The local charity helping Richmond families through grief

It’s been just over a year since my own dear father died and, during this time, I have experienced so many different emotions. Bereavement is a difficult path to tread.

And no one knows this more than Jenny Harris and Mary Parry, founders of Twickenham charity space2grieve, whose mission is to make sure that no one faces grief alone.

The pair joined forces five years ago, having met while volunteering for national charity Cruse Bereavement Support. Each had her own personal reasons for getting involved in this specific area of concern.

space2grieve

For Jenny, an experienced couples counsellor, it was her father’s death 30 years previously and the realisation that her grief had lain dormant and trapped for all that time.

“If I had been able to talk about the journey of his death and the implications of losing him, what a difference it would have made in my life,” she reflects.

For Mary, it was the sudden death of her brother when they were both children.

“He was 13, I was 10. No one talked about it and I felt isolated, confused and alone. As an adult, I became a bereavement volunteer because I wanted to help others by enabling them to talk about their grief.”

Based at the ETNA Community Centre in East Twickenham, space2grieve offers free, confidential one-to-one bereavement support for residents of Richmond borough.

A small, volunteer-led charity, it relies entirely on local funding and donations to be able to continue its work. The aim, explains Jenny, is to provide a professional and compassionate level of support that is both effective and essential to the future wellbeing of those who have been bereaved.

“When someone significant dies, there are changes – and, in most cases, they are not what you wanted. To be able to talk to someone to validate your feelings, whatever they may be, is so critical to learning to tolerate what has happened; to enable grief to ebb and flow naturally with the changes that life brings.”

As well as supporting adults, space2grieve is also there for children and young people. Mary draws on her own personal childhood experience to explain why this is so crucial.

“Children are often shielded from death. When it occurs, their whole world implodes; they experience a myriad of confusing and frightening emotions for which they often have no outlet. Talking about their grief helps them to feel less alone and may prevent mental health problems in the future.”

space2grieve

The charity’s unique offering for families starts with a Parenting Through Grief session for a parent or carer.

“Parents come to us at a very difficult time,” says Mary. “Their child may be struggling to cope and they themselves are often struggling too.”

The child can then have up to 12 free weekly sessions with a volunteer who has been specially trained in supporting children and young people.

And it’s the dedicated team of 42 volunteers, all trained in compassionate listening and offering practical support, that constitutes the beating heart of the charity. Adults are offered up to eight free weekly sessions.

“We provide a place where grief is understood, not avoided,” explains Katherine, a volunteer here for four years. “Our clients can share their story honestly, without fear or judgement, and that shared understanding creates a real sense of connection.”

As for the founders, they are united in their sense of mission to the borough’s bereaved. Mary sums it up.

“A listening ear, empathy, warmth and unconditional respect: that’s what we offer to all those who come to us.”

Find a space

space2grieve offers free, confidential, one-to-one bereavement support to adults, children, young people and families living in Richmond borough.

Support sessions can be arranged at the ETNA Community Centre in East Twickenham, Orange Tree Clinic in Teddington, Greenwood Community Centre in Hampton Hill or on Zoom. Children and young people can also be supported at their school.

The space2grieve free drop-in Compassionate Cuppa grief café is held at the ETNA Community Centre on the third Tuesday of the month from 10am to 11.30am.

space2grieve.org.uk; 0751 937 6363; support@space2grieve.org.uk.