Balloons provides 1:1 pre and post bereavement support to children and young people (C&YP) aged 5-25 living in Exeter, Mid & East Devon. We also support their families by providing our telephone helpline and our family events, and deliver childhood grief training to local agencies. We are the only organisation in our geographical area delivering this support.
1:1 support to bereaved C&YP - we work with C&YP when they have experienced catastrophic loss, where death is a result of murder, suicide or a fatal accident. We also work closely with C&YP when a parent or sibling has a terminal diagnosis, supporting them to face a very difficult future in the run up to and the aftermath of the death. Over 50% of our work is where a parent dies. We also support C&YP when a sibling is dying or has died. Our 1:1 support work is bespoke, responding to the unique circumstances of each individual C&YP. Volunteer Grief Support Workers (GSWs) support the C&YP through their grieving and healing process, resulting in a range of positive outcomes including the ability of the C&YP to maintain emotional and social health and to stay positively engaged in family and school life.
In 2020 we worked with 63 children and young people and supported over 450 families. Due to the pandemic, our face to face work was disrupted for much of the year and we adapted our service to provide a coaching service to professionals to in turn support grieving children, plus a mentoring service to caregivers.
Activity Days – after 1:1 support many C&YP attend our Activity Days, participating in a range of activities to enhance their personal sense of wellbeing in a safe environment with others who have had similar bereavement experiences; reducing feelings of isolation and enabling bereaved C&YP to physically challenge themselves in a supported environment. Physical activity forms part of their stress reduction, developing confidence and self-belief. The varied nature of each activity day ensures that C&YP achieve a number of successes, enhancing emotional, physical and social wellbeing. Many bereaved C&YP experience feelings of exclusion in group situations and suffer from a loss of confidence when tackling new or challenging situations. The Activity Days act as a springboard in lessening those feelings. Feedback from C&YP is very positive, and care givers report that the C&YP are happier and able to sleep better.
Family Events – we organise a Christmas party and one or two other events each year; bereavement memory days and building precious memories days. These give family groups, facing a very different future to the one that they thought they had, the chance to be part of a supportive community, to have fun, and to undertake activities that are now unaffordable due to the financial changes in their circumstances brought about by the bereavement.
Telephone helpline – provides vital comfort, advice, information and coping ideas for families facing bereavement or already trying to manage the impact of bereavement. Care givers contact us to seek advice on how to tell their children when a parent is terminally ill, how to help their children to cope and what they might do together as a family to manage the very distressing situation they have to face.
Training for partners and local agencies - we provide childhood grief training for schools, GP surgeries, police, youth offending teams, hospices etc., equipping those agencies with the skills and knowledge to better support grieving C&YP and their families. We are building and enabling a strong network of child-centred agencies who can work in partnership to minimise the damage that unprocessed childhood grief can cause.
Looking ahead - More than ever, bereavement support for vulnerable children is vital in our communities, and we are determined not to 'go under' just when we are needed the most. We commit to standing alongside bereaved families as we face this global health crisis together, so that outcomes for children are improved.