MILLICENT High School and Millicent and District Hospital are better equipped to support parents who have to explain a cancer diagnosis to their children through a CanTeen initiative.
CanTeen supports young people aged 12-25 who are processing their own cancer diagnosis, or the diagnosis of a loved one.
The CanTeen Connect for Parents program is a new online platform which allows parents to chat with counsellors and other parents about their own cancer diagnosis or their children’s cancer experiences.
Visiting Millicent last week, CanTeen South Australia program officer Rebecca Walker said young people responded positively to the introduction of the program at the high school and hospital
“What we have found is the distress level in teenagers who have a parent with cancer is three to four times greater than the average teenager and as you could imagine, teens have a pretty high stress level already, so that is just astronomical,” Ms Walker said.
“By supporting parents with the diagnosis we’re seeing that if the parents are coping, that has a trickle down affect on the whole family.
“There are resources and guides on what are the best things to say and also professional advice from medical specialists.
“We also have frequent blog posts on our site.”
The school’s wellbeing coordinator Tam Gould said while there was no known students with parents affected by cancer, in the past CanTeen has supported students who wanted to be involved with the organisation.
Ms Walker said the hospital-based support materials would help patients who accessed cancer services that visit Millicent.
“We always endeavour to visit the South East and we have had quite a few people from Millicent, perhaps three or four, who have worked with CanTeen,” she said.
Last week’s tour of the Limestone Coast also included Mount Gambier, Keith, Naracoorte and Bordertown, connecting with young people and providing free resources to medical and educational institutions.
Research shows each year, 1800 young South Australians are told their parent has cancer.
These young people are three to six times more likely to face mental health issues such as anxiety or depression than their peers, making easy access to cancer-specific support critical.
