About
Hello and welcome to my fundraising page! I am Sophie; I work as a Clinical Psychologist in a Paediatric Palliative Care team in Newham, East London. I work with families in the context of life-limiting and life-threatening physical illness in utero up until the age of 19. This means that I provide emotional and psychological support to children and young people who are living with serious illness, their siblings and parents. I also provide support to women and their partners who are expecting to have a baby who will have life-limiting/threatening illness and may not live. Aside from providing therapeutic support, I help families with communicating and coordinating care across systems which means I am often liaising with schools and other healthcare teams to make sure that the family system well supported by all professionals involved in the child’s life. Having the privilege and honour of working with children, young people and their families in these circumstances has taught me the importance of providing care that is child-centred, holistic, creative, playful and emotionally containing. With intention to provide families living in these highly difficult circumstances with the best care possible, I am endeavouring to engage in further training in child-focussed systemic practice (family therapy) with the Institute of Family Therapy. This means that I will be supported to further my skills and knowledge in supporting families navigating the emotional impact of serious illness and the complexity of the healthcare system. Serious illness affects the whole family, therefore providing emotional and psychological support to the family unit is crucial. The Evie Dove Foundation is a charity that sponsors healthcare professionals to engage in further education and training and they have so very kindly provided me with sponsorship to engage in further training in child focussed systemic practice from September 2025 to June 2026. The charity was set up by Evie Dove’s parents following the very sad loss of their daughter to a cancerous brain tumour. The charity does very special work to support the shortfall in the paediatric workforce in the UK by supporting with sponsorship which is hugely important, particularly given the sparsity of funding available for funding training in the NHS. This training will support me to provide the best care possible to families during the most difficult times in their lives. In appreciation of such a generous act it is very important that I acknowledge their help and express my sincere appreciation. Therefore, I am fundraising for the Evie Dove Foundation in order to help the charity to continue doing the amazing work that they do. To raise funds, I will be running the London marathon for the Evie Dove Foundation. As a keen runner I first ran the London Marathon for WellChild, the national charity for sick children in 2019. I absolutely loved it and I have entered my name in the ballot every single year since without success! However, the foundation have so kindly offerer me one of their marathon places. As I am running those miles I will be thinking of the children and young people I have had the huge honour of working and sharing relationships with who, despite all they go through, never complain but rather always have the energy for a smile and giggle! Please help me to raise funds for the Evie Dove Foundation! I am so grateful for your donation. With huge thanks, Sophie x
