Emotional Support for your Family
We know a cancer diagnosis can be emotionally devastating for your family. Our programs and services provide a shoulder to lean on as you navigate the road ahead, and our team is here to help you through. The following services offered by Circle of Care can help your family emotionally.
Dream Room Makeovers
Our Art From the Heart℠ dream room makeover program can transform your child's bedroom or playroom into a personal oasis—a place to escape from the daily reality of doctor appointments and treatment schedules. Our trained volunteer teams work directly with your child and family to create a "dream" vision for their room.
This program is intended for patients ages 4+ living in Connecticut or Westchester County, NY. Our volunteer teams transform rooms through paint, decor, and imagination - they do not provide structural remodeling. If you are interested in a room makeover for your child, click here.
Peer Support for Parents
Our Lifeline Peer Network pairs "veteran" families with newly diagnosed ones. Families can talk with someone who truly understands what they are going through, easing the isolation and helping to create a sense of community through shared experience. The Lifeline Buddy's role is to listen and offer comfort, hope, and practical strategies for coping with the daily demands of cancer treatment for the whole family. Your Lifeline Buddy respects your privacy and keeps all conversations confidential.
This program does not provide medical care, treatment, advice, or psychotherapy or interfere with the doctor-patient relationship in any way.
Let us know if you want to be paired with a buddy, here. Our team will call you to discuss your child's diagnosis and make the appropriate match. Our buddies have been carefully selected. We match families by diagnosis and child age.
Peer Connection for Adolescents & Young Adults
Our AYA Program provides peer connection opportunities for patients ages 15-26 to meet and engage with each other while participating in an activity or outing with the Circle of Care team. We've hosted trips to Foxwoods, Beach Bash parties, holiday light tours, and more... These trips are prompted by interest from our AYA community... if you would like to join our Circle and express interest in an outing, click here.
Events for Your Family
We hold several family gathering opportunities throughout the year to connect you with other families, provide distraction and entertainment for your children, and offer you resources.
- Thanksgiving: Our annual Thanksgathering event is held in Wilton and Hartford, CT. We host 25 families in each location each year to gather with each other, participate in holiday-themed activities, and receive a care bag containing all the necessities for a Thanksgiving dinner. This event takes place just before Thanksgiving in November.
- Family Fun Day: Our annual Family Fun Day is hosted at Urban Air Adventure Park in September in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Families can play together—or kids can play while parents mingle—in various indoor attractions like bumper cars, foam pits, and even an indoor rope obstacle course!
- Survivor Tent - Our Annual 5K: We invite the families in our Circle from all points in time to join us at our CARE to Run 5K in Wilton, CT, each spring. Families can choose to run or walk in the 5K at a discounted rate or join us at our tent for families to hang out together and receive a goodie bag.
For more information on each of these events, please email programs@thecircleofcare.org
Sprinkling Joy Throughout the Year
We know holidays can be different when you have a child undergoing cancer treatment. On the following holidays, we send something special to let you know your family is in our thoughts and to provide a little extra cheer for you.
- Birthdays: Our Birthday Box is received by all children in our Circle who we have supported in the past year during their birthday month.
- Mother's Day and Father's Day: Moms and dads of children with cancer are true superheroes! Each year, for these holidays, we send a card or a small gift directly to the families in our Circle or to our partner hospitals to distribute.
- Winter Holidays: Binky's Porch Elves are hard at work during the winter holidays, sourcing and putting together custom gift packages for each child in our Circle we have supported in the past year. These packages are mailed or hand-delivered to each family during December.
Resource Guide for You
Our Purple Pages is a resource guide created for you by those who have also had a child with cancer. It ensures you have access to all the relevant information you may need throughout your child's treatment and after - without the clutter and overwhelm of doing your own internet search. Inside, you will find other resources outside of Circle of Care that can support your family emotionally throughout this time.
This guide is updated twice yearly with resources gathered from families in our Circle and reviewed by our team to eliminate any guesswork for you. All resources should be active and up to date. If you find a problem with any of the resources in our guide or would like to suggest an addition, please let us know here.
