Our Patient and Family Support team is excited to announce the launch of Kaleidoscope: A Bereavement Group for children. The group will launch at the end of January 2019.

Kaleidoscope is a weekly group for bereaved children aged 8-12, aimed at helping them express their grief in a safe and confidential space.

The group will be run by highly skilled clinicians, using practical and creative activities to help equip each child participating with a toolbox of coping strategies to support their emotional needs. Activities will focus on dealing with challenging emotions, improving communication and building resilience.

There will also be an informal group held in Trinity’s Mulberry Cafe for parents and guardians of children attending Kaleidoscope to participate in. This group aims to help parents and guardians gain a better understanding of how their child may be grieving, meet other parents and guardians, and explore the topic of grief from their point of view and experience.

Trinity is committed to providing support for loved ones after a patient has died. The Patient and Family Support team at Trinity offers support and counselling to patients, family members and friends, as well as specific support for children and young people. They also run a variety of support groups and remembrance events.

Letizia Forrest, Head of Patient and Family Support, said: “We’ve called it Kaleidoscope because every time you look through a kaleidoscope you will see something different. Not necessarily better or worse, but different. Grief can often feel like this.

We know that children grieve very differently from adults.  Being a bereaved child can be an isolating experience and empowering them to understand and communicate their emotions, as well as allowing them to meet other bereaved children, can really support a healthy, ongoing development. We’ve involved parents and guardians in our Kaleidoscope project too as they play a huge part in a child’s grieving process.”

Kaleidoscope will launch on Thursday 2 May from 4.30pm to 6.30pm in Trinity’s Mulberry Room and will run weekly for 8 weeks. There will be a one session break on Thursday 30 May for half term.

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