Ten years of Tigerheart
"Tigerheart... when parents have cancer" the service for children and adolescents offered by the Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Service at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF celebrates its 10th anniversary
When a father or mother is diagnosed with cancer, everything suddenly changes for them and their children. In this new life situation, everyone has to be considerate of each other and often no one knows how best to behave now. Can I still joke around and laugh? How do I talk about cancer, chemotherapy or dying? Can I cry if mom or dad are constantly sad themselves? It is often not easy for adults to have clear conversations with their children. So that children are not alone with their worries and fears, there is Tigerherz. Tigerherz was founded in February 2007 as a supplementary service of the Psychosocial Cancer Counseling of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF. For ten years now, "Tigerherz" has been supporting families with various services.
The services offered by Tigerherz
"It is particularly important that children are involved in the changing life situation, because children and adolescents react sensitively to issues that remain unspoken in the family," says Dr. Alexander Wünsch, Head of Psychosocial Cancer Counseling at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF. The Tigerherz service is free of charge. The positions of therapists Mohamed Mamar and Jörg Stern as well as all services are financed by donations. In addition to counseling parents, Tigerherz offers work with children and adolescents, individually or in groups, using a play, art and experiential therapy approach. The therapists try to find out what each child needs in their current situation and then respond to this in a targeted manner. Having fun is allowed. At "Tigerheart... when parents have cancer", children and young people are given space for their grief, anger and powerlessness and are strengthened at the same time. If a parent is an inpatient at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg or if parents make use of the psychosocial cancer counseling service at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF, the affected children can come to the Tigerherz sessions. However, the service is also open to patients from the entire region. It is a particular concern of the Tigerherz team to help the whole family, to advise the parents in the difficult situation and at the same time to respond to the needs of the children.
Review and outlook
Over the past ten years, Tigerherz has managed to establish itself as a recognized counselling service. This is reflected in the steadily increasing number of children receiving care. In 2016 alone, a total of 282 child and 14 sibling sessions and 127 parent consultations were offered. There were also 12 day or multi-day offers. In addition, 13 specialists provided advice. The "Tigerherz" studio is due to move to new premises in 2017. Two parallel therapy services are to be set up there in order to increase the reception capacity. There will also be a varied vacation program again this year.
You can find more information at www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/cccf/patienten/tigerherz
Support "Tigerherz... wenn Eltern Krebs haben" with your donation:
Donation account:
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Deutsche Bank Freiburg
IBAN DE22 6807 0030 0030 1481 00
BIC DEUTDE6F
Purpose: 1020 0027 02 Tigerherz-KBS
(please specify purpose)
Contacts:
Tigerherz... wenn Eltern Krebs haben
Phone: 0761 270-72840
tigerherz@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Bianca Czichy
Fundraising & Communication
Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF
Uniklinik Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-71510
bianca.czichy@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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