About us
Who we are? The Children’s Treehouse Foundation’s psychosocial intervention programming is unique because of its special focus and delivery system.
It's about children
It’s a given. Cancer affects the entire family. Yet in too many situations, the undeniable psychosocial impact on the children whose parent has cancer goes unattended.This may lead to ongoing stress and anxiety for the children, evolving into maladaptive behavior throughout life. Our mission is to redress this critical oversight.
Parents in a crisis
Many parents dealing with cancer acknowledge they don’t know how to talk to their children about their cancer. This breakdown in communication not only heightens the stress and fears of the children, but also isolates them and precludes them from being an active member of the family. We are committed to help fill this need.
Enhancing hospital services
Hospitals are clearly the haven in treating the parent with cancer. Yet even as they know the parent’s treatment proceeds best when their concerns of their children are diminished, far too few provide adequate emotional support for the children involved. Our emotional, group-support programming for children bridges this gap.
Training the facilitators
Enlightened, trained, professional facilitators at cancer centers are the keys to assuaging the fears and anxieties of children whose parents have cancer. Clearly, social workers, nurses, clergy, life center specialists, or others, when armed with new insights into the children’s psyche, and provided with the proper tools, are uniquely qualified to help the children in their new unsettled environment.
Closing the caring loop
Finally, they all come together: Fearful children, anxious parents, a healing facility, and caring, thoughtful professionals. And almost like magic, the children learn how to cope with their feelings, parents become aware of richly improved family communications, and facilitators know, in their heart of hearts, that the trauma and travails of the family are measurably reduced. We’ve closed the caring loop.
Our ColoradoGives link
The Need
The need for emotional support for children whose parents have cancer is greater than ever before.
- In the United States, the American Cancer Society estimates that more than 367,000 parents with children under 18 will be diagnosed with invasive cancer each year.
- For the children, more than 700,000, this permanently changes the family dynamics, evoking in the children many fears, doubts and questions about their future and that of their parents.
The Handbook of Psychology, Oxford University Press, 1989, reported that children are “a hidden, high-risk group whose problems are minimized by overwhelmed parents and are unknown to the medical staff who seldom see them.”
Moreover, Dr. Martha Kendall Ryan, a licensed clinical psychologist, says, “Without appropriate counseling, some of these children may experience long-standing emotional difficulties throughout life that may, in adulthood, mean poor adaptive functioning in relationships with others.”
Help Us Address the Need
We believe that the services we offer through The Children’s Treehouse Foundation fill a critical care gap between parents who have been diagnosed with cancer and the often overlooked emotional needs of their children. When parents report that telling their children is the hardest part of their cancer journey, we ask when will comprehensive cancer treatment plans be comprehensive enough to give parents skills to face cancer with their children. We believe that through the active participation and support of parents, physicians, hospital administrators and psychosocial professionals, we can help to close this critical gap.f
We invite you to join us in helping to address this critical need. Whether you are a parent or a professional, ask your hospital what it would take to get a program like CLIMB® started at their location. Help us remind people that cancer affects the whole family and treatment should reflect that. Delivering support services for children, too, leads to healthier children, healthier family systems, and an overall healthier society. Finally, let people know about our work and ask them to come to our website and become a donor so that every child who needs the support we offer will be able to get it.
Our role and benefits
Professional Training:
The Children’s Treehouse Foundation provides cancer centers and hospitals with professional training to enable them to launch support programs for the children whose parents have cancer so they are better able to cope in that unsettling, frightening, and stressful environment.They receive training and program manuals, a power point presentation, a DVD, and children’s activity material developed by the Foundation’s CLIMB® (Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery) program.
Family support:
By providing group-support programming, the family burden of dealing with cancer, and the inevitable stress, is significantly reduced. Parents need support and help in communicating with their children.
They tell us:
- “I don’t want to alarm my children, but I don’t know want to lie to them either. How much should I tell them?”
- “I think my child understands, but I don’t know. He never says anything to me about my cancer.”
- “What should I answer when my daughter asks, ‘Are you going to die?’
Children need support because they tend to:
- Imagine the worst
- Experience intense feelings of shock, disbelief, denial, fear and anxiety
- Mistakenly believe they caused their parent’s illness
- Act out their feelings, displaying behavioral problems
Here’s what children tell us during the CLIMB® support program:
- I really don’t feel like playing.
- I really don’t feel like playing.
- It feels like it’s your fault.
- I want to BEAT SOMEONE UP!
- I’m afraid of going to an orphanage.
- You don’t feel safe.
- You feel like you want to help a lot.
Staff and Board of Directors
Gregor DeBruhl
Executive Director
The Children’s Treehouse Foundation, Denver, CO
Gregor brings the Children’s Treehouse Foundation a wealth of strategic and operational expertise. Gregor has worked as a CEO, COO, CTO, and HR Director in the education industry and has experience driving international organizations from start-up through maturity. Gregor’s educational background is in complex project management and organizational leadership.
In the non-profit world, Gregor has front-line program and administrative experience with a children’s shelter, and he is always ready to advocate on behalf of kids.
Gregor enjoys cycling, climbing, and barbecuing with his family in his free time.
Courtney Brown
Program Coordinator
The Children’s Treehouse Foundation, Denver, CO
Courtney is a Certified Child Life Specialist with over 15 years of experience working with children and families affected by cancer. She has experience serving in hospital and clinical settings and directly in the community.
Courtney has been a CLIMB facilitator since 2015 and previously ran the program twice a year in the Phoenix area. Upon moving to beautiful Colorado, she was thrilled and honored to take the Program Coordinator position with the Children’s Treehouse Foundation.
Courtney attended undergraduate school at Arizona State University, earning a BA in Psychology and BS in Child Development/Family Studies. She attended graduate school at Northern Arizona University, earning her M Ed in Human Relations. She also teaches online Child Life courses at Arizona Christian University.
Peter van Dernoot, BS
Board of Directors
Founder and Emeritus Board Member,
The Children’s Treehouse Foundation, Denver, CO
Peter is the founder and the original executive director of Children’s Treehouse Foundation. In 2001 Peter was driven to begin the Children’s Treehouse Foundation to fulfill a vision that every cancer center in the US would have a support group for children whose parents are diagnosed with cancer. His passion is rooted in the fact that nothing of the sort was available to his family and young children when Peter’s wife was diagnosed with and died from lung cancer in her forties.
Peter has previously served on the Boards of Colorado Special Olympics, Junior Achievement, The Denver Chamber Orchestra and the American Electronics Association, Rocky Mountains. For 20 years, he operated van Dernoot & Associates, Inc., a public relations firm in Denver, following more than 20 years in senior marketing posts with international corporations. He is the author of the book Helping Your Children Cope With Your Cancer, A Guide For Parents and Families, that has been described as “an instant support group” and a “must read” for any family dealing with cancer.
In 2005, he received the Human Service Professional of the Year award from the National Association of Social Workers, Colorado Chapter. Peter moved to Board Chair in September 2015.
Brandon Rosty
Board of Directors
Board Chair
Deputy District Attorney
Brandon is a knowledgeable, tenacious litigator with a heart for public service. He works as a Deputy District Attorney in the 17th Judicial District, where he strives to bring justice to victims of crime and their loved ones. A survivor of childhood cancer himself, Brandon brings to the board a passion for improving the lives of those impacted by cancer. Brandon also serves on the board of The Conflict Center and is a legislative ambassador for ACS-CAN.
Tim Garrington, M.D.
Board of Directors
Board Secretary
Associate Professor of Pediatrics,
Director of Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellowship Program, Program Leader of the Solid Tumor Team, Children’s Hospital Colorado, 13123 East 16th Ave, B-115, Aurora, CO 80045,
Dr. Timothy Garrington is a pediatric hematologist-oncologist in Aurora, Colorado and is affiliated with Children’s Hospital Colorado and University of Colorado Hospital. He received his medical degree from University of Florida College of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years. Tim is also a professor in the CU School of Medicine and is working on a curriculum to teach primary care providers in rural Colorado how to manage patients in their practice who are cancer survivors.
Luis Gallardo
Board of Directors
Board Treasurer
Executive Vice President,
1st Bank
Luis currently oversees the Risk Management department. He is responsible for overseeing the development, implementation and risk management practices and processes within the organization. He ensures the organizations risk management policies and strategies are aligned with the enterprise initiatives and risk tolerances. Luis has served on several non-profit organizations as a board member and volunteer.
Anthony Elias, MD
Board of Directors
Martha Cannon Dear Professor of Medicine/Medical Oncology; Medical Director, Breast & Sarcoma Programs; Associate Director of Cancer Center for Clinical Sciences, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, CO.
Prior to coming to the University of Colorado, Dr. Elias was with Harvard University and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute as Associate Professor, Director of the Solid Tumor Transplant Program and a clinical investigator in the lung and breast cancer programs.
He has served on many medical editorial boards and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors.
Kylee Mills, LCSW, MSW, BSW
Board of Directors
Oncology Social Worker, UC Health, Highlands Ranch, CO
Kylee brings extensive early childhood and oncology experience to the Board. She has worked at the American Cancer Society, The Colorado Blood Cancer Institute at Presbyterian St. Luke’s, and Kaiser Permanente in addition to her work at UC Health.
At UC Health she provides psychotherapy and solution-focused counseling, education, advocacy, resources, and support to patients diagnosed with cancer and their families. Kylee is a “big picture” thinker. At Kaiser she helped standardize the use of the oncology distress screening tool throughout the Kaiser system. Kylee has completed the CLIMB® Training Workshop and is now a facilitator.
Chase Whisenhunt, MPA
Board of Directors
Director of Development and Fundraising Strategies, Lasso Digital
Chase has led fund development and fundraising activities for a variety of nonprofit organizations, first responder agencies, and local governments for over 14 years, raising over $6 million for organizations through grant writing, individual and major donor development, capital campaigns, sponsorships, and special events. Before entering the world of nonprofit fund development, Chase was responsible for developing and implementing county-wide emergency planning, evacuation routes, and emergency shelter management for several coastal North Carolina counties.
He graduated from the University of North Carolina with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Masters of Public Administration.
