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mental health

Mental Health Awareness Week 2024

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Today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week (13 to 19 May), which each year aims to highlight the importance of our mental health and what we can do to support it.

For children and young people diagnosed with a serious illness, life changes in an instant with family life, schooling, social opportunities, health and wellbeing all being affected. Spending long periods of time in hospital undergoing treatment, away from family and friends can take it’s toll physically and mentally.

Spread a Smile supports our NHS hospital and hospice partners, providing entertainment, distraction and an the opportunity for children and young people in hospital to find fun and laughter in amongst it all.

Eleanor Tyrrell is Matron for Children and Young People’s Cancer Services at UCLH and we spoke to her about the role of Spread a Smile and how we are helping support the wellbeing of patients and their families.

“At UCLH there is a paediatric cancer ward, teenage cancer unit and a teenage and young adult daycare ambulatory cancer unit. One of the most vital areas of my role is ensuring the patient experience is as positive, calm and stress-free as possible.

“I first met Spread a Smile when I was Ward Sister on Lion Ward at Great Ormond Street Hospital in 2013. Josephine’s nephew was treated on Lion Ward and this is when she first discussed the idea of what became the beginnings of Spread a Smile. Josephine and Vanessa were passionate about making the hospital experience fun, cheerful and distracting for the child and diverting attention for the whole family away from the extremely stressful and difficult time.

“We all love seeing the wonderful influence Spread a Smile has on our patients, their families and friends. The patient experience is vital in the care we provide and seeing Spread a Smile boost children in hospital and change difficult moments into something joyous is very special.

“The positive impact of transforming a child’s and family’s hospital journey and supporting their emotional wellbeing cannot be underestimated. Spread a Smile demonstrates and values the importance of being fully inclusive to the young person’s family, carers, siblings and friends, which strengthens relationships and wellbeing. The team create special memories, experiences and opportunities for children and young people in hospital. Without this the child or young person’s hospital stay is extremely stressful and challenging.

“It is inspiring and rewarding to see how the charity has evolved. It can’t be underestimated how much Spread a Smile has impacted children and young people, their friends and families throughout England during their hospital stay. I have many memories of the talented team (including the therapy dogs) who have made our patients very happy, brightened their day and made them smile. I also have memories of the early days and seeing the hard work Josephine and Vanessa undertook to make their goals a success. They and the team should be really proud of what they have achieved and what they plan to achieve.”

Spread a Smile is proud to work with and support inspiring people like Eleanor and their teams. We currently work in partnership with 32 NHS hospitals and four hospice partners, spreading smiles when they are needed most. To support our work, please consider donating today. Thank you.

Children’s Mental Health Week 2024

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Today marks the start of Children’s Mental Health Week (5-11 February), which this year focuses on the theme that all children and young people, whoever they are, and wherever they are in the world, should be able to say – and believe – “My Voice Matters”.

At Spread a Smile, we focus directly on each young person we meet, making sure we take the time to find out what they need from us and how we can help improve their wellbeing. Through our face-to-face interactions, online sessions and family events, we provide very special opportunities for the children we support to be seen, heard and find a space for positive experiences and mental health.

Bailey is 17 years old and was diagnosed with leukaemia in May 2022. She told us “Hospital was really horrible, and I felt really down when I was going through my treatment. Spread a Smile’s visits made it so much more fun and they really gave me something to look forward to, taking my mind off what was happening. I have finished my chemotherapy now, but I still need to shield so I’ve started virtual guitar lessons with Spread a Smile, who have helped me get back into my music. It’s given me something to focus on and has given me back some of my confidence again.”

Each year we reach out to the families we support and the health professionals we work with to find out the impact of our services.*

  • 99% of parents and carers contacted said that our in-person and virtual visits improve their child’s mood and help to reduce anxiety.
  • 100% said that Spread a Smile helps them to feel heard.

“I can’t explain the difference the sessions made to Alyssa and her wellbeing, bringing her so much joy during such a difficult time. Alyssa was able to socialise, laugh, be herself and forget she was in hospital.”

Alyssa’s Mum, Kiona.

  • 100% of health professionals we spoke to said that our visits improved the emotional wellbeing and mental health of their patients.

Laura Walter, Spread a Smile Director of Services said, “We are proud that our work delivers meaningful and positive change to a child’s wellbeing, mental health and recovery process. We holistically support the whole family as we understand that parents, siblings and the wider family unit can be significantly affected by a child’s illness.”

Alongside our in-person and virtual visits, Spread a Smile’s online digital platform, Smile TV was developed during the Covid pandemic to enable us to continue to be there for our families during lockdown when our entertainers were not able to carry out face-to-face visits in hospital. It is packed full of sessions with our entertainers, arts and crafts activities, music, magic, helpful tutorials and much more. Being online, it can be accessed via our website at any time of the day, when distraction is most needed, from hospital or home.

Our most recent uploads include soothing pop songs, Disney songs and nursery rhymes aimed at finding space for positive mental health and moments of relaxation and calm, away from the pressures of illness and treatment.

*Stats taken from the Spread a Smile 2023 Impact Report which you can read in full here.

Chloe and Therapy Dog

Mental Health Awareness Week

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Today is the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, a very important week which aims to educate and raise awareness around mental health.

For the families we support, the pressures of serious illness can be hugely and negatively impactful on mental health. Spread a Smile aims to support our families and their wellbeing, providing positive and happy moments of distraction and helping to reduce stress and feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Our team of entertainers include musicians, magicians, poets, therapy dogs, artists, fairies and more. Each bring their own unique talents and abilities to their work, creating special moments of joy, fun and engagement which enable our families to escape – even if it’s just for a moment – from their day-to-day realities. A visit from one of our team to a child at their hospital bedside can make such a difference to how they feel and manage their hospital experience.

“I have seen the Spread a Smile team interact with my child when he was so ill that he list all interest in play, but they managed to re-engage the magic.” Parent

“Having a singer sing nursery rhymes at her bedside filled us with joy, as it just felt like some normality amongst all of the chaos and heartache.” Parent

Our Therapy Dogs provide a physical comfort and warmth to the patients they meet. Patients enjoy brushing their fur, stroking them, sitting quietly with them and feeding them treats.

“It was during our daily visits to UCLH that we met Spread a Smile. The team were visiting with Buddy, one of their Therapy Dogs. Kaiden was in recovery from general anaesthetic and wasn’t particularly bothered about seeing anyone. However, within a couple of minutes of meeting Buddy, he was sitting up in bed, stroking and playing with Buddy and giving him treats. Kaiden’s recovery from anaesthetic was super quick that day! He just wanted to get up and absolutely loved being with Buddy. It was wonderful for me to see Kaiden happy and enjoying something different. When you spend so long in hospital, anything that breaks the monotony is a treat.” Parent

As part of #mentalhealthawarenessweek we are extremely grateful to our friends at Opticore for sponsoring our Therapy Dog visits to University College London Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital and Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Art is important in every child’s development. It encourages children to express their creativity, develop motor skills and heightens their ability to communicate and problem solve. For children in hospital, our art related projects and activities also provide a welcome distraction from treatment and the hospital environment.

“I have seen children express their feelings, fear and hopes through art in a wat they never could with words. Watching these young people, many of whom are going through the toughest times, utterly distracted from their treatment and hospital environment is a joy.” Marina Constantinou, Spread a Smile Head of Art.

We couldn’t do what we do without the generous support of our donors, fundraisers, volunteers and partners. Thank you for all your support and please take a look here for how you enable us to make a difference for incredible children like Chloe and their families.

Online music lesson

Online music lessons

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Amongst the virtual sessions we offer to the children and young people we support are one-to-one music lessons, providing a wonderful opportunity for children at home or in hospital to connect and learn a new skill. We spoke to Andy, one of our music teachers, who has been working with Spread a Smile for the last three years providing piano and guitar lessons.

What is your musical background?

“I became involved in music at an early age as I grew up in a musical home – my Mum is a violin teacher. I studied guitar at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford and song writing at Berlkee School of Music in Boston. Upon returning to London, I got involved in various musical projects – playing for original bands, song writing and touring extensively around the UK, Europe and America. I play an array of instruments with my main instruments being piano, trombone and guitar.”

How did you first becomes involved with Spread a Smile?

“I had been teaching one of the Spread a Smile Trustees for a few years and when one of the patients who had their own keyboard in hospital asked if Spread a Smile offered piano lessons, they asked me if it would be something I’d be interested in doing.

“It was not something that Spread a Smile had offered before, but with the Country being in lockdown at the time through Covid restrictions, it seemed like a great opportunity. I therefore started providing lessons over Zoom and the response was amazing. It gave the patient something to do in their own time and the speed of learning and improvement was incredible. Spread a Smile soon discovered that there were other patients who also had pianos and guitars with them in hospital and some hospitals owned their own keyboards. So they decided to offer the lessons out to other patients.”  

How do the music lessons work?

Spread a Smile music lesson

“All of my lessons are carried out virtually on Zoom because it’s a platform that works so well and it means we can reach more children. I use several cameras to capture different aspects of the lesson… my fingers on the keys of a keyboard for example, or the music sheet. I can drag music and chord shapes in and out of the screen to help teach.”

 

Tell us about a special moment working for Spread a Smile?

“One of my highlights was my first teaching lesson and seeing the surprise on the Mum’s faces when their child told them that they’d learnt how to play Beethoven!

“Also once when I was teaching a lesson on song writing and I said ‘One day I’ll be teaching people how to play your songs’ and they told me that they didn’t want me to teach their songs in case I took the credit for it. I found that very funny, but good music business.”

How do you think music positively impacts mental health?

“Music is almost like another language and something that we all feel within us. You play a song to a baby that can’t even speak and you’ll see them bobbing around to the beat of the music instinctively. It’s something that’s built inside us and something that we all respond to. So I guess with all the problems that we may face in the real world – be it our mental health or trying to find the money to pay our next electricity bill – music gives us something to take us away from it all.”

How does music help with positive connections?

“I’m an adult and I find hospitals scary places so I can’t image what it must be like for a child. If I’m able to take them away from it all for just a couple of minutes, then I feel that my time as a piano/guitar teacher has been worthwhile. I think that’s something each and every one of us at Spread a Smile try to do and are proud of.”

How do your music lessons make a difference to the children that Spread a Smile supports?

“Music is something that we practice, improve on and get better at. It’s amazing to see the improvement from lesson to lesson and the children notice it too. I think that kind of positivity can be good for anyone because it gives us something to reach towards and achieve.

“It’s been so nice working with Spread a Smile and to see how much the children enjoy their lessons. You notice a real change week to week in their playing and with so much of their time spent in hospital, it gives them something to concentrate on other than their treatment.”

Please make a donation to help ensure we can continue to provide our online music lessons for seriously ill children and young people. Thank you.

Children's Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Week

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Today is the start of Children’s Mental Health Week (6 – 12 February), which this year focuses on the theme of ‘Let’s Connect’ and the importance of creating positive connections, with ourselves and those around us.

‘Positive connection’ through laughter and joy plays an important role in Spread a Smile’s work. Laughter instantly connects people. It helps us to communicate, increases confidence, positivity and resilience and can have a hugely positive impact on mental health and wellbeing.

Through laughter and shared experiences and activities, our entertainers help to forge connections with and for children battling serious illness. From face-to-face interactions, to helping build relationships and friendships via our group sessions and engaging wider family and staff, we provide memorable and important opportunities for positive wellbeing and mental health. For the young people we support, this often comes during some of the darkest times of their lives, when making connections and feeling positive feels out of reach.

Please follow us on social media (@spreadasmileuk) to stay up to date with how we help to improve mental health and wellbeing for seriously ill children and young people:

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Thank you to children’s mental health charity Place2be for developing this important week.