insideKENT Magazine Issue 71 - February 2018 | Page 134

CHARITY
Kent Charity Profile:
HOLDING ON LETTING GO
LOSING SOMEONE IS NEVER EASY, BUT FOR CHILDREN IT CAN BE
IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND. HOLDING ON LETTING GO HELPS
CHILDREN DEAL WITH THEIR GRIEF, AND ENABLES THEM TO MOVE
FORWARD. WE SPOKE TO THE CHARITY ABOUT THEIR AIMS.
What is it that Holding On Letting Go does?
Holding On Letting Go (HOLG) provides
bereavement support to children, young
people and their families within Kent who
have experienced the death of someone close
to them. This may be a parent, sibling,
grandparent or someone else who has been
a significant influence in their lives. We invite
the children to attend a non-residential
weekend, where they have the opportunity to
talk about what has happened to them. We
help them to find ways of managing difficult
feelings and emotions, and build on the
memories that they have of the person
enabling them to hold on to the good
memories and let go of the more difficult ones.
We also run specific weekends for children
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who have been bereaved through suicide or
other traumatic deaths to enable them to
explore some of the complex issues
surrounding these circumstances.
running a group for parents and carers
alongside the children and young people’s
groups, we can encourage communication
within the family and promote strategies for
supporting children in their grief.
What makes the work that Holding On
Letting Go does so important? Tell us a little bit about your background?
The work is very important because the
possible consequences of unresolved issues
with grieving can last into adulthood. Many
of the children we meet find it difficult to talk
at home about the person who has died
because they are afraid of upsetting other
family members or getting upset themselves.
HOLG gives them a safe space where they
can feel free to speak and to meet other young
people who understand their experience. By HOLG was started in 1998, so we will be
celebrating our 20th anniversary this year. The
charity was formed by a group of professionals
who realised that, while there was good
provision in the county for adults, grieving
children did not have access to bereavement
support. The charity grew steadily in the early
years, but over the past five years there has
been a significant increase in the number of
weekends we are able to provide. There are