Help for Heroes (H4H) is all about getting the best for the men and women of our Armed Forces, and we are proud to work with other service charities to make sure this happens.
Winston's Wish is the leading childhood bereavement charity and the largest provider of services to bereaved children, young people and their families in the UK.
Help for Heroes provided £100,000 to develop and implement a bereavement support programme for any military family across the UK with children aged 18 or under affected by the death of a sibling or parent killed while serving to access a full programme of support provided by Winston’s Wish.
Fiona Talwar-Lomberg, CEO of Winston’s Wish said, “It is a sad fact that so many of our heroic soldiers are killed in battle, many of whom are parents or have younger siblings. We are delighted that through funding from Help for Heroes, Winston’s Wish offers a programme specifically for bereaved military families.”
About Winston’s Wish
Winston’s Wish provides support for bereaved children and young people up to the age of 18. They also support their parents or carers. Whether the person was ill for some time or a death totally unexpected, they work closely with children and families, in a variety of creative ways, to create an atmosphere where they can share their thoughts and feelings and meet others.
For 20 years their child-focused approach has supported families through a range of services including a national Helpline (08452 030 405), group and individual work and resources.
• Each year over 24,000 children are bereaved of a parent
• Over 500 children a year receive in-depth help from Winston’s Wish
• Each year the helpline supports around 3,500 families and professionals, benefiting an estimated 7,000 children.
How the funding will be used
There was previously no dedicated childhood bereavement service provision for bereaved children of military families, so Winston’s Wish is pleased to offer this specialist service thanks to the funding from Help for Heroes.
Whilst all bereavement is difficult for a child to manage, the death of a loved one who dies while serving in the military can bring additional pressures and practical changes perhaps not experienced by other families. The grant from Help for Heroes enables any military family across the UK with children aged 18 or under affected by the death of a sibling or parent killed in conflict to access a full programme of support provided by Winston’s Wish.
Meeting with Senior Practitioners from the Family Services Team, Winston’s Wish offer family support sessions allowing the family to talk together and individually about their grief. This helps them to explore their feelings and understand how each member of the family may feel about the death and what it means.
As well as these individual and family meetings they offer a residential weekend specifically for children, young people and parents or carers from military bereaved families where they can meet others who are bereaved through similar circumstances.
This fund will support between 40-45 families and 80-90 children over the course of the 18 month programme.
Case study
Rachel’s husband David was killed whilst serving with the Army in Afghanistan, leaving three children Simon, Patrick and Jane.
The family have been through the bereavement services of Winston’s Wish. “I found it heart-breaking to grieve for David and all that he had lost; grieve for our children and their future; and grieve for myself. I realised that the children (and I) needed outside help so that they could talk about their feelings.
Winston’s Wish was there for us when we needed professional, caring, emotional support and has been invaluable to us.”
Fiona Talwar-Lomberg adds, “We work directly with children and young people and we also work with their parents or carers to help them to understand what happened, to manage that information and the feelings and behaviours that go with it. Memories are very important when someone dies and we encourage and facilitate opportunities for children to remember that person. No-one can change what happened, but we can offer support for children and their families on their unique journey of bereavement. While bereavement is hard to bear, with the right support children can come through it with maturity, resilience and optimism for the future.”
To make contact with Winston’s Wish please visit www.winstonswish.org.uk/military or call through to our national Helpline on 08452 030405 which is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.
Winston’s Wish is a registered charity (England & Wales) 1061359, (Scotland) SC041140 and also a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales (3329289).