Grief Encounter - How your donations will help.

This September, we’re aiming to raise money for our charity partner, Grief Encounter. The amazing charity was established in 2004 to offer bereaved children and young people a safe space to grieve and talk about their feelings following the death of a parent or loved one. Grief Encounter’s services are critical because without intervention, statistics show that bereaved young people can go on to suffer emotional, behavioural, social and academic issues. 

Donations are essential to Grief Encounter’s current and future work. With no government funding available, the charity relies solely on private donations to fund its £1.3 million running costs, supporting more than 6,500 individuals annually. That’s why we want to raise as much money as possible for this incredible charity. One way we’re doing this is by donating 10% of profits from our memorial jewellery range (ashes jewellery, self-fill ashes and fingerprint jewellery) to Grief Encounter throughout September.

To give an idea of how the donations are spent and how much it costs to run the charity, we thought we’d break down the cost of some of Grief Encounter’s vital services. For example:

• £10 could pay for Mr Good Grief, a Grief Encounter play therapy toy for a bereaved child 
• £26 funds the equivalent of a call to the grieftalk helpline
• £50 funds the equivalent of a 1:1 session of counselling 
• £100 funds the equivalent of a Grief Relief Kit, with books, forget me not seeds, worksheets and journals.

To put into context how this will help those in need, Grief Encounter supports more than 6,500 individuals annually. The charity receives (on average) around 120 referrals every month from bereaved children and young people needing its support after the death of someone close.

The national helpline, grieftalk, has also seen a recent surge in demand, with around 1,000 contacts via phone, webchat and email. Grieftalk is open to anyone impacted by bereavement and is a lifeline for those who reach out for support.

Of course, the global pandemic significantly affected Grief Encounter’s services. After lockdown, the charity rapidly converted its services to online, offering 1:1 counselling online and therefore ensuring that there was no pause in support for families. 

But one of the best ways to understand the enormous impact the charity has had on bereaved children and young people is to hear from them directly…

 

“Grief Encounter helped me to find my voice again.” (Myles)

“It’s a place where I could be free to talk and I could cry but I could also laugh. I’ve had experiences of remembering my dad in such a special way.” (Ellie Rose)

“Hearing someone (on grieftalk helpline) tell me it was okay to feel sad and it was important to be kind to myself and to really feel my grief was so helpful.” (Anonymous)

“Grief Encounter have helped us all enormously; they’ve helped us learn to live again.” (Daliah)

“I wasn’t sure I could just pick up the phone for help, so being able to go online and instant chat made it easier for me. I could let out what I wanted to say and get practical advice on how to cope with everything I was feeling.” (Lucy)

 

We want to do everything we can to support Grief Encounter as our charity partner. We’re spreading the word to our customers about how amazing the charity’s work is through our website, blog and social media channels. And we’re also donating 10% of profits from our memorial jewellery collection throughout September. To raise awareness of the charity and our fundraising efforts, any customer who orders a piece of jewellery from our memorial range in September will receive a card in their order that tells them where the donated money is going and how it will help.  

If you’d like to get involved with fundraising, please keep an eye on our blog, where we’ll share ideas on how to support Grief Encounter. 

If you have experienced bereavement, you can call, chat or e-mail the free, national grieftalk helpline for instant support and listening services, open 9am – 9pm weekdays, on 0808 802 0111. For more information about Grief Encounter, please visit the website: www.griefencounter.org.uk