Windmills differs from any other Child Bereavement Charity as we specialise in facilitating or supporting families with breaking bad news conversations with children. We also focus on supporting Children and Young People when someone significant in their life receives a terminal diagnosis/prognosis from their Consultant team (whether this is due to illness or injury – including trauma, murder & suicide), through the acute dying process and up to several months after the death has occurred. We offer support when a sudden death has happened but only able to accept a referral within the first four weeks of a death happening.
A Practitioner will be made available 24hours a day to attend the location where our services are needed . This will include acute healthcare settings. The Practitioner will advocate inclusion of the Child or Young Person within the dying/death process through a bespoke programme of support. During this period the Practitioners will liaise, where appropriate, with other professionals within the community. This may include: Schools, Universities, GP’s, Social Services, Hospices, Police and Fire Service.
Windmills aim is to ensure that every Child & Young person within Staffordshire who are facing or have suffered the loss of someone significant in their lives have access to our service – we therefore provide our services free of charge to all.
Windmills programme of support is totally bespoke so we tailor it to meet the individual needs of each child – we focus mainly on memory making, exploring emotions through art therapy/craft projects and breaking down what is happening for them which aids understanding of the death/illness/injury process and also helps them process the situation – our nursing background and experience is invaluable when it comes to this. Some of the things that we offer are 1:1 support, group/class sessions, breaking bad news conversations, memory boxes, handprints and 3D handcasts to name a few.
Our service is available to children & young people aged 0-25years.