Adam’s Hats is meeting its aspiration to help young people who surround young cancer patients
An innovative and unique collaboration between Adam’s Hats and Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres will enable children and young people with cancer and their family and friends to access cancer support from Maggie’s Centres.
Designed by some of the world's most respected architects, Maggie's Centres are designed to be homely, positive and uplifting environments, which inspire the imagination and curiosity of all who walk through the front door. The hub of each Maggie's Centre is the over-sized kitchen area, where many gather for a cup of tea - walking into a Maggie's Centre is like walking into the home of a well-informed friend.
Maggie’s has a proven track record in delivering an evidence based programme of psychosocial support. This is offered free of charge, using a professional team comprising Cancer Information and Support Specialists, Benefit and Welfare Advisors, Nutritionists, exercise and art instructors and Clinical Psychologists.
Families will be able to use the centres’ programmes of support (including stress management courses, nutrition workshops and personal sessions), extensive libraries, access the web, or simply relax - taking ‘time out’ in the centre.
Maggie’s takes a unique approach which recognises that cancer affects different family members in different ways, and that their needs for support will change over time, reflecting the transitions involved in diagnosis, treatment and survivorship.
The Adam’s Hats and Maggie’s collaboration focuses on the needs of young siblings and friends of cancer patients. Young people tend to confront their own emotional and psychological difficulties but can be a very difficult group to persuade to access support services. While siblings and friends can provide valuable support to a person with cancer, their emotional and informational needs are often not recognised or met.
The collaboration will begin with a focus group of young people who have experienced a friend or sibling with cancer, to understand better their needs from their point of view. We want to hear how, where and when they want support.
Through this collaboration we want to see whether Maggie’s can contribute to the limited, but critical family support provided by the NHS and other charities. As the programme is run, the impact of this work will be evaluated extensively to learn how families use Maggie’s and what their thoughts of the programme are.
Additionally, our alliance will introduce a new element to the Maggie’s programme. We will be working through the design and evaluation of a series of practical workshops for parents, teachers and health professionals called “Supporting and Talking to Children affected by Cancer”. We also expect Maggie’s existing online support to extend and evolve through this collaboration.
The collaboration begins on 1 September 2009, with the use of Maggie’s Highlands (in Inverness), Maggie’s Dundee and Maggie’s Edinburgh being promoted formally to families from October 2009. We expect the series of specialised workshops to begin in January 2010.
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