Kent Child Bereavement Charity Awarded National Lottery Funding To Support Parents & Carers

Rochester-based child bereavement charity Holding On Letting Go (HOLG) has been successful in securing just over £19,000 to support its parents & carers services for the next year. Around 110 people will be supported, plus the Parent/Carer Facilitator salary will also be funded from The National Lottery Community Fund. 

The charity’s focus is on supporting children across Kent and South-East London through bereavement but includes supporting parents and carers to help them learn about child bereavement and how it’s different to adult bereavement in terms of language, behaviour and emotions. Parents and carers also learn how to support a bereaved child, answer questions or manage extreme behaviours (anger, sadness, overwhelm, or even appearing not to be upset, for example), alongside managing their own grief, feelings and emotions.

Vitally, the parent & carer group support also brings the grown-ups together, who then create peer support amongst each other, which continues as friendship after their sessions with Holding On Letting Go. 

HOLG relies entirely on donations from businesses and individuals, and receives no government funding for its services, which include telephone/video support, home visits, and bereavement support weekends for children aged up to 18, and their family. Held at venues across the county, the weekends give children the opportunity to talk about their loved one who has died, share their memories, express their emotions through art and music therapy and meet other bereaved children – this is often the first time they will have met another child going through a similar experience which hugely reduces their feelings of being isolated or ‘the only one this has happened to’. Where appropriate, the weekends bring children together with a similar bereavement – long illness, sudden death or suicide. 

Parent/carer support

In addition to the parent/carer group at the bereavement support weekends, there is also one-to-one support available if it’s needed, plus a monthly bereavement cafe to meet others who are looking after a bereaved child.

These welcoming environments are a safe space for expressing difficult emotions and the perceived ‘taboo’ elements of grief. The adults are supported with coping with their own grief and prioritising self-care. 

HOLG CEO Julie Tobin said: “For a small charity like ours, the funding from The National Lottery Community Fund is a truly significant sum of money. Knowing that our parent/carer services are covered for the next year, including our staff member who makes it all happen, gives us the security to focus on what matters most – helping children and their families through some of the most difficult times of their lives. 

“When a child experiences a death, or a death is expected, the adults in their lives are faced with the often overwhelming challenge of not only managing their child’s grief, but also their own. Knowing how to gently guide a child or young person through their sadness, at a level appropriate for their age and understanding can be immensely difficult at a time when the right words are so hard to find. 

“We are there for every family, helping a child hold on to the happy memories of their loved one and let go of the painful ones. We are very grateful to The National Lottery Community Fund and all National Lottery players for this incredible support.”

The £19,242 funding has come from the National Lottery Community Fund—the UK’s largest community funder, made possible by National Lottery players.

If you know a bereaved child or family about to face a bereavement who is in need of support, you can fill in a referral form on HOLG’s website here https://holg.org.uk/help-support/  

Or, if you’re an individual or business who would like to help fundraise for HOLG, find out more here  https://holg.org.uk/fundraising/