English Community

Hi there, I live in Toronto area and my daughter, who is 13 needs a therapist / child life specialist to help her deal with her experience of dealing with my cancer. Does anyone have any recommendations? We don’t have benefits or insurance coverage, and we also think it is important that she gets the support she needs no matter the cost. Any suggestions?

@sammisunshine
  Sorry to hear about your cancer diagnosis and why it's brought you here today. Have you talked to your team about this at all and have they been able to make any recommendations?  Aside from that you can try https://wellspring.ca/ This is an online support for both patients and their families. Alternatively you can try your local Hospice to see if they have any programs and/or recommendations.
  How are you doing? Have you participated in our Teal Thursdays yet?  It is a 1pm weekly and a chance for you to interact with others with Ovarian Cancer on an online format.  If you can and feel you are ready to join us, we would love to see you there.
  Hope this helps and that you both are doing well aside from this important piece of the process.
 Take care

Hi @Strongwoman
Thanks for your response. I am getting treated at Markham Stouffville but live in Scarborough so the hospice info i have been sent doesn't serve my location. I have looked at wellspring but i have not found anything that is specific to individual support for children. I would love to know if anyone has any experience with programs in the GTA. Or if I am missing something on wellspring.

I would love to attend a teal tuesday, but I work full time and can't attend at 1pm during the week. I have surgery next week so i will be off for a couple of weeks and maybe able to join then.

thanks for support.

@sammisunshine
I"m so sorry to hear your daughter is struggling and you're finding challenges with support. I"m sure this is a far more common issue that I have yet to see addressed.  Strongwoman has provided some good suggestios to you.  I'll add that most cancer centres, if not hospitals themselves, have social work departments attached and the social workers are extremely adapt at counselling and at providing resource recommendations.  Your cancer care team can steer you to the right individual in your area.  

I will also raise this with OCC.  Support for children may already be on their radar but if not, hopefully this might jog some action.

Good luck with your surgery this week. We'lll be thinking of you and sending our support for a successful outcome.  You are part of this community now so please remember you're not alone in your journey.  There are over 900 of us across the country sending their best wishes and here to share their own experiences that might be helpful. 
 <3