Tom Thumb in hospital: The fairy tale workshop in a paediatric oncology and haematology ward

The project 'A fairy tale workshop in a paediatric oncology ward' is part of a more complex intervention that aims to support children, parents and professionals of a Paediatric Oncology Ward. The ill child is often unable to express his anxieties and to ask for explanations about the situation that he is experiencing. Through the 'Fairy tale', children were offered the opportunity to get in touch safely with danger and death anxieties through the use of displacement and identification mechanisms. The technique used was the tale-telling methodology developed by the French psychoanalyst Pierre Lafforgue, adapted for use in a hospital environment. Staff consisted of two child psychoanalytic psychotherapists, four psychologists attending psychodynamic training, and a storyteller. We describe how children have used the workshop and the effects of this experience on parents and nurses.