Imagine for a moment that you’re five years old.

You’re guided into a bustling, unfamiliar space. The walls are white, machines hum with strange sounds and grown-ups speak in big words you don’t quite understand. Nothing feels like home.

Hospitals and medical spaces can be overwhelming – even for adults. For children, that feeling is often magnified.

This enthusiasm guided Cassie back to Very Special Kids, an organisation she had worked for 18 years ago, when she was a registered nurse.

Now as a child life therapist, Cassie has been able to combine her two passions, nursing and teaching, and has revolutionised the hospice environment for children.

Her work is even more significant given that only a handful of child life therapists in Australia specialise in paediatric palliative care.

Prioritising play

Cassie has developed key therapeutic activities tailored to each child’s emotional and developmental requirements. Positive play experiences are a major part of her toolkit, to help children acclimate to setting, and process what is going on for them and their family.

“Play is so universal. Every child has the right to engage in play,” Cassie says.

By using play medical equipment and dolls Cassie provides play experiences to reduce fear and anxiety related to medical interventions.

“We spend time playing with the medical equipment and toys; I have some custom-made dolls with nasogastric tubes and oxygen masks. I also give them space to explore and ask questions and help them feel a sense of some control.”

Tools that build trust

A child’s first respite stay can feel overwhelming for many families. That’s why Cassie places a big focus on normalising the hospice environment, even before they step through the door.

“Expressing preferences and fears can be challenging, particularly for children who are non-verbal,” shares Cassie. “We use a number of different tools to help children express their feelings and feel safe.”

Our ‘Some things about me’ profiles capture each child’s unique interests, needs and routines. This ensures their time at the hospice – and their interactions with staff and volunteers – are as safe, comfortable and joyful as possible.

We also use social stories: short, often illustrated guides that can help children understand and prepare for new or emotionally complex situations, like staying at the hospice. They can also be a valuable resource for siblings, offering age-appropriate ways to understand and cope during end-of-life and after death care.

Both tools enable clearer communication and can give children and siblings ways to feel more at ease when facing change or uncertainty.

Families have often asked to replicate these documents to help ease transitions and aid understanding beyond the hospice – from school to medical appointments and use in the wider community.

Memories that last

During end-of-life and after death care, Cassie is also heavily involved in supporting children and families with memory making at Very Special Kids House.

“It is so important to carve out time for children to just be kids and create fun memories with their siblings.”

Memory making, such as a photo book or memory box, can be as simple as keeping stickers they liked, capturing photos of moments they might not have been there for, or preserving drawings and artwork that were made at Very Special Kids.

For siblings,this can be hugely beneficial to have these documents as they grow up and process things differently.

“What they think they remember, and what they actually remember can sometimes be quite different.”

Child life therapy helps give children a way to cope, to express and to feel safe when life feels uncertain.

“I feel so lucky,” Cassie says. “I love my job.”