Emotional support is a service intended to help families and address their concerns, supporting them step by step during and after the children’s hospitalisations.

The aim is to create a space in which parents can meet and be supported during hospitalisation but also after their children are discharged from hospital (via online calls) with a view to remaining close to the families and children in the long term. A professional from A.B.C. is available in the Burlo surgical ward every day to support families and offer them free psychological and emotional support. A.B.C. professionals also provide families with the necessary help to cope with the experience of hospitalization and become a point of reference in moments of great difficulty.

In addition, there are daily volunteers on the ward responding to the needs of families and children, although in a different way to a professional figure. The red A.B.C. t-shirts, which distinguish volunteers, knocking from door to door, offer their presence as well as their support to the children and to their parents, too. Sometimes, having the chance to have a word with someone who is willing to listen can be of great help, especially during such a complex and delicate moment. The volunteers are also available to look after the child: when a child is playing with them, the parents can take some time for them to break the heavy routine they have during hospitalisation.

The Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the condition of the young patients: it has significantly affected their lives, and their parents were faced with an additional threat to their children’s health.
A.B.C. Listens to You (A.B.C.: Ti Ascolta) was set up to continue to support families, despite the social distancing.
A.B.C. has capitalized on the good practices adopted during the pandemic emergency in order to remain close to the families in a stable and continuous manner.
In many cases, the pathologies of the children that A.B.C. supports require several surgeries during childhood and adolescence. This is why it is so important to keep in contact with the families and to continue to provide emotional support in the period between the surgeries. This new model of psychological support, either face to face or remote, will have a greater impact on the well-being of families in the future.