First UK childhood bereavement charity marks 30 years of support

As the first and original charity of its kind Winston’s Wish, paved the way for children’s bereavement services in the UK. The charity have shared their story of how they started and stories of those who’ve been supported by the charity.

Founder of Winston’s Wish, Julie Stokes says “30 years ago, we had no idea that we were sowing seeds that would grow and still flourish 30 years later. As a clinical/health psychologist working on palliative care wards, I saw people, including children, overwhelmed by the sadness of being excluded from grown up conversations about the serious illness and death of a parent or sibling. I could see there was nowhere for them to go to for support. The hospital I was working in gave me the opportunity to research this gap and find ways we could provide group support for children – initially this was within Gloucester Royal hospital until we realised this wasn’t the right setting, we wanted them to feel like they could run around freely and play in between challenging grief work.”

The charity initially expected to run one group of twenty-five children a year, but soon found the amount of young people needing support was far greater and help for all types of bereavement were in demand. Julie commented “Very quickly it was obvious that the numbers of children bereaved from all causes was greater than anticipated, – the demand surged. We were soon running 6 weekends and we tried hard to ensure children experiencing similar types of deaths for example suicide or murder could talk openly with those their own age.”

The charity is now well supported by many who attended these early Winston’s Wish weekends, including Russ Brookes who has shared his story “I remember chatting to kids on the coach, and it just feeling a bit normal, and being ok with it being normal, that was really hard at first”, he later went on to say “the charity gave me a connection to my childhood still, those moments where you could just go off and be a kid and not feel like I’ve got to be strong”. Gloucestershire born Russ is now a big supporter of Winston’s Wish completing many fundraising events for the charity.

Over the years the charity has continued to grow expanding its reach across West Sussex, Brighton & Hove, Bristol and is currently expanding physical services into London. As well as the expanding outreach locations, the childhood bereavement charity’s aim is to grow and continue supporting children & young people nationwide, through the Freephone Helpline, email support, online support groups and resources for both adults and professionals supporting bereaved young people and information and stories for young people themselves.

Debbie, a mum of two who received support from Winston’s Wish said “I remember the first time I looked at their website and I immediately felt relief. Relief that there was a place out there where people understood what it’s like to parent children who are grieving.” She also expressed her gratitude to the charity as they reach 30 years “Thank you, Winston’s Wish, for being a light in our darkest days, and for helping my girls on their grief journey then, now and into their future so they grow, expand and flourish in their life, living well alongside their loss.”

Three decades and thousands of lives touched later, Winston’s Wish is continuing its vital work to ensure no child or young person goes through grief alone. With a digital first approach the charity has ambitions to support 40,000 young people nationally every year by 2025.  In addition to continuing its vital work helping grieving children and the adults supporting them, the charity is also making a promise to bereaved teenagers and young adults to amplify their voices, build a community and a commitment to share their real and unedited experiences of grief. 

To see Russ and Debbie’s full stories click here.

If you know how a child or young person who has been affected by grief and would like support for them visit winstonswish.org, call 08088 020 021 or email ask@winstonswish.org to speak with a bereavement practitioner.