Dr Bob Philips, Senior Academic Consultant at The University of York, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist at Leeds Children’s Hospital and CCLG member.
It's a welcome change of this millennium that physical health is not the only thing we're now striving for, and that emotional wellbeing and good mental health are recognised as being just as important.
The wellbeing of children and young people affected by cancer is important to both maintain and improve. This needs input during treatment, as both the disease and the ways it is treated, take their toll. There are many skilled people with specialist knowledge to help with this in a number of different ways - play specialists, social workers, chaplains, psychologists, nurses, doctors and trained peer supporters from charities, who all have a formal place. Informal support through family, friends and community is also invaluable and crucially sits alongside what we professionals and charities have to offer. Some young people need very specific help with mental illness, too, which might be exacerbated or brought on through their cancer treatment. Here, the specialist services of highly-trained clinical psychologists and psychiatrists are needed.
All those very same people mentioned above can help other family members, too. Parents, carers, siblings and the wider family need their wellbeing protecting and promoting as well. This can be through very practical support – perhaps helping with looking after a toddler while you shower, lasagne for the freezer, or pick-ups from Brownies for your daughter. Or, it could be something entirely different and incredibly meaningful, like a ticket to the cinema or an hour with a counsellor.
I appreciate that having a professional, who is probably kind, but perhaps can’t fully relate to what you're feeling, telling you what to do when your world appears to be cracking and you are holding it together with tape, can sometimes feel a bit much. But, please, if you need it, do make use of all the support available and lean on all those who can provide it.
From Contact magazine issue 95 - Summer 2022
