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"Tigerherz... wenn Eltern Krebs haben", the service for children and adolescents offered by the Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Service at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF, is celebrating its 15th anniversary

When a parent is diagnosed with cancer, this is often accompanied by changes and stress in the family. Children and adolescents in particular are often unsettled: What is cancer and chemotherapy? Will mom or dad get better? Can I still have fun and spend time with my friends? What does the disease mean for my own life and my everyday life?

This is where the "Tigerherz ... wenn Eltern Krebs haben" program at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF of the Medical Center of Freiburg comes in by supporting the entire family in this difficult (life) phase with a focus on children and adolescents. "Tigerherz" was founded in February 2007 as a supplementary service of the Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Center at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg and has been supporting affected families for 15 years.

"Sometimes the children have specific questions and concerns that they don't want to burden the family with, other times the children just want to let off steam and distract themselves," says Cornelia Schulz, Head of the Psychosocial Cancer Counseling Center at the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF. "We focus on the needs of the children, because they also have to come to terms with their parent's illness." The Tigerherz team also answers parents' questions about how to deal with their children during this challenging time.

The Tigerherz offer

At "Tigerherz", children can express their thoughts, feelings and questions about their parent's cancer in a protected and supervised environment. The Tigerherz team also ensures that the children's psychological resilience, resources and coping strategies are strengthened. They can gain experiences here that are of great importance for their development: The focus here is on experiencing lightness, light-heartedness, joy, play, creativity, self-efficacy, trust and confidence as well as creative experimentation and design.

The interdisciplinary team at Tigerherz, consisting of social and health educators with additional psycho-oncological and therapeutic qualifications, takes a targeted approach to the children's situation. Based on systems theory, experiential and art education approaches as well as research findings, the services are designed and implemented in line with requirements. In addition to parent counseling and individual and sibling sessions for children, group activities, day trips and summer camps are held to enable children to make contact with other affected children and share their experiences. "The realization that you are not alone in the situation, but that other children feel the same way and that you don't have to explain yourself, is central to this. It is not uncommon for new friendships to develop at Tigerherz, which offer the children additional stability and support," says Cornelia Schulz.

Advice for family members and professionals

The service is open to those affected from the entire region. Not only parents and family members, but also educators, medical professionals and interested people can receive free advice. The positions of the educational staff Ina Heinzelmann, Theresa Niewiadomski, Dr. Stefanie Pietsch and Jörg Stern are funded on a pro rata basis, while all of Tigerherz's services are financed entirely from donations.

Tigerherz has established itself as a recognized counselling service over the last fifteen years. Demand and the number of families receiving support is growing steadily. In 2021 alone, a total of 332 child and sibling sessions and 205 parent consultations were held. "Tigerherz" also carries out research projects in the field of care research and method development.

Further information can be found at www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/cccf/patienten/tigerherz

A film about the concept and working methods of "Tigerherz" is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm0MmC5X3n8

Support "Tigerherz... when parents have cancer" with your donation:

Donation account:
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Deutsche Bank Freiburg
IBAN DE22 6807 0030 0030 1481 00
BIC DEUTDE6F
Purpose (please specify): 1020 0027 03 Tigerherz

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 270-36090
bianca.czichy@uniklinik-freiburg.de

Caption (both pictures): (from left to right) The 15th anniversary of Tigerherz is celebrated by the Tigerherz team Dr. Stefanie Pietsch, Jörg Stern and Theresa Niewiadomski, the Managing Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Freiburg - CCCF Günther Storz and the Tigerherz mascot with a delicious cake.
Image rights: Medical Center - University of Freiburg