Having a seriously ill child in hospital is extremely stressful for any parent or carer. Lives are turned upside down, family members may be separated for long periods, and there is often no time for self-care and well-being.
Spread a Smile supports the whole family, organising special Parent Pamper Days in hospitals to give parents and carers a chance to indulge in moments of calm and personal care.
Our team provides hairdressing, massage, nail care and aromatherapy, enabling rare moments for respite and self-care. Precious one of our volunteer hairdressers told us, “I’ve been a hairdresser for 30 years and it seemed like such an amazing but obvious thing for me to volunteer to support Spread a Smile. Everyone was so welcoming and really made me feel comfortable and at ease. I felt honoured to meet every parent and to be able to help make them smile and feel a little bit of normality.”
The Pamper Days provide a chance for parents and carers to spend a little bit of time relaxing, away from the hospital bed. As one parent said, “In amongst everything we have to do in hospital, it’s so lovely to just sit, relax, close my eyes and let everything wash over me.”
Priya is another member of our team who regularly goes into the hospitals we support. In her role as a volunteer complementary therapist UCLH between 2018 – 2020, Priya created bespoke aromatherapy inhalers for patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment. She now works with Spread a Smile, providing complimentary therapy sessions for parents and carers of seriously ill children in hospital. These were initially delivered online during the highly stressful Covid period and now include in-person support through aromatherapy and massage for patients, alongside our regular Pamper Days for parents and carers.
Thanks to a collaboration with our friends at AromaStick, Priya has developed a new way of incorporating aromatherapy natural inhalers into her bespoke wellbeing sessions – something that was helped greatly thanks to a generous donation by AromaSticks of 200 sticks.
As Laura Walter, Spread a Smile Director of Services said: “When caring for a sick child, parents rarely get any time out for themselves. We’re proud to support our families whilst they are caring for their children in hospital, helping to relieve a little bit of the stress around the day-to-day, even if it’s just for a short time.”
Thank you to all of our team for making the Parent Pamper days possible and giving parents to seriously ill children the chance to take a moment of respite.