supporting bereaved children

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Trained Spurgeons counsellors ensure that each session responds to the needs of the individual child, using games, art and creative play to help children to come to terms with their bereavement.

Wherever possible, counsellors work with children in the environment where they feel most relaxed. Usually this is a place they perceive as ‘safe’, such as school. This helps them to feel comfortable enough to deal with the complex and painful issues that bereavement can raise.

fast facts

Fast facts about bereaved children

• Around 53 children and young people are bereaved of a mother or father every day
• Over 24,000 children and young people are bereaved of a parent each year in Britain
• 4% of 5 to 16 year-olds have experienced the death of a parent or sibling; this equates to 358,300 young people in the UK.
• 6% of 5 to 16 year-olds have experienced the death of a close friend of the family; this equates to 537,450 children in the UK.
• 13% of 5 to 16 year-olds have experienced the death of a grandparent; this equates to 1,105,000 children in the UK.

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All statistics courtesy of Winston's Wish Foundation

get personal

“Last year my dad died because of cancer because he’d been fighting it for three years. Before that he was sick all the time and I was pretending that he would get better and now he’s left me and people are saying I'm moving on with my life but I don’t feel like I am. They don’t know what it’s like and I don't know what the point is...

Even though he hasn’t been dead that long I can’t remember how it was, like when he was here and before he got ill. I feel all on my own and I feel I will never be happy like other people.

My mum tells me that she will help me but she is crying all the time and I feel I am on my own and I can’t tell anyone. Sometimes I’m so sad I just come and sit in dad’s room and pretend to talk to him like he might be able to hear me. I pretend and I try to believe it’s true that he’s here still. Sometimes in the morning when I wake up I forget dad is dead and I forget my life isn’t happy anymore. Then suddenly I remember and I feel I can’t breathe and then it all goes so horrible again.

My mum said maybe we should put some of dad’s clothes in boxes but then if we do that then I know he’s definitely dead and he’s never coming back again... so I don’t want to.

I haven’t got anyone to talk to. My friends have got their mums and their dads but my mum’s crying all the time. Anyway I try not to tell anyone about it because people don’t know what to say when I tell them I’ve got no dad now. “ - 'Kirsty', aged 13

Beyond the Horizon

Spurgeons Beyond the Horizon is one of only 2 projects providing bereavement support for children and families in Birmingham. The second is also over subscribed and so would be unable to respond immediately to the need. The reality, therefore, is that if Spurgeons Beyond the Horizon were to close its doors then the children it is currently helping would, in all likelihood, fall between the cracks.

Please donate today and help us to continue to help children suffering from bereavement.

Donation amount

£10 - give a grief workbook

£10 buys a grief workbook which allows a child to work through their feelings

£25 - give an activity day

£25 could pay for a child to attend an activity day for bereaved families to share fun and time with others who understand some of what they are experiencing

£50 - give a counselling session

£50 will pay for a counselling session for a child who has lost their mother

£200 - give a therapy kit

£200 will buy a kit containing specialist therapeutic materials for the children to use during sessions

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Your gift will make a big difference to a child's life.