The Shine On! Counseling and Support Program maximizes quality of life for pediatric oncology patients and their families throughout the entire cancer treatment process by placing clinical psychologists in pediatric cancer wards. Below is an update from our hard-working clinical psychologists in Tokyo and Osaka.

On September 1st, American Home Direct invited kids from Tyler Foundation for the second year in a row to enjoy an afternoon at Kidzania all to themselves.

Located in the National Center for Child Health and Development in Setagaya-ku, the Shine On! Clinic is a collaboration between the Tyler Foundation and the hospital. The Shine On! Clinic provides a dedicated space for out-patient consultations with pediatric oncology/hematology doctors and maintains data on all out-patients as part of a long-term pediatric oncology follow-up program.

The Tyler Foundation is pleased to introduce our new Clinical Psychologist for the Shine On! Counseling and Support Program, Shiho Okada.

Following the request of Infosys, a Tyler Foundation sponsor, that “we would like to put the children’s drawings on display in our meeting room”, we asked the children to draw some pictures for them. As these would be on display in the Infosys meeting room, we also had the pictures printed onto mugs to give to the children.

We hold regular tea parties in Osaka, especially aimed at families. We originally started our tea party in order to respond to people who often used to say, “we’d like to meet other families who are in the same circumstances but it is so hard to get the opportunity to do so”, but time has passed so quickly that we are already nearing our first birthday.

When I talk with children around the bedside, I’m often surprised by their unique ideas. “Expanse of Green Party (Guripa)” is one of those wonderful ideas born around a bedside. Guripa is a chat group exclusively for “the survivors of bone marrow transplants in Osaka City General Hospital.” Who made this new group? It’s TomiSho, a boy who experienced a bone marrow transplant at OCGH. Surprisingly, he is only a high school student! I asked him the reason why he decided to make “Guripa”.

(日本語) 茶話会・第二弾とともに、今回はご家族からのリクエストでタイラー基金の理事でもある小児血液腫瘍科の原純一先生のミニレクチャーも行いました。

At the front of KidZania Tokyo on September 2nd, there were a lot of kids who were very excited because American Home Direct and the Tyler Foundation invited children with cancer and their families to KidZania Tokyo! There were over 500 children and families from 31 different hospitals in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Gunma, and Ibaraki prefectures.

On June 14th, at the 10W ward of the National Center for Child Health and Development, a child-inspired and made program “Children’s Gallery” was carried out. The opportunity for each child to produce artwork, to verbalize their efforts, and receive feedback on it was a wonderful experience of self-expression and communication!