Family Support Services

Our Family Social Worker Service

One-on-One Support and Counselling

The Family Social Worker walks alongside all family members (patient, parents, guardians, siblings, grandparents and others) that stay with Childhood Cancer Support when the patient is receiving their treatment. Our service supports families on their return home with both personal contact, information and referrals to local support services.

This service offers practical, therapeutic and general supports to families which include counselling, parent, sibling and extended family support (e.g. spending time with siblings, listening, organising fun activities), informal opportunities for families to meet each other and assistance to access other supports as required.

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Regional Support Networks – when it’s time to return home

When families have been away from their homes, pets and loved ones for weeks, months or even years, it is not unusual when returning home that it can be a rather daunting reality. As a means of supporting our regional families when they leave, Childhood Cancer Support can assist families to stay in touch with each other and with our organisation should they so desire. We want to ensure our families continue to feel supported even after treatment is over and they return home. Our Family Social Work Service can align our families with local Family Ambassadors in their region.

Welcome Pack

When a family is referred to Childhood Cancer Support, our Family Social Worker personally welcomes the family and spends time with the family showing them their fully self-contained accommodation unit. Our Social Worker also provides the family members with information about the support services we can provide.

Upon arrival at our accommodation unit, each family will receive a complimentary welcome basket full of practical items such as breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, milk, etc. We understand that, upon arrival, our families may feel overwhelmed so our Family Social Worker can step our families through those initial first days of diagnosis and be a person the family can lean on to help them through this difficult time.

Family Support Activities

Childhood Cancer Support runs a wide variety of family events, geared towards supporting and nurturing oncology families.