26 Charity Profile
Winston’s Wish Sussex based charity helping grieving children By Georgia Brown Bereavement is an inevitable reality for many, yet our intrinsic human nature hopes the death of a loved one is not something that occurs in life until we are much older. Unfortunately, losing a family member at a young age is a tragic reality that thousands of young people are faced with every day. The effects of grief are highly impactful on children’s lives, often manifesting in unique ways for each individual depending on the circumstances of the death, the child’s relationship with the person who has died and how accessible their support network (if any) is. For example, a child who witnesses the deterioration of a parent’s health may have a different experience of grief to a child who loses a sibling unexpectedly.
Support during bereavement Ensuring a child has access to support during a bereavement is necessary for their mental and physical health. However, often schools and families are not well equipped to deal with the effects of grief, negatively impacting a child’s life during their grieving process. This is where Winston’s Wish comes in, providing a wide range of practical support and emotional guidance for the children and families that need it most. Winston’s Wish is a national child bereavement charity with a base in Sussex. Their Sussex team are professionally trained to offer face to face support for bereaved children. There is no right or wrong way to grieve, and the charity team recognise the many faces and stages of grief, tackling the physical and emotional challenges that accompany bereavement in a comforting and supportive nature. The charity’s mission is to ensure that every young person has access to the support they need to help understand, cope with and survive the bereavement of a loved one. Award-winning service First started in 1992, Winston’s Wish was set up by Julie Stokes OBE, who began her career with the NHS in 1984 and was instrumental in establishing one of the first hospital-based teams focusing on palliative care. Her desire to involve children before and after a parent’s death and to support parents led her to apply to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. In 1992, she was awarded a Fellowship and travelled to America and Canada to better understand the services provided in these countries for bereaved children. Inspired by what she had experienced, Julie founded Winston’s
