Family support

Looking after the whole family

The family support team led by Catherine Livesey consists of counsellors (staff and volunteers), a music therapist and sibling event volunteers.  This multi-disciplinary team provide 1:1 counselling, group counselling, music therapy sessions, social events for families and support activities to promote positive psycho-social wellbeing for the siblings of Claire House.

If you find you are at a point of crisis and don’t know where to turn, you can call 0151 459 4337 to hear a pre-recorded message with three organisations available at short notice to offer you mental health support.  Please don’t be alone, pick up the phone, take a note of the key contact numbers available to you and make a call/send a text.

The Counselling Service

The Counselling Service gives people the opportunity to talk in confidence and in a private setting about any issues which may be concerning them or their family. Sharing thoughts and feelings with someone may help the person through difficult times. This support can be in the form of individual sessions or group-work. The service is available to any family member – parents, siblings, grandparents and the child/young person who accesses Claire House. Our counsellors are based within the hospice but can offer support sessions within the family home or school if appropriate. The counselling team work closely with the care and Hospice to Home teams and provide more specialist bereavement care to those families who require additional support.

The team also recognise that family members can also benefit from informally getting together with other families and therefore organise events throughout the year where parents/grandparents can meet up and enjoy perhaps a pamper day or evening complimentary therapy session.  Adolescent weekends are arranged which focus on young people spending time together and having fun.

Trauma Therapy

The counsellors at Claire House can offer some short-term therapeutic interventions to help you cope with traumatic experiences.  These can be offered as part of any counselling you are having or as a standalone support over a couple of sessions. 

Traumatic experiences can get stuck and cause flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts.  This is because:

• Traumatic events enter into the brain but are not allowed to become a long-term memory under your control
  • Ie. it remains fresh and active and will pop up without your choice with the same attachment to its’ emotions and responses as when it was first experienced – as if it is happening all over again, in exactly the same way
• Traumatic memories are ear-marked in the brain as being memories important for survival
  • Ie. the message your brain gives you is “you must preserve this memory exactly as it is, because it might be dangerous for us to forget any of the details”

We use two therapies called Rewind and Flash to help re-process memories so they are moved to the part of your brain that looks after long-term memory and puts you back in control of when you recall those situations and experiences.  Neither of these interventions will remove any memories completely, but they are designed to take away the intensity of when and how they pop up.

If you think either of these might be useful for you, you are very welcome to get in touch with any of the team so they can talk to you a little more about them and answer any questions.  You can email the team directly on familysupport@clairehouse.org.uk or call the office number directly on 0151 346 2422 or via reception on 0151 334 4626.

Play and creative therapies

Claire House Play Specialists provide the opportunity for all children and young people to have access to a wide variety of different stimulating play opportunities. 

These include sensory and tactile stories, individualised adapted arts and crafts, eye gaze technology, immersive technology, resonance board, iPad games, messy play, Makaton singing, switch work, light room, baking and trips out.

Every session is adapted to the child’s/young person’s capabilities, ensuring they still get the opportunity to engage with every activity taking place at Claire House. As technology is advancing, stimulating children and young people is changing and with the current facilities Claire House has, it is enabling us to give children independence and empowerment because they interact with the activities themselves.

We have a new Play Outreach service providing play sessions for children and young people who access Claire House. The service is working with Hospice to Home and other local services which aim to enhance the child/young person’s life through the medium of play and provide education and training to parents/carers.

Parents’ Facebook page

We have a Claire House Parent’s Facebook Group which is a closed group, solely for parents and those with parental responsibility for children who come to Claire House or have sadly passed away but previously came to the hospice. The group is run by Claire House staff and is closely monitored. The group gives parents an opportunity to find out who is who in the hospice, what’s happening in the hospice and is a platform for families to share stories and information.

Our parents find the group of great value. Here is what some of them had to say:

“I’m a parent who has been coming to Claire House for 14 years. I’ve always wanted a way to communicate with other parents in similar circumstances but also a way to have direct contact with the hospice for any questions that might pop into my head at a ridiculous hour in the morning!”

“The Claire House Parents page gives me the answers I want and it has helped me lots over the last couple of months. It’s a place to share expertise. Claire House and families working together allows us to become a stronger unit to support each other.”

“The group is a great place to share information, get advice or if TED appears (teary eyed day) sometimes you need people who ‘get it’ without judgement or the need for any explanation!”

As well as keeping you up to date with what’s going on at the hospice, it is also a place where you can ask questions. To request to join the Parents Facebook page, please email clairehouse.referrals@nhs.net