At the age of eight, John* was placed at a residential home when his mother, who had severe mental health issues, could no longer take care of him.

His new home provided a safer environment but the trauma the young boy had lived through before the move took a toll on his own mental well-being.

The boy needed constant support, however, he could only be seen by a therapist every few weeks. As he waited from one therapy session to another, the challenges snowballed and his behaviour started to have a negative impact on the rest of the residents and the carers.

This boy’s experience is not a solitary case and two men will this Sunday attempt to run 200km in 35 hours so that children like John can have an ‘in-house’ therapist who can be present to help them overcome trauma they suffered at a very young age.

Hospitality consultant Claudio Camilleri, 46, and philanthropist and businessman Daniel Abela, 53, have teamed up to run 500 laps around the Marsa track to fund psychological help for children under the care of Fondazzjoni Sebħ.

They need to collect €450,000 so that, for at least three years, the Children in Need Foundation can employ a team of psychotherapists that can provide consistent therapy for children cared for by Fondazzjoni Sebħ.

The foundation has four homes hosting 41 children and the Milja shelter ‒ home to up to 12 families who have suffered violence.

The trauma such children experienced varies from sexual and physical abuse to neglect and emotional abuse, social workers told Times of Malta ahead of the fundraiser. Some would have also experienced drug abuse and mental health issues within the family or are grieving deceased parents.

Family services senior manager Kerry Hermitage believes the trauma children in care go through is something most people will not experience in a whole lifetime. Having holistic and consistent therapy could make a world of difference for them – from remaining stuck to being able to flourish and reach their potential.

“If a child falls down and breaks their leg, would you leave that child in pain or would you take them to the doctor? You would immediately rush them to emergency. This is no different – this child is in pain: they need to recover from trauma and need immediate support.”

Justine Borg Bonaci, a social worker at Fra Diegu home, noted that there were times when children themselves asked for therapy.

This child is in pain: they need to recover from trauma and need immediate support”

As things stand, children could wait months until they get seen by a therapist and, in the meantime, she supports them as best she can. But she knows that the longer they wait for therapy, the more challenging the trauma becomes to deal with.

“Sometimes, children bring up an issue – some abuse they suffered or an experience they went through that bothered them – completely out of the blue. That means they are ready to talk and are processing the trauma… but it might take a while until we find a therapist for them and that means they would process the issue on their own and would not be willing to speak about it again.”

Currently, therapists also rely on the feedback provided by social workers.

“When an ‘external’ therapist sits down for an hour with our children they cannot observe the day-to-day challenges these children face and their issues might not surface during the session with the therapist. We are the ones who communicate the challenges to the therapists,” assistant manager at Milja, Nadia Toutoungi, added.

Having to rely on ‘external’ therapists also means there have been times when therapy had to be cancelled as the therapist was unwell or no one could accompany the child (outside the home). And those who are seen by a therapist at school miss out on sessions throughout the whole summer.

Additionally, the window of opportunity to support children at Milja is limited: families stay at the shelter for 18 months at most and a third of the time cannot be wasted waiting for a therapist to become available, Hermitage noted.

The 1Run1Childhood event will now take place between this coming Sunday and May 1 at the Matthew Micallef St John Athletics Stadium, Marsa.

Corporations or individuals wishing to support the event can visit www.1run.mt or www.childreninneed.org.mt. Every cent will be going directly towards offering each child weekly psychotherapy sessions.

*Name has been changed