Grampian Child Bereavement Network

Who We Are:

Grampian Child Bereavement Network is a small independent charity dedicated to providing bereavement support services to children and young people across Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

What We Offer:

Telephone and email support, website, social media and newsletter to:

raise awareness of the impact of bereavement on children and young people;
assist children and young people to access appropriate bereavement support, including counselling, through signposting and effective networking;
provide resources, information, guidance and support to bereaved children and young people;
provide resources, information, guidance and support to the families and carers of bereaved children and young people.

Responder Service to provide:

direct support to bereaved children and young people;
advice, guidance and support to the parents and carers of bereaved children and young people.

Activity Days which:

provide opportunities for children and young people to come together to share activities and memory work in a safe and supportive environment;
build confidence and promote resilience;
give parents and carers of bereaved children the opportunity to come together in a supportive environment.

Training and Consultation:

for professionals and voluntary groups working with children and young people.

How to Contact us:

Telephone: 01224 594099
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.gcbn.org.uk
Facebook: Grampian Child Bereavement Network

Latest

Festival Volunteering FAQs
London to Brighton Cycle

London - Brighton
Opinion: Why bereavement awareness needs to be on the business agenda

Jane Wood, CEO of Homes for Scotland and Scotland Advisor for Child Bereavement UK, writes about the importance of embedding bereavement awareness in businesses across the UK.
Petition launched calling for a register of bereaved children

A petition, backed by Winston's Wish, Child Bereavement UK and the Childhood Bereavement Network, is calling on government to create a register of bereaved children.

Sunrise Partnership

Sunrise Partnership offers a free, confidential service for children and young people up to age 18 who have been affected by loss and bereavement. What we offer: We aim to help children and young people to cope with loss, change and bereavement in a healthy and positive way, by using therapeutic tools and strategies tailored to the individual and their age and stage of development.
Seasons for Growth

Seasons for Growth is a successful, well researched, peer support education programme that gives young people and adults the opportunity to learn that change, loss and grief are normal and valuable parts of life. The programme provides participants with the knowledge, skills and attitudes to understand and manage how death, separation or other significant loss events may impact on their lives.
Scottish Cot Death Trust

The Trust is the only cot death charity in Scotland. The Trust is available to any family affected by the sudden, unexpected death of a baby or young child under 5 years of age.
Samaritans of Aberdeen

Immediate emotional support in the event of a personal crisis or just matters of concern. Although based in Aberdeen the charity is affiliated to the national Samaritans movement which means support can be provided by any of the 200 branches in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Both phone and Email system will connect you to a volunteer at no charge who will offer you a safe space to explore your feelings or the things that are affecting you.
Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland

Cruse Bereavement Care Scotland seeks to help ANYONE experiencing bereavement to understand their grief and cope with their loss. This includes children and young people. ‘When you are ready to talk, we are here to listen’ this is regardless of who, how or when they have died.
CLAN Cancer Support

We are a registered charity, based in Aberdeen but cover the whole of North East Scotland, Moray, Orkney and Shetland. We provide support to people affected by a cancer diagnosis, whether as patient, family member carer or friend, from pre-diagnosis to diagnosis and throughout the stages of treatment, rehabilitation, re-occurrence, palliative care and bereavement.
Choose Life

‘Choose Life’ is a National Strategy and Action Plan introduced in 2002 to address the rising rate of suicide in Scotland. What we offer: The strategy to reduce suicide focuses on five key themes of work in communities and services to continue a downward trend in suicides and contribute to the delivery of the National Outcome to enable people to live longer healthier lives.
Childline

Childline is a private and confidential service for children and young people up to the age of 19. Our counsellors are human beings with different jobs, families and friends. They may be gay, heterosexual, bisexual, of any ethnicity or religion, have a disability or long term illness. They have all been children and had different experiences of childhood but they will never assume things about your situation or how you may be feeling.
ARC (Antenatal Results and Choices)

ARC is the only national charity helping parents and healthcare professionals through antenatal screening and its consequences and continuing that support to those parents who have made that difficult choice and have had the traumatic experience of terminating their pregnancy.
ACIS Youth

Who we are: Charitable organisation based in Aberdeen. What we offer: Free confidential therapeutic counselling for children and young people.

Telling a child that someone has died

It is important to tell a child of any age when someone important in their lives has died, and ideally this is done by someone who is closest to them.
Supporting bereaved children and young people

Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they show it in different ways. Find out how you can help them and more about child grieving.
Grieving for a child of any age

The agony of losing a child of any age is unparalleled. There is no age or point in time that makes it any easier. No parent expects to face the death of their child and no grandparent expects to lose their grandchild.
When a grandparent dies - the impact on children and young people

The death of a grandparent is often a child or young person’s first encounter with the death of someone important. Parents have a great deal to manage when their own parent or carer dies. There is the grief associated with their own loss, but also the reactions and responses of their children to the death of a grandparent.
Children's understanding of death at different ages

Babies and young children have no understanding of the concept of death yet, long before they are able to talk, babies are likely to react to upset and changes in their environment brought about by the absence of a significant person.
Child Bereavement UK training

Child Bereavement UK designs and delivers training for professionals in health and social care, education, the emergency services and the voluntary and corporate sectors, equipping them to provide the best possible care to bereaved families.
Contact us

Contact details for our Helpline, departments and services.
When your baby dies

When a baby lives only a short time or dies before birth due to miscarriage, stillbirth or a painful decision to end the pregnancy, people may assume that the loss is not important. This is simply not the case.
Children's understanding of death at different ages

Guidance on children's understanding of death at different ages and stages of development.
UK death & bereavement statistics

A parent of children under 18 dies every 22 minutes in the UK; around 23,600 a year. This equates to around 111 children being bereaved of a parent every day.

Short guidance films

Our short films are delivered by support practitioners and cover a range of topics on grief and bereavement, providing guidance on what can help. Read more

Books and resources

A list of books and resources relating to grief and bereavement and what may help. Read more

Others' experiences

Some bereaved families find it helpful to read about other peoples’ experiences and how the support they have received has helped them. Read more