbeing.
What can they be used for?
- Helping children cope with the side effects of treatments, such as feeling sick, pain and tiredness
- Helping children to comfort themselves and ease their fear and stress
- Helping children sleep better
- Triggering the release of feel-good hormones to feel better and more peaceful
Where can I find a complementary therapist?
Complementary therapy for children isn’t as readily available as it is for adults so finding an experienced practitioner may take a little time. A free complementary therapy service may be available within your child’s main treatment centre or local shared care centre. Your child’s nurse specialist or keyworker will be able to tell you more about what is available.
Your hospital’s information centre may have local information on what might be available. You can also ask your GP, local support services and local voluntary organisations who may offer free complementary therapies.
You can also search locally for private therapists but a cost will be involved. It’s a good idea to check the credentials of the therapist to ensure they have received the correct training and have experience of working with cancer patients.
What examples of complementary and natural therapies are there, and what do they do?
- Acupuncture – inserts needles into the skin at various points of the body, which stimulates the nerves to release feel-good hormones. This may help with sickness, pain and breathlessness
- Aromatherapy – uses essential oils to help cope better with stress and emotional wellbeing, promoting healing and relaxation of the body, mind and emotions
- Art therapy – helps children to express confusing and distressing thoughts and feelings through fun artistic activities
- Music therapy – uses music and sound to help improve emotional wellbeing and relieve stress. It’s also fun and engaging for children
- Massage – helps to soothe tension and stiffness by improving the flow of lymph fluid and blood around the body to promote a feeling of overall wellbeing. It’s useful in calming children and helping them to sleep better
How can relaxation techniques help and what are they?
Relaxation techniques offer simple and easy ways to help your child to relax and reduce stress and you can try these at home. These include:
- Deep breathing exercises – there are many apps and online resources to help with this
- Using imagination - to create a peaceful environment such as playing on a beach or hearing the sound of the sea
- Mindfulness – focusing on the present moment so you become more aware of the sights, smells, sounds and tastes that are around you at any one time, which can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and help children to release bottled up emotions
Do you have a question to ask one of our experts?
Please get in touch by emailing info@cclg.org.uk or via DM on our social channels. We may feature your question on a future ‘Ask the Expert’ page to help other families and patients who have the same question. Parents and carers who would like to join our private Facebook group, scan the code to visit.
From Contact magazine issue 95 - Summer 2022
