Local charity The Archie Foundation will be extending its crucial child bereavement service for children, teens and their families to Tayside and the Highlands. The charity is creating three new bereavement coordinator posts to oversee delivery of the service, ensuring all children in the North of Scotland have access to tailored support when a loved one dies.
In 2019 Aberdeen-based charity, Grampian Child Bereavement Network joined forces with The Archie Foundation. The service is now known as Archie’s Child Bereavement Service (ACBS). ACBS has been providing emotional support to children and their families who have experienced the death of a loved one for the past 13 years.
Paula Cormack, Chief Executive of The Archie Foundation said; “Expansion into Tayside and Highlands is part of Archie’s strategic aim to offer our core services in each of the regions we support. The continued increase in demand for child bereavement support in Grampian and the overwhelmingly positive feedback demonstrates to us the vital need for this service.
“We already receive phone calls from families in Highlands, Tayside and even further afield (including London!) looking for our support as they cannot find it in their local area. Our own research shows us that there is no other charity offering a service like ours in Tayside or Highlands. Our service is all about kinship and taking the support to the child rather than expecting the family to travel miles for the child to attend counselling appointments.”
Demand for Archie’s Child Bereavement Service has grown dramatically in the last two years. In the last year in Grampian alone, the charity has seen a 32% increase in the number of referrals received. These referrals have come from parents, carers and professionals seeking support for over 200 bereaved children.
ACBS offers a wide range of services, which are carefully tailored to suit the individual needs of each child and their family. Referrals are received through the charity’s telephone helpline and through an initial phone conversation the Bereavement Coordinator assesses how best to support the child or young person.
This can include providing specialist books to help a child understand what the death of a loved one means and to understand their emotions. For some families this might be all the support they need, but others may access many more of the services on offer, such as group activity days or one to one support with bereavement responders.
Malcolm Stewart, Bereavement Services Manager, will oversee the roll out of Archie’s Child Bereavement Service into Tayside and Highlands. Malcolm, who has been with ACBS for the past four years, said; “We recognise that every child is different and we believe that with the appropriate support, information and guidance all children and young people will be able to manage their grief. We know there are children and families in Tayside and Highlands who also need our help and by expanding our service our aim is to provide support for bereaved children right across the north of Scotland so no child is left to struggle through the grieving process alone.”
Malcolm’s first task is to recruit three new Bereavement Coordinators to oversee service delivery in each of the regions - Tayside, Highlands and Grampian. The new posts are being advertised now and more information can be found on Archie’s website www.archie.org/vacancies. Malcolm aims for ACBS to be operational in all three regions later in the year, once the new recruits are fully trained and inducted.
Malcolm continued: “The Bereavement Coordinator role is a critical one, as it is the coordinator who takes the initial call, often from highly distressed parents or carers, and then puts together a programme of support for the child, coordinating input and support from other members of the Archie team.”
For more information on the services visit, https://archie.org/bereavement/