Emotional Support During Your Child’s Journey
Ripples Support
Story Collection
Gentle stories for children going through treatment—and for the brothers and sisters walking alongside them.
Medical treatment can bring worries, changes and feelings that are difficult for children to explain. This can affect the child receiving treatment as well as their brothers and sisters.
Through two gentle, illustrated stories, Ripples the Comfort Cat helps children explore changing feelings, discover that courage can be quiet and recognise that it is okay to ask questions, take a break or choose something that helps.
Each story includes a creative companion activity and can be shared slowly with a trusted adult. A child can listen, join in, adapt an activity or stop at any time.
There is no pressure to talk or take part. Sometimes simply listening, looking at the pictures or holding Ripples close may be enough.
One gentle collection, made to be shared
Ripples the Comfort Cat
A soft companion to hold close, whisper worries to or simply keep nearby when words feel too difficult.
Illustrated stories
Each story gently support a different part of a child or siblings’ experience without promising that difficult feelings will disappear.
Companion activities
Creative worksheets introduced in the stories offer another way to notice feelings, make choices and hold onto important memories.
Meet Ripples
A small cat with a listening heart
Ripples is a small black-and-white cat with soft paws, a pink heart and a golden crown.
The crown does not mean that Ripples is in charge. It is a reminder that there are many kinds of courage: asking questions, saying “not yet”, holding someone's hand, having a rest, sharing a worry or trying one breath at a time.
Children can hold Ripples while a story is read, practise an activity together or simply keep Ripples close without saying anything at all.
There is no pressure to talk. Ripples is there to listen.
Ripples and the Courage Garden
A gentle story for difficult days
For children going through intensive or regular treatment. A magical garden helps them remember that courage can be quiet.
Hospitals, medicine, pokes and prods can bring lots of feelings that can be difficult for children.
Ripples the Comfort Cat leads children into a magical garden where they can breathe gently, notice what is around them and discover three important choices.
I can ask questions.
I can take a break.
I can choose what helps.
Ripples and the Weather Inside
COMPANION ACTIVITY:
My Feeling Clouds
A gentle story about changing feelings
For brothers and sisters of children going through intensive or regular medical treatment. Ripples helps children notice their feelings, share them in their own way and find small moments of comfort.
When someone in the family is poorly, children can carry lots of different feelings inside. Sometimes they may feel worried, angry, sad, quiet or happy and sometimes lots of feelings can arrive all at once.
Ripples the Comfort Cat helps children notice their weather inside, share their feelings in their own way and discover small, ordinary things that can bring comfort when family life feels different.
How Support Stories can help
Notice
feelings
Giving children gentle language and images for what may be happening inside.
Feeling accompanied
Offering a familiar character to keep close during difficult or unfamiliar moments.
Find quiet
courage
Remembering that asking, pausing, resting and choosing what helps can all be courageous.
How to request support
Help another child cope with big feelings
Send a little comfort
A donation of £5 can help us send a Ripples Support Story to a child going through treatment.
Every child’s journey is different
❤️
If you think resources from our Ripples Support Story Collection could help your child or their sibling feel calmer, comforted or better able to express their feelings, we’d love to hear from you.