From left: Gregor, Patty and Rick DeBruhl.
For more than 20 years, the Children’s Treehouse Foundation has had one mission – to ensure that every child and teen whose parent is diagnosed with cancer is given the tools and emotional support they need to develop positive coping strategies. Cancer affects the entire family and has an undeniable impact on the children whose parent is fighting the disease.
Through the foundation’s CLIMB program, which stands for Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery, support is given to children to aid in dealing with the emotional turmoil that accompanies the disease. It’s a 6-week art-based therapy program that is facilitated by counselors at local hospitals and cancer treatment centers that helps children understand and deal with the emotions they are facing and helps families manage the emotions that cancer stirs. The program also offers a segment for parents aimed to empower them while going through treatment and help parents open lines of communication with their children and address their children’s concerns.
The organization was brought to Barrett-Jackson’s attention by long-time Barrett-Jackson television host Rick DeBruhl, whose son Gregor serves as the Executive Director for the Foundation. Rick’s wife Patty also has been an integral part of the Foundation for the past 15 years. Patty, herself the child of a parent who had cancer, has helped write the manuals for the program and ran the Foundation’s CLIMB program at Banner Health. Patty continues to volunteer as an advisory board member, as well as a program concierge to help hospitals implement the program.
The cause is a particularly important one that has resonated profoundly with Craig Jackson, Chairman and CEO of Barrett-Jackson. Craig lost both his father and brother to cancer just a few short years apart.
Through various research studies conducted by the Children’s Treehouse Foundation and other personal accounts, the program is effective. Gregor shared he had spoken to a woman who had participated in CLIMB when she was 12 years old. “She didn’t really want to be there because she felt like she could handle it herself; she didn’t want to share her feelings,” he said, adding that after a couple of weeks something just clicked for her, and she became very connected with the program.
“It had such a profound impact on her that now, at 24 years old, she works as a nurse at the same hospital where she went through CLIMB. She volunteers with the program and helps welcome other teens to the group,” Gregor said. The woman told Gregor that the program helped tremendously with the emotions she was feeling at that time and that she has been able to apply the skills she learned in CLIMB to other stressful situations throughout her life.
The CLIMB program is available across the United States, Ireland and in Japan. It only costs $4,000 for a hospital to license and run CLIMB for one year. According to Gregor, it’s a small price for the tremendous emotional support it provides for patients and their families. The Children’s Treehouse Foundation also offers an online version of CLIMB for families who don’t have a nearby program. Many of the donations received by the organization directly benefit the online program and its abilities to send families everything they need to participate in the art projects.
To learn more about how you can assist the foundation through donations, volunteering or to participate in the CLIMB program, visit ChildrensTreehouseFdn.org
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