Experiencing bereavement at a young age can be incredibly difficult, with research* showing that it can lead to a number of negative consequences including anxiety, depression, anger, lower self-esteem and external loss of control.
Stars provide a bereavement counselling service to children and young people aged from under 5 to 25 in Cambridgeshire. Founded by a group of local nurses and others working with young people who recognised the lack of support for those who had lost someone close to them in the area, Stars use healthy coping strategies to help young people move forward in a positive way.
Stars offers a secure place to help young people access unspoken feelings and make sense of what has happened. Counsellors also use a range of tactics to enable children to express their emotions, ranging from looking at storybooks, drawing, and creating memory jars to help remember their special person who has passed away.
Global’s Make Some Noise is proud to be helping Stars fund a Bereavement Counsellor and new family days. With their waiting list recently increasing to 13 weeks, the counsellor role will help provide support in a timely manner to offer the best possible outcome. The family days will offer young people and families supported by the service the chance to come together and celebrate the lives of those they have lost.
In the words of one Mum:
“I take my hat off to them because what they’ve done is amazing. She really is a different child. Thanks to this service, my daughter’s happy again.”
Visit Stars’ website to find out more about their amazing work.
* Thomas Coram Research Unit, 2014