In The News

Mount Sinai helps guide children through grief - Hospital News - April 2009 Issue

When Janna Cheng’s husband Steve was diagnosed with a terminal illness in March 2007, it was devastating for the entire family but particularly their daughter Jenny, who was only 12 at the time….

“Our society is full of kids grieving in lonely silence when a loved one is dying or has died,” says Lysa Toye, Counsellor and Expressive Arts Therapist at the Max and Beatrice Wolfe Centre. “The lifelong impact is profound.”

The Centre provides support for children and youth, as well as their families, before and after the death of a loved one. The counsellors help educate and support children through stories, play, music, movement and visual expressive arts.

Dr. Larry Librach, Director of Mount Sinai’s Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, founded the Centre in 2006 after meeting with representatives from The Max and Beatrice Wolfe Family Foundation, who wanted to help provide professional support for children dealing with death or dying and an opportunity for families to grieve together.

The Centre’s interdisciplinary team of four part-time counsellors have backgrounds in nursing, child-life training, social work, expressive arts therapy, paediatric medicine and spiritual care.

“There is a strong sense of social justice that motivates the four of us,” says Toye, who has been at the Centre for two years. “We want to make our services accessible for everyone, and we struggle every day with the fact that we have a waitlist.”

In 2008, the Centre cared for 318 children from 160 families, all struggling to cope with a family member’s death caused by terminal illness, an accident, homicide or suicide. The children came from different ethnic backgrounds and neighbourhoods across the Greater Toronto Area. Clients are referred to the Centre by word-of-mouth, other palliative care units, social workers, mental health-care facilities for children, and Toronto Police Victim Services.

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Grief Camp set for September - Our Stories

When Maureen McGuire met the bus bringing her 10-year-old son, and 35 other kids, home after a weekend grief camp in January 2009, one of the first things Justin told her was, “Mom, I wasn’t the different one, I wasn’t the odd one. Everyone on that bus had lost somebody.”

Justin’s father, Andy, died of lung cancer in February 2007. By that time, the family had already connected with Andrea Warnick, a counsellor at the Max and Beatrice Wolfe Children’s Centre (the Centre) at Mount Sinai Hospital.

“Andrea came to us in the hospital, she came to our home, she explained to Justin about his dad’s cancer,” says Maureen. “She gave Justin the ability to say and do everything he needed to for his dad.” ...

Camp Erin Toronto, to be held September 11 to 13 in Muskoka, will complement the one-on-one care children receive at the Centre, providing an opportunity for the children to meet new friends and learn that they are not the only ones dealing with pain and grief. Fifty children will participate this year, and 70 the following year. The Children’s Centre is raising additional funds to supplement the grant from The Moyer Foundation.

“The Moyer Foundation is pretty fabulous,” says Warnick. “The Camp Erin philosophy is our philosophy. It’s about bringing kids to camp and having fun with them, but it’s also about building resilience and giving them tools so that when they’re grieving, whether it’s eight months or eight years from now, they can use these tools even when we’re not all together talking about it.”
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