Need support? Find help here
Winston’s Wish
Winston’s Wish offers practical support and guidance to children, young people and their families when someone close has died. Our Freephone Helpline (08088 020 021) can offer guidance to those supporting a child bereaved by suicide and our publication, ‘Beyond the Rough Rock’, is aimed at offering guidance to those supporting children bereaved in this way. Winston’s Wish offers specialist bereavement support to parents, carers and young people up to the age of 25 from across the UK via remote, digital and face-to-face sessions. (Referral to this service is available through the Freephone Helpline).
How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?
We believe that the support we are able to offer to bereaved children, young people and their families can help them find a way of living with and beyond their grief. Through our particular work with those bereaved through suicide, we offer our acknowledgment, our listening, our skilled help. We believe that our support for bereaved children and young people may contribute to greater resilience and thereby a reduction in the rate of suicide. We also produce a book called ‘Beyond the Rough Rock’ which is aimed at anyone supporting a child or young person bereaved by suicide. Our Freephone Helpline (08088 020 021), ASK email service (ask@winstonswish.org) and live chat receive many enquiries from those supporting a child or young person who has someone important die by suicide.
What are your current priorities?
Use our expertise and experience to support children, teenagers and their families when someone important may have died by suicide.
Through our Freephone Helpline (08088 020 021), ASK email service (ask@winstonswish.org) and live chat we offer support to parents, carers and professionals who are supporting a child or young person who has had someone important die by suicide. We also produce a book called ‘Beyond the Rough Rock’ which is aimed at anyone supporting a child or young person bereaved by suicide. We believe that our support for bereaved children and young people may contribute to greater resilience and thereby a reduction in the rate of suicide. We will continue to review this work and consistently evaluate its effectiveness.
Extend the geographic scope of our work
Through our new ‘blended’ service model we can support children and young people up to age of 25 across the UK via a remote, digital or face-to-face service. We continue to build partnerships with other organisations offering support to children and young people and through offering training to those whose work brings them into contact with the bereaved.
Contribute to the national work
We will continue to play our part in offering support to the Suicide Bereavement Support Partnership / Support After Suicide Partnership. We will also support discussions over the pilots and evaluation of the Framework and Pathway (as it relates to children, young people and their families) and over distribution of Help is at Hand. We will explore the production of a version of Help is at Hand for young people.
What challenges are you currently facing?
From within our organisation, we have the same issues as many organisations in having sufficient resource (people, time, finance) to meet the need. We are also working alongside a pervasive belief in some sections of the general public that children and young people may not need support for their grief. Looking outward, we recognise that the taboo and stigma experienced by many bereaved by suicide also exist in some measure for those who provide support: it is a challenge to communicate the need for this support to those who find it hard to hear and would prefer not to hear it.