THE Joshua Tree has taken on new staff members as it continues to grow – with three referrals a week from Alder Hey.

The Venables Road charity, which supports children with cancer and their families, delivered more than 2,000 support sessions in 2017 with more anticipated this year.

As a result, the charity has developed its family support team, with the recruitment of Sally Shakeshaft as operations manager, Marie Moss as family support coordinator, and Fran Wilson as community and events coordinator, who will be helping supporters throughout the year.

Rachel Birdsey, family support manager at The Joshua Tree, said: "We’re on hand for families at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool every Monday now and, as a result, we’re receiving around three new family referrals a week.

"So we’ve had to ensure that the team is able to be there for our families when they need us and for as long as they need us.

"Of course, the vital support we offer is completely free of charge so we also need to ensure that we continue to receive the generous support of our local community to deliver this."

To meet the growing demand at the charity, The Joshua Tree now has 11 part-time members of staff, including Lynda Hill, founder and chief executive.

The Joshua Tree will also start construction of its new multi-purpose support centre in the coming months, with a target for opening at the end of 2018.

Rachel hopes the addition of new staff will help the charity continue to build on the work it did last year.

"We delivered more than 2,000 support sessions in 2017 to families who access our services," she added.

"These sessions have included tutoring, play and art therapy sessions, carer breaks, health and fitness and counselling, including bereavement counselling.

"We are also working with new families in North Wales who have accessed our family support team and we’re hoping to develop this initiative early in 2018.

"As well as individual sessions, we’ve held our regular Saturday Sessions at the end of each month and we’ve learned how to hip hop, have fun with science, handle unusual creatures and share experiences together – offering peer to peer family support."

For more information about The Joshua Tree visit thejoshuatree.org.uk, email office@thejoshuatree.org.uk or call 01606 331858.

Alternatively, visit facebook.com/thejoshuatree2006 or follow the charity @joshuatreekids on Twitter.