Charity: Daisy's Dream

Alleviating isolation in bereavement

It’s a stark statistic that every 22 minutes, somewhere in the UK a child is bereaved of a parent. That equates roughly to one child in every school class.

For the past 26 years, local charity Daisy’s Dream has been offering advice and support to children, young people and their families who have been affected by the death or critical illness of someone they love.

In the last year alone, Daisy’s Dream has supported over 800 children from nearly 600 families in Berkshire and surrounding areas. The demand for their service continues to grow every year.

At Daisy’s Dream, we believe that no child’s future should be defined by a death or a life-limiting illness within the family,

says Gill Stevens, Director. She adds:

‘Given time and support, we believe that children and young people can learn to cope with the changing dynamics of their life and ultimately move forwards in a positive way.’

Research shows that without the opportunity to explore their grief and express their feelings, young people are more likely to experience future health, social and educational difficulties and disadvantages. This is in addition to any effect on their emotional health and wellbeing.

The Daisy’s Dream service is tailored and delivered entirely free of charge by professionally trained therapeutic practitioners. The service includes telephone advice and support for a parent or carer, one-to-one support for children at home or school, group events and a host of information available on the charity website.

Group events offer the opportunity for children to come together, which often helps to relieve the sense of isolation that a bereaved child can feel. The charity has only recently been able to restart group sessions following the pandemic but has already received some amazing feedback from both parents and children about their positive impact.

I liked getting to know each other… it made me realise I am not alone

Above is just one of the wonderful comments received from a child who went along.

Being able to relate made her feel less of an odd one out

A comment from the parent of another child, who continues: ‘She also mentioned that it will help her going forward in how to deal with things and how to talk about something if she is upset: absolutely invaluable, as she came away empowered and supported.’

Although the charity receives a small amount of grant funding from other charitable trusts, it does not receive any money from central government or local authorities.

Sarah Pilbrow, Fundraising & Communications Manager, explains: ‘We rely on the amazing support of our local communities and businesses to help us raise the majority of the £450,000 we need annually to continue supporting local children going through the toughest of times. This presents us with a formidable task, particularly this year, but one which we are tackling head on!’

She adds:

We have some amazing opportunities coming up for anybody who would like to take on a personal challenge whilst fundraising

Intrepid fundraisers climb Mount Kilimanjaro

February 2022

Daisy’s Dream currently have charity places available for both the bigHALF Marathon and the Super Skydive in September, the Virtual London Marathon in October, and the 2023 Kilimanjaro Trek next February. Please get in touch for more information.

If you’re not looking to take on a challenge type event, you can still support Daisy’s Dream in a number of ways:

• Make a donation or set up a regular gift to the general appeal via the website

• Nominate Daisy’s Dream as your charity of the year at work or a club you attend

• Host a community or work-based fundraiser.

Also, Daisy’s Dream always welcomes new volunteers. There are lots of ways to get involved: helping out at one of many community events the charity attends every year is a fantastic way of supporting them and is always great fun and rewarding.

For more details about the charity’s work and how you can get involved, or to make a donation, please visit the website (see below).

You can also follow Daisy's Dream on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn to keep up to date with all their news.

Contact details

Sarah Pilbrow, Fundraising & Communications Manager

Daisy’s Dream, PO Box 4738, Twyford RG10 9GT

0118 934 2604 | fundraising@daisysdream.org.uk | www.daisysdream.org.uk