Creating A World Where Everyone Can Grieve In A Healthy And Safe Way
Shelly Skinner is the Founder and CEO of Lionheart Camp for Kids. As a Social Worker whose own mother died when she was a young adult, Shelly is committed to building a community where grief is seen as a healthy and normal response to death and life challenges.
Print
Creating A World Where Everyone Can Grieve In A Healthy And Safe Way
28 February 2025 at 9:00 am
28 February 2025 at 9:00 am
Shelly Skinner has a passion for supporting and educating families, educators, health professionals and the community. Empowering people to explore and discuss their life goals; communicate their end of life wishes with family and health professionals and to identify and attend to their needs in grief and bereavement.
Since graduating from The University of Western Australia in 2001 with a Bachelor of Social Work, Shelly has contributed to the field of social work in health in the fields of Oncology, Palliative Care, Acquired Brain Injury, Spinal Injury and Emergency Medicine within Western Australia and the United Kingdom.
Shelly is the mother of three daughters, a published children’s book author and researcher. She was the recipient of the John Curtin Medal in 2020 and was awarded a Westfield Local Hero award in 2021 for her commitment to improving outcomes for grieving children, teens and families. Read on for our Pro Bono Australia Change Maker Interview with Shelly!
Take us through a typical day of work for you.
I’m not sure there is a typical day! In the land of social work, every day is different and every individual that you work with is different, with a unique set of needs which require a unique plan of support. In a similar way, each family that we work with at Lionheart has a unique story, requiring tailored support. Each day can look a little different to the next, but usually involves some combination of delivering Professional Development for the team, or for an organisation or school, connecting with other organisations who support grieving families in our beautiful state. I also regularly meet with our supporters and donors, and meet with our Board about our strategic direction and shaping up what future offerings might look like. Being a small not-for-profit, I also have a significant role to play in the day to day operations, working with our team on delivering our evidence-based support in the best way possible to support as many people as we can. Whatever the day brings, I must say that I love every minute of it!
Tell us about your career so far and the biggest challenge you’ve encountered in your career, and how did you overcome it?
I am passionate about working with children, teens and families, in particular at end of life and into bereavement. I studied Social Work at the University of Western Australia, graduating in 2001. I don’t think I really knew what ‘social work’ was at the time when I enrolled, but I’m so glad that that’s where I landed, because I had the privilege of working within the areas of Intensive Care, Palliative Care, Oncology and Emergency Medicine at Princess Margaret Hospital for Children and Perth Children’s Hospital for 15 years and I loved every single day of it. The greatest challenge I have encountered is the inequality of services, funding and support of those receiving cancer care and those receiving non-cancer care. If your child is diagnosed with or is dying from a cancer, on top of the multidisciplinary team at the hospital, there are more than 10 charities and community organisations to support all members of the family. This support is practical, financial, emotional, spiritual and psychological and is extended to the patient, siblings, parents and extended family. If your child is diagnosed with or is dying from any other cause there is no more than one charity or organisation, outside of the hospital team, offering support to this family. This is support is rarely financial or practical, sometimes spiritual and emotional, seldom psychological and does not support anyone outside of the patient or parents.
After years of feeling as though I was part of the problem, because I wasn’t be the change that I believe needed to happen, a colleague, Belinda Dilena and I started Lionheart Camp for Kids.
We now support all children, teens, families, grandparents and schools, regardless of who in the family is sick, what type of illness they are dying from, how they died, where they live in WA and our services are free to all families.
This feels like a basic health care need that should be offered to all WA citizens and I am proud of our team for making this happen.
If you could go back in time, what piece of advice would you give yourself as you first embarked on your career?
There will always be someone with more experience than you, someone with better skills than you and someone with more knowledge than you, this is not important. What is important and will make a difference is to give every person, every intervention and every day your best. There are endless ways to make a difference in this world; go ahead and make your difference, it will be just what the world needs.
How do you unwind after work?
I enjoy sitting with my husband, sipping a glass of wine and watching our kids and our puppy swim in the swimming pool – in the moments I am not nagging about homework, tripping on wet towels discarded around the house and breaking up sibling rivalry 😊
