Family Weekend Roundup: April 2017

Our interactive Family Therapy weekend bring together NHS professionals and a number of family groups in order to share common questions and to understand the psychological issues for not only the child with burns but for parents, siblings and other family members.

Our latest Family Weekend at the Fire Fighters Charity’s Jubilee Centre in Penrith from the 7th – 9th April 2017, was very much appreciated by everyone involved.  With glorious weather from start to finish we were able to enjoy all the outside activities, as well as the swimming, arts and crafts that took place in the Centre.

On the Friday families from Newcastle, Sheffield, Liverpool and Wakefield met up at Walby Park Farm and enjoyed the inside slides, outside play area, and animals.  We even got the chance to see lambs being born.

After checking into their rooms the families went straight to the swimming pool and the Friday evening saw Taffy Thomas, a storyteller from Grasmere, come to the Jubilee Centre and entertain both children and parents with his magical stories.  Each family was presented with a personalised book at the end of the session.

While the parents met with burn care professionals for scar and stress management sessions on Saturday, the children enjoyed fun in the gym, an Easter Egg Hunt, biscuit making and decorating, and other craft activities.  In between workshops parents joined their children for the wonderful walking with llamas and animal petting sessions in the afternoon.  Parents were also treated to a hyrdrotherapy session and complimentary massages.

The parents enjoyed a relaxing meal on Saturday evening, while the children were entertained by Sunbeams – an interactive music workshop.  Saturday evening was rounded off with a family quiz and on Sunday the families worked on a family collage for each to take home.  Each family was also offered a one-to-one session with a psychologist to cover anything that the weekend may have prompted.

After one more swim, families enjoyed lunch together before everyone headed home on Sunday afternoon. An evaluation report will be produced in due course, but early feedback suggests that this was one of the most successful weekends we have run – and that parents and children alike felt it had exceeded their expectations.

Our Family Weekends are invaluable to parents, burn survivors and their siblings. For more information about these events and ways in which you could support our fundraising to continue to host Family Weekends, please get in touch.