THIS PHASE SUPPORTS THE CREATION OF A TRANSFORMATIONAL WISH

Children diagnosed with a critical illness often experience a lot of negativity in their lives. By giving them strong positive experiences, we hope to overwrite the negative ones. To be able to do that, it is important to not wait until the actual wish day, but provide them with positive experiences in the preparation of the wish day. Get them involved and prepared for their wish. So instead of “waiting,” they can be actively involved, and therefore, already have positive experiences on their journey to the actual day of the wish.

This anticipation can be small things (e.g. sending them a map of the theme park they will be visiting, so they will be able to have a look at the map every night before they go to sleep to see what things they want to visit) to more involved activities (e.g. taking ballet lessons, so when they meet the famous ballerina they admire, they can do some exercises together). Being able to prepare for the actual wish gets them excited and gives them something to look forward to; which will lead to more positive experiences.

In creating different opportunities for anticipation within a wish, an important part of that process is determining the level of engagement the family, wish child and community feels comfortable participating, as long as they are getting “involved.” This means actively doing something in anticipation of the wish. Being actively involved will create the positive experiences that will overwrite the negative ones.

THIS MEANS THERE WILL BE SOME SHIFTS IN THE WAY WE WORK:

From:

Waiting list of wishes

To:

Every child is on their Wish Journey – before their wish they are actively anticipating their wish

From:

Focus on delivering wishes at a certain speed – reducing the “waiting period”

To:

Make sure the child is building excitement and is ready for their wish to take place. Giving as much hope, strength and joy as possible by participating in the anticipation phase

From:

Waiting for their wish

To:

Stronger positive experiences in anticipation of their wish

Wish Anticipation – Documents and Exercises