The organisers of the 2015 Value Investor Conference are pleased that the Conference raised a total of £35,150 for Child Bereavement UK, which supports families and educates professionals when a baby or child of any age dies or is dying, or when a child is facing bereavement.
Every day CBUK deals with something that many people find too unbearable to contemplate – the untimely deaths of parents and children. Deaths that can shatter lives and leave sheer devastation in their wake. It’s human nature for us to want to distance ourselves from this as something that happens to other people, but every year child bereavement is experienced by thousands of families in the UK; over 9000 babies and children die each year, and every 22 minutes a parent dies leaving dependent children.
Child Bereavement UK is here to guide families through the long and difficult journey of grief. We are here to help them find the support they need, wherever they are in their journey and for as long as they need it.
2015 marks our 21st year of supporting bereaved children, young people and families and training the professionals who come into contact with bereaved families during the course of their work. The demand for our services is increasing. Last year we supported 907 children and adults within 395 families; and trained 5,795 professionals nationwide. Our web site received 500,000 visits and our national support and information helpline received nearly 2,000 calls.
In recent years, we have begun to plug the gaps that exist in bereavement services across the country by establishing a number of regional bereavement services; we now offer face-to-face support for families in Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, East and West London, Cheshire and Cumbria.
Our ambition is to significantly increase the bereavement support we offer across the UK to reach many more children, young people and families. We will focus on areas where no bereavement services exist, and in particular, areas of economic deprivation. We also aim to expand our training to reach many more professionals in schools, healthcare and other sectors,so that they can better understand and meet the needs of grieving families.
To find out more information about Child Bereavement UK visit www.childbereavementuk.org