Growing up I always had this strange fear that my mum would die and then when I was twenty-six,
my mom did die and everything changed. I couldn't work for a few months and just everything shifted
and I remember thinking imagine how this would have been if I was six. I was working at Princess
Margaret Hospital and a colleague and I used to complain a lot about the fact that if in WA
your family member dies of something that is not cancer related, that there's no supports for you.
It was really hard that there was nothing for any other child, so we started our own program called Blue Skies.
The funding was cut for that program and one of the things we really wanted to make
sure of for our program moving forward was that it was available to everybody. It didn't matter who
died in your life, it didn't matter how they died, that you would belong and you would be welcome.
So despite having a few organisations approach us to work with them, we wanted to make sure that we
stood to our values and so we decided after taking a big deep breath, to start Lionheart ourselves,
and here we are some years later.
>> When Shelly came up with the the concept of creating Lionheart,
it was there was quite a few things and hurdles to come over but she remained so strong on her vision
and that passion meant that everyone really just wanted to be involved and go towards her creating
that vision and actually getting there, and it has been phenomenal to see Lionheart go from
strength to strength, with Shelly as the founder.
>> Shelly is to me the beating heart of Lionheart,
with all the other things that she has on her plate, her family, her work,
she has created this amazing organisation for children in Western Australia.
>> At Lionheart our goal is to educate the community on grief and to help people understand that it's normal and it's a
normal part of life. We run children's grief camps and at the same time we run adult grief camps.
We run the children's camps to help children feel connected. Grief is one of those things where
they have to go through it just like you do, there's no going over it or under it or around it,
they have to go through it just like every other person. So we really want children to feel strong
and resilient and upskilled in being able to face life's challenges head-on and not feel like
they're broken or they've done anything wrong by expressing their grief.
Shelly is funny, nice, fun to play with and she makes me smile.
She helps me remember my dad that passed away three years ago. She makes me feel safe.
It feels very surreal to be the winner of the John Curtin Medal for 2020.
I'd not only like to thank Curtin University for this award but also for the invaluable research
that Associate Professor Lauren Breen undertook for us in 2017. There are so many people to thank
for getting Lionheart to where it is today, but my personal thanks goes to my husband Nathan.
Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week he has helped me work and get Lionheart to where it
is today. I certainly come home every day and hug my children a little bit tighter and I don't take
a moment for granted. I always am thankful to this tough work because on the days where my children
are driving me insane, I still think well how lucky am I. What drives me is that sense of not
ever wanting anyone to feel alone, to feel giant big awful huge feelings and not know what to do
with them. We know that grieving kids are three times more likely to attempt suicide. If we can
work on a prevention model that helps children see grief and help the community see grief as
a normal healthy response to pain, then I think that we can make a difference.