With an estimated 46,300 children under the age of 18 losing a parent every year in the UK, a conference being held in Aberdeen aims to open up difficult conservations about death.
Archie’s Child Bereavement Service (ACBS), part of The Archie Foundation, provides support to children who have experienced the loss of a loved one.
The ACBS Conference 2025, Difficult Conversations about Death: Supporting Children and Young People through Trauma, is aimed at any professional who may have to support a child who has suffered a bereavement.
The event will be held on Saturday, October 4 from 10am to 3pm, at Aberdeen’s Trinity Hall, home to the Seven Incorporated Trades of Aberdeen.
The programme includes experts on child bereavement and representatives of charities and organisations, who will share their insight and experience.
The first keynote speaker is Reuben Lewis, who will discuss suicide loss and understanding the teen mind, while Paul Johnson from Childline will talk about the work of its volunteers.
Danielle Shull, Andrew Smart and Jenny Miller from charity PAMIS will explore bereavement and loss for youngsters with profound and complex learning disabilities.
Clinical psychologist Dr Ceri Trevethan will present “It’s OK not to know - and you already know more than you probably think” which will help delegates to have difficult conversations.
Louise Esson from children’s charity CHAS will talk about its experience of conversations with parents at time of death and Louise Penfold of SAMH (Scottish Action for Mental Health) will explore coping after a suicide.
Naomi Murdo from CLAN will discuss supporting children through the impact of cancer, palliative care and loss.
Malcolm Stewart, Bereavement Services Manager at ACBS, said the conference was an opportunity to hear from experts while sharing personal experiences of supporting children after a traumatic loss.
“We are looking forward to welcoming delegates to our autumn conference and are pleased to have a stellar line up of speakers, who will explore different aspects of supporting children and young people through grief,” he said.
“Our aim is to make difficult conversations a little easier so the child is provided with the right kind of support for them as an individual.
“We have listened to feedback from teachers who wanted to come to our previous conferences but were in school during the week, so we’ve decided to hold the conference on a Saturday to make it easier to people to attend. The conference is open to everyone who is involved in supporting young people and tickets are on sale now.”
Tickets are priced at £40 per person, which includes tea/coffee and lunch.
This year’s conference will be opened by lan Macintosh, Master of Trades Hospital, and follows previous events in Dundee and Inverness.
ACBS’s team of bereavement support workers and volunteers provide a wide range of services, which are tailored to suit the individual needs of each child and their family.
Following an initial conversation by phone, the team decides how best to support the child or young person. This can range from providing specialist books to help a child understand what the death of a loved one means and to understand their emotions to craft sessions, group events and activity days.
In March 2022, the ACBS service expanded to include Tayside and Highlands, where there are experienced volunteers supporting children and families.
For more information or to book a place at the conference, visit https://archie.org/events/acbsconference25/