Supporting Children and Young People Through Parental Cancer

"COVID-19 Pandemic and Public Private Partnerships: Supporting Children and Young People." Child & Youth Services, 41(3), pp. 259–260

Preface. Chapter 1. Children and Young People who have Complex and Continuing Health Needs. Chapter 2. Putting the Child or Young Person First. Chapter 3. The Child or Young Person as a Part of the Family. Chapter 4. Working with Pparents. Chapter 5 Working in the Family Home. Chapter 6. Supporting Young People. Chapter 7. Grief, Loss and Bereavement. Chapter 8. Choices and Rights. Chapter 9. Ethical Issues Involved in Supporting Children, Young People, and their Families. Chapter 10. Organisational Issues. Chapter 11. Working with Children and Young People and their Families. Appendix: Useful Resources. References. Index.

The School Completion Programme was established in 2002 to provide support for children and young people at risk of early school leaving and is part of a suite of supports offered through the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (DEIS)1 programme. The programme is run by Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) with oversight from the Department of Education. The programme is organised into 121 projects managed by a coordinator and overseen by a Local Management Committee (LMC). Each project covers a number of primary and post-primary schools. The programme currently covers 783 schools that have a total population of over 250,000 students. The three core outcomes of the programme are improved attendance, improved participation (engagement in learning and other school activities) and improved retention among children and young people, with improved participation seen as leading to increases in attendance and retention levels. To achieve these objectives, there are three levels of intervention: the target group, children and young people identified with the greatest need to whom staff provide more intensive support; brief interventions, designed to address a temporary crisis; and universal interventions that provide whole-class support, for example through a life skills programme. The strands of support are divided between in-school supports, supports around the school day (before or after school, or at lunchtime), holiday provision and supports for young people who are out of school (because of school avoidance, suspension/expulsion, or early school leaving). A review of the programme conducted by the ESRI in 2015 highlighted its value in providing flexible and needs-based supports to vulnerable children and young people. However, the review highlighted a number of challenges, including project governance, variation in the size of projects and the supports provided, and the impact of austerity-related funding decreases. In the intervening period, there have been a number of changes to the programme, including an increase in funding, the introduction of a new intake framework to refer students, a greater emphasis on evidence-based programmes (such as Decider Life Skills and Working Things Out), a roll-out of continuous professional development for staff and webinars for LMC members. There have also been considerable changes in the broader societal context, with the impact of the pandemic on wellbeing leading to marked increases in school non-attendance. This report draws on a survey of SCP coordinators, detailed case studies of six projects, and a consultation event conducted with SCP coordinators and project workers. This rich information is used to examine the operation of SCP in this changed landscape and highlight the implications for future development of the programme.

ZusammenfassungEinleitung Eine leitliniengerechte onkologische Versorgung umfasst nicht nur die frühzeitige palliativmedizinische Mitbetreuung unheilbar erkrankter Patienten, sondern auch die Mitbetreuung ihrer Angehörigen. Untersuchungen zur Umsetzung im klinischen Alltag in Deutschland fehlen.Methoden Die AG Palliativmedizin im Netzwerk der von der Deutschen Krebshilfe geförderten Onkologischen Spitzenzentren (CCC) führte mit einem selbstgestalteten Fragebogen eine systematische Erfassung aller Angebote in den CCC/in der spezialisierten Palliativversorgung (SPV) im CCC/lokal außerhalb des CCC an allen Standorten durch.Ergebnisse Gut etabliert in den 17 CCC/in der SPV sind die psychoonkologische (100 %/94 %), sozialrechtliche (94 %/100 %) und seelsorgerische Beratung der Angehörigen (je 94 %) sowie Angebote für Kinder erkrankter Eltern (88 %/100 %) und Informationsmaterialien (je 88 %). Häufiger als im restlichen CCC werden in der SPV pflegerische Schulungen (77 %/94 %) und Familienkonferenzen (59 %/88 %) durchgeführt. SOPs sind mit 23 %/18 % selten etabliert, ebenso wie Screenings der Angehörigenbedürfnisse (0/24 %). Trauer- und Selbsthilfegruppen sind mit je 82 % häufiger außerhalb der CCC verfügbar. Die psychoonkologische/sozialrechtliche Beratung und Angebote für Kinder erkrankter Eltern (je 94 %) wurden als am wichtigsten für ein CCC eingeschätzt. Für die SPV waren es zudem die pflegerische Schulung sowie Informationsmaterialien (je 94 %). SOPs wurden mit 47 %/41 % als sehr/extrem wichtig betrachtet, und Screenings der Angehörigenbedürfnisse mit 53 %/65 %.Schlussfolgerung Psychosoziale/seelsorgerische Beratung der Angehörigen sowie Angebote für Kinder erkrankter Eltern sind in den CCC entsprechend ihrer Bedeutung gut etabliert, in der SPV auch pflegerische Schulungen und Familienkonferenzen. SOPs zur Mitbetreuung und Einbeziehung von Angehörigen sowie Screenings der Angehörigenbedürfnisse müssen dringend implementiert werden.

1 Introduction: Connecting Creative Arts Approaches With Supporting Children and Young People Developing English as an Additional Language was published in Creating Welcoming Learning Environments on page 1.

PART ONE: THEORY Why Working with Children and Young People in a Person-Centred Way Is Different The Person-Centred Approach: Theoretical Framework Historical, National, Ethical and Legal Issues in Working with Children and Young People Measuring Outcomes Why Young People Become Unhappy: The Person-Centred Approach in Context The Importance of the Relationship PART TWO: PRACTICE Working with Feelings and Emotions Unconditional Positive Regard Congruence Empathy Working Creatively Developing Person-Centred Skills, Attitudes and Qualities Key Questions about Working with Children and Young People Training, Supervision and Well-Being

Reported incidents of self-harm and suicidal behaviour are known to be on the increase and dealing with this issue appropriately can be a cause of significant concern for those working with young people. Although awareness of issues has increased within schools in particular as a result of recent initiatives, there remains a great deal of stigma about these issues for the children and young people concerned. This book clearly identifies the fact that the majority of children and young people who engage in self-harm and suicidal behaviour do not continue with such behaviours into adulthood and this is important information for the intended audience, given the fear of many parents and carers. Indeed, for many, self-harm is a transitory coping mechanism during a critical time of identity formation and exploration in which feelings are often intensified. The author draws upon her extensive experience of working as a child psychiatrist and the intended audience of this book includes parents and foster-carers. The book is clearly structured and is written in an accessible way, with chapters being short and well signposted. In addition, a range of short case studies are used to illustrate points being made throughout. The book is not written with an academic audience in mind and so statements and research findings are not all referenced as one might have expected had the target audience been different. On its own merits, this book makes a positive contribution to texts available for parents and foster-carers in particular and so may be a resource that social workers wish to recommend to those providing direct care for children and young people.

Young people's support for various forms of e-cigarette regulation in Australia and the UK.

Children and young people are a part of the development discourse but their place is determined by the purveyors of ideas whose configuration of outcomes are memes, hyperbole and clichéd rhetorical relationships. Our intervention of the Village Academy (School of Agriculture) is a social and institutional arrangement that recognizes the place of power in the social, economic and political construction of relationships that is able to define and determine sustainable change in the life experience of these young people. Our theory of change supports the disruption of the status quo and a redistribution of power, defined by purpose driven enterprise and innovation that is owned by young people. This ownership is situated in their knowledge, skills and aptitude to take responsibility for the rights that are inalienable to them as citizens.

In this ‘In Conversation’ podcast, Dr. Mei Simmons discusses some of the factors that affect children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing and provides an overview of her recently published book ‘A Guide to the Mental Health of Children and Young People: Q and A for Parents, Caregivers and Teachers’.

Despite an increasing awareness of Developmental Language Disorder, there are very few tools available to help people understand and live with a diagnosis of DLD. DLD and Me is a functional, engaging resource for children and young people with DLD and the professionals and families that work with them. The book consists of an easy-to-follow, 12-week programme designed to help children and young people understand their strengths, what makes them different, what DLD is and how they can support their own communication in everyday life. Key features include: clearly worded session plans for therapists or education staff to follow; engaging visual resources to accompany the session plans, each available to photocopy and download; home sheets to keep families involved and informed; information sheets and training plans for parents and education staff; outcome measures to evaluate progress. This invaluable tool has been designed to be used by Speech and Language Therapists, teachers and other professionals or parents working with children and young people with DLD.

To investigate the use and content of web-based peer support in children coping with parental cancer. In children aged above 12 years, 158 forum discussions on the Dutch website www.kankerspoken.nl in a time-period of 3 months were investigated. Age, gender, number of discussions, participation and main activities on the website were quantitatively assessed. Contents of the discussions were qualitatively analyzed. In total, 129 children and 8 adults participated on the website with an average age of 15.3 years. The majority was female (80%). On average, a child was on-line for 3 days and participated in 4 to 5 forum discussions. Main activities on the website were sharing personal experience, providing encouragement/support, providing and seeking information or advice and seeking contact outside of the website. Qualitative content analysis revealed that children regularly faced emotional problems and experienced a lack of understanding and communication in their direct environment. In dealing with parental cancer, children experience a variety of difficulties. This study offers a window into the use of web-based peer support by children dealing with parental cancer.

this article provides a brief discussion on the issue of young people who self injure in social care settings. The discussion identifies this issue to be extremely challenging for social care workers caring for clients presenting with self injurious behaviour. The article focuses on providing some key definitions of self injury, identifies some key concepts in helping professionals understand the functions and reasons for self injurious behaviour and finally suggests some practical guidelines for social care workers in responding to young people in their care who harm themselves. The underlying ethos of these guidelines being the importance of using a listening, practical and supportive approach in attempting to understand self injury and care for young people who engage in self injurious behaviour. Introduction The issue of self injury is one that has moved more centrally into the public eye within the last decade with increased media focus on celebrities such as Princess Diana, Amy Winehouse and actress Christina Ricci who have all admitted to intentionally harming themselves (Best, 2006). Often due to a lack of knowledge of the issue, television, radio, magazines and newspapers portray people who self injure as ‘freaks’ (Levenkron, 1998). This may be attributed to the lack of real understanding of the behaviour being presented. My interest in the topic of young people in residential care and self injury arose some years when I was, for the first time in my career, faced with the challenge of managing incidents of self injury being displayed by a young person in my care. With over fifteen year’s experience of working with young people, I would undoubtedly identify managing these incidents as the most challenging aspect of my social care career to date. From liaising with some colleagues in the social care field, it seemed they too were facing the challenging issues of managing incidents of young people self injuring and vocalised their struggles in supporting and meeting the needs of the young people in their care during these episodes. The immediate issues for social care staff in working with young people who present with self injurious behaviour seemed to centre on a lack of understanding of the behaviour and also a need for guidance in supporting young people who self injure. This brief article provides an overview of the definitions, functions and causes of self injurious behaviour and also provides some guidelines for workers supporting young people in their care who may be engaging in self injurious behaviour

The relationship between maternal attitudes and young people's attitudes toward children's rights

Peers play a crucial role in supporting wellbeing and psychosocial development for young people aged 12-25. However, a cancer experience often leads to challenges maintaining friendships. There have been no prior attempts to map or synthesise available research or resources on support specifically from friends for young people with cancer, limiting the capacity to draw conclusions or determine next steps for how to best support young people with cancer. This review aims to address this gap by mapping and synthesising the available literature and resources. Included studies were required to obtain data from young people with a history of cancer or their friends, and have a main aim or outcome related to relationships between young people with cancer and their friends. Five databases (Medline, Web of Science, Embase, ProQuest and PsycInfo) were searched, and grey literature were sourced using three search engines (Brave Browser, DuckDuckGo, and Google). A total of 52 studies and 10 resources met inclusion criteria. Three main themes were identified within the literature (valued friendship dimensions and actions, cancer-related challenges to friendships, and changes to social needs, experiences, and outcomes). Resources for friends included education about what young people with cancer may experience, advice on supporting or talking to their friend, and encouragement for self-care. Reviewed studies highlight the importance of friends support for young people with cancer, and the challenges faced. We present a future research agenda to address identified gaps, including the absence of studies exploring the perspectives and needs of friends.