Make or break—who cares for couples when their children are sick?

Abstract

It is well known that a sick child has a profound impact upon the family involved. What remains less clear is how that stress affects the partnership of the parents—their intimacy, health and wellbeing and who is responsible for supporting the couple? Clinicians working with sick children in a wide range of settings, are regularly faced with distressed couples in need of support or skilled help. Many work without the benefit of good support or supervision for themselves, or a counselling service that would be acceptable to couples. Added to these difficulties are a number of barriers to referral. It seems legitimate to suggest that a therapist with insights and skills in couple work and relationship issues, and an awareness of the value of a supportive supervisory relationship as an integral part of professional development, might consider offering similar support to clinicians.

Keywords:

• Sick child
• parent partnership
• couple
• clinician