Coping with cancer requires a very important adaptation process throughout all stages of the disease. In childhood cancer, it is natural for fear, disbelief, guilt, anxiety, uncertainty and depression, among others, to appear. These symptoms and emotions must be learned to control and manage.

That is why the Fundació La Nineta dels Ulls offers the families who are friends of the Foundation emotional accompaniment by the psychologist Rosa María Valls Busca.

Rosa Maria is a clinical psychologist specialized in the treatment of drug addictions and in the management of stressful situations. She has worked at the Red Cross in Barcelona and Rome, developing training activities and therapies oriented to stress management and conflict resolution within the framework of cognitive psychology.

She has personally experienced situations of accompanying oncology patients and has participated in support groups for families with children with various pediatric pathologies.

Areas of emotional support for families:

• To help in the management of emotions in the different phases of the disease. Teach how to detect, accept and cope with them in order to preserve emotional health to the maximum.
• To de-blame the parents about the causes of the disease and the sometimes late detection of retinoblastoma. As well as the creation of an environment of trust that allows the expression of feelings and doubts that will appear after the initial shock.
• Help communicate the diagnosis of retinoblastoma to the affected child with age-appropriate strategies and be able to answer related questions.
• Inform and involve the rest of the family members, which will facilitate the acceptance of the changes in the family dynamics that the treatment will entail.
• Support involvement and adaptation to treatment.
• To favor the normalization of the family’s life and social integration.
• Learning to cope with periods of uncertainty while waiting for results and possible relapses of the disease.

Contact: info@fundaciolaninetadelsulls.org

The diagnosis of cancer has very important repercussions in the family environment that generate a strong restructuring and a change in family routines. Stays in the hospital, constant visits and check-ups and travel, often far from the usual place of residence, can end up generating problems in the work environment of the parents of the child affected by the disease. This makes the situation even more complicated.

At Fundació La Nineta dels Ulls we offer legal and labor orientation to the families who are friends of the Foundation, by the lawyer Elisenda Villares Vilella.

Elisenda has a Law Degree, a Master’s Degree in Law and Legal Practice and a Master in Labor Law and Social Security. She has a Specialization in gender violence. Moreover, she is a Lawyer member of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados from Tarragona.

Contact: info@fundaciolaninetadelsulls.org