Introduction to Children’s Palliative Care
This one-day (08.30-17.00) multi-disciplinary workshop will introduce participants to the core components of children’s palliative care provision and is aimed at clinicians working within the Asia Pacific Region. It will be led by facilitators from the Philippines along with international facilitators to enhance cross-cultural learning and sharing of expertise. It is anticipated that by the end of the workshop participants will have an increased knowledge about the principles of children’s palliative care along with sills in communication; symptoms management, and holistic care, which they can apply to their clinical practice.
This workshop is sponsored by ICPCN and Stanford University and is now full so if you have not already registered you will be unable to attend.
Death and Grief in Schools
Death and mourning are topics that rarely appear in educational curricula. In general, situations of death and grief erupt as phenomena in educational trajectories, generating different levels of impact on the teaching and management teams of the institutions where children and adolescents attend. Grief, as a subject that can be learned and taught, is also not usually part of teachers in their undergraduate training stages. Unlike so many other situations that happen in the context of a school and that teaching teams must face, when “the issue” that must be addressed is grief, teaching teams usually admit that they have no or insufficient training on the subject and in general, the answers that schools provide to their students arise from the beliefs, points of view or the previous experiences of each teacher.
This half day workshop (08.30-13.00) will be led by Dr Alejandro Nespral from Argentina. Issues to be explored include how a situation of grief impacts an educational community, and the challenges to addressing this, grief as an educational opportunity and what a teacher needs to know when accompanying grief in childhood. Dr Nespral specialises in palliative care for children and adults. he is the Co-ordinator of the “Grief in Schools” project which since 2015 has been providing training and reflection workshops for teachers and students on death and grief in education.
There are 20 places available at this workshop with another 30 participants coming from schools within the area.
Addressing Trauma and Suffering in Children: Ensuring the integration of spiritual distress screening, assessment and care in children
This half-day workshop (14.00-17.00) will be led by Fr Rick Bauer and Joan Marston. The World Health Organization defines Palliative Care as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.”
Despite this, many palliative care clinicians are unsure about the appropriate methods to address spirituality with their patients and their families, particularly with children and adolescents. Spiritual care, one of the essential 4 domains in palliative care, is frequently a neglected component of holistic patient care for both children and their families and support systems. This workshop will provide an overview of the state of the art and science of spiritual care within palliative care service provision with a particular focus on trauma informed spiritual care, and holistic pediatric palliative care in humanitarian and disaster situations.
This workshop can accommodate 60 participants and places will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.
Richard “Rick” Bauer, BCC, M.Div., MSW is a Board Certified Chaplain on staff at the George Washington University Institute for Spirituality and Health (GWish), an ISPEC© faculty member, and a Clinical Assistant Professor at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. He provides outpatient spiritual care at the GW Cancer Center.
Joan Marston is a paediatric palliative care nurse, educator and advocate with over 37 years of working in palliative care for children. With a special interest in spiritual care of children, including children in humanitarian settings, she is a Global Ambassador for ICPCN and heads the spiritual care programme of Sunflower Children’s Hospice and is an experienced facilitators.
Integrating Touch Therapy and Paediatric Massage into Global Palliative Care Practice
From leading hospitals such as Stanford Medicine and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to outreach programs in resource-limited communities, paediatric touch therapy is transforming comfort and connection in palliative care. This full-day, evidence-informed session blends global research with real- world application, demonstrating how touch therapy supports pain management, emotional well-being, and communication across diverse settings. Participants will engage in experiential learning, explore case studies and guided discussions, and practice adaptable techniques to enrich their own care toolkit. Guided by Tina Allen, the world’s foremost expert in paediatric touch therapy, attendees will gain practical, compassionate strategies they can bring back to their practice, advancing equitable, evidence- informed care for children and families worldwide.
Tina Allen is a globally recognised leader in integrative pediatric healthcare and the foremost expert on infant and pediatric massage and touch therapy. As founder of the Liddle Kidz® Foundation, she has collaborated with healthcare professionals from more than 200 hospitals and institutions worldwide, including Stanford Medicine, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Mayo Clinic, to advance evidence-informed touch therapy in children’s healthcare. An award-winning author, educator, and integrative healthcare consultant, Tina’s pioneering work has transformed global understanding of how touch therapy fosters comfort, connection, and healing for children and families everywhere