On this page you will find Lara’s Story Parts 1 & 2. Lara is a real person who is reflecting on her personal journey of being in hospital with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma as a child.

In part one ‘A Child’s Perspective’, Lara gives us an overview of the caring and compassionate practice she received from the health care practitioners involved in her care. Her story offers a unique lens into the feelings and perspectives of a young child as she makes sense of how those who are ‘caring’ for her in the hospital respond to her needs.

In the second part of her story ‘The Parents’ Perspective’ we meet both Lara and her parents as they share a very personal dialogue about their reflections on the experiences of the care and compassion they received as a family. Having the opportunity to hear both the young person’s story and the parents perspective is an insight we are extremely grateful to have been granted access to.

We want to thank Lara and her parents for offering us the opportunity to hear their stories and allowing us to use the materials to explore our own values, beliefs and behaviour in terms of our own caring and compassionate practice as well as an opportunity to review that of others. It offers us a doorway to reflect on what to do to be caring and compassionate as well as what not to to do, and this is important as the former is often overlooked as we focus on the latter.

Please treat the materials with confidentiality, dignity and respect at all times. Thank you.

• By the end of this section you will be able to:
• Engage with reflexive personal narratives and understanding in terms of a child’s experience and world view of care and compassion
• Understand the perspectives of a child and her parents in terms of caring and compassionate practice
• Understand how you, as an individual, can adapt your practice as a result of these stories
• Consider what you would do in the situations Lara and her parents describe
• Consider how you can treat a child with dignity and respect in your practice
• Consider how you can treat a child’s parents with dignity and respect in your practice.

Thank you for engaging with Lara’s story Part 1. Take some time to reflect on your feelings and thoughts as a result of listening and working through the associated materials, reflective questions and exercises. In particular think about what you would have done differently and how you would ensure that Lara’s needs for caring and compassionate practice where fully met. Do really try to put on your ‘transcendent lens’ and engage fully with the feelings of Lara as a young child; it is a unique opportunity to see the world of caring and compassion through the eyes of a child.

Take the opportunity to consider how compassionate leadership could have worked in this story. Could it have made a difference if that was the staff’s approach and the cultural context of the wider organization?

To reference written materials on this page please cite:

Clouston, T.J. 2018. Exploring what Caring & Compassionate Behaviour Looks Like.  Available at: https://caringpractitioner.wordpress.com/exploring-what-care-compassionate-practice-look-like/ [Accessed: date]