Richard House Children's Hospice, in Newham, supports the siblings of the children in its care
Richard House recognises the special experiences of a child growing up with a life-limited brother or sister. The Sibling Group enables these children, aged seven or over, to come along and meet other siblings.
They can see that they are not the only ones going through this - there are other people sharing the same experiences.
The group, which meets each month, provides an opportunity for siblings to express themselves in a safe environment.
Group activites also aim to reduce any fears the siblings may have about their situation or the hospice and to give them a break from their normal home life.
The group has now been split into three age groups which each meet at least three times a year. There are also all-boy, all-girl and all-sibling activity days.
Fun for the siblings at Richard House
Richard House recognises the special experiences of a child with a life-limited brother or sister. And as part of our commitment to supporting entire families, our sibling program is going from strength to strength.
Play Service Co-ordinator Kay Carpenter has been running a sibling support group since September 2006. It meets six times a year – alternating with a sibling cinema club.
Kay says: "The program is there to reach out to the siblings we weren’t reaching before. The Funny Group enables children aged seven or over to come along and meet other siblings.
"They can see that they are not the only ones going through this. There are other people sharing the same experiences."
The four activity days and two outings each year provide an opportunity for siblings to express themselves in a safe environment. Group activities also aim to reduce any fears the siblings may have about their situation or the hospice and to give them a break from their normal home life.
Each meeting includes a series of activities including ice-breakers, question and answer sessions with a Richard House nurse and creative tasks. The children also set their own ground rules and provide feedback at the end of the day.
Kay continues: "We play a lot of emotional games - games with an emotional tilt. It’s not aimed at forcing them to talk about how they’re feeling but at getting them to explore the fact that these emotions are around and different occasions when they might feel them.
"Then there are the outing days where the focus is on having as much fun as possible.
"We’ve received some really nice feedback. When they designed their own superheroes one of them said, ‘We’re always creative even when we think we’re not,’ which was nice because it was meant to boost their self-esteem.
"Another said after the last outing day that ‘Even though you look after someone you can still have fun.’"
