19/11/2025
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This week is Children's Grief Awareness Week, and today's post is about the consequences when support is missing - it's a hard truth 💔
When grief is not seen or supported, the consequences are real and long term. A child left to struggle alone can fall behind at school, withdraw from friends, lose their appetite, struggle to sleep, or start self-medicating to ease the pain. Over time small wounds can harden. Mental health problems can take hold, confidence can be eroded, and coping strategies can become harmful. For some young people the path they are pushed down can lead to substance misuse or contact with the criminal justice system. And tragically the risk of self harm and su***de is higher where grief has not been addressed. 😔
This is not an inevitability. It is a predictable result of unmet need.
That is why Sandy Bear’s work is vital. We provide specialist bereavement support for 0 to 25 year olds and their families. We work with schools, health services and community groups so children are spotted sooner and helped effectively. Our approach is trauma informed and child centred. We do practical work with parents and teachers as well as therapeutic work with the child. We help build resilience not by pretending the loss didn't happen but by helping the child learn how to hold the loss and still plan for tomorrow. 💛
The cost of not intervening is far greater than the cost of care. Supporting a grieving child saves futures, reduces pressure on mental health services and prevents pain becoming a lifelong pattern. That is why we must be bold in funding, in training and in making space for grief in every community.
A young person who came through our programme shared: "I was so angry and scared that I would be stuck like that forever. With help I learnt to be angry and still keep living. It changed everything."
For more information, please visit www.sandybear.co.uk or email admin@sandybear.co.uk to partner with us.
