Child Life Therapy

Camp Quality’s specialist Child Life Therapist provides comfort, procedural support and fosters positive coping strategies in children undergoing cancer treatment in hospital. By building positivity in kids and making them feel safe and loved, they strengthen their ability to deal with anything that life throws at them.

The special therapy also has a positive impact on their parents and siblings, extended family, friends, their school life and the wider community who all benefit from children being able to cope better with their cancer treatment. Hospital staff also report a lower need for intervention in children undergoing procedures who have had Child Life Therapy sessions.

A father of a child undergoing Child Life Therapy said, “There was one person that we always looked forward to seeing at the Hospital. As soon as we mentioned the name Ronnie (our son’s Child Life Therapist) all his fear, worry and anxiety disappeared.

“Ronnie helped him to understand what he was going through, understand the different treatments and why they were so important, to trust the doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, and very importantly, to feel safe and loved.”

As a not-for-profit organisation, Camp Quality currently receives no government funding and relies on the generosity of individual and corporate donors to provide their programmes and services free of charge to children and families impacted by cancer.

Debra Moore, Community and Corporate Fundraising Coordinator for Camp Quality said, “Port Waratah are an important member of the Camp Quality family having supported various projects for children with cancer and their families over a number of years.

“Camp Quality is incredibly grateful for the support of Port Waratah for helping to give these kids the opportunity to laugh and create positive memories during a dark time in their lives.”

In addition to the Child Life Therapy role, Port Waratah have also supported Camp Quality with their 1000ks for Kids annual fundraising event.

1000ks 4 Kids was born in 2011 and the first event had 19 participants who rode 400kms over 7 days and raised $114,000. Fast forward ten years, and close to 10,000kms has been pedalled with an amazing $3 million raised for Camp Quality. 1000ks 4 Kids is the culmination of year-round training and fundraising by dedicated and hardworking cyclists and their support crew.

In 2019, 58 riders and 24 support crew hit the road from Queensland back to Newcastle, raising over $430,000. This amazing team helped to spread laughter and raise awareness about the innovative programs and services to school children and local communities along the way.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the unique riding challenge has moved online, with the 10th edition in 2020 becoming a virtual challenge which saw an incredible $175,000 raised! Port Waratah sponsored a riding team, Team Pink, and this support was invaluable in helping to shape the team.

“One of the reasons it is such an amazing event is due to the passionate community involved. All of our participants are remarkable people who are keen to take on this challenge and support families facing the trauma of a cancer diagnosis,” Ms Moore said.

3000000
dollars raised
over ten years
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