Shep to Help in Bereavement Support

On Tuesday 28th February, Fred Herring (Beda Chapter Widows Sons) & Mike Shepard (SERV Bloodbikes) met with Lesley Beanly of the Family Support Unit at Keech Hospice where she runs a bereavement support group. They presented her with a TLC Bear for use within her group which has been named Shep.

Lesley explained that her support group is called Sparklers and is a pre and post bereavement support group for children to support them throughout their journey. Sparklers is held on a Saturday, and she also runs 1:1 support sessions with children during the week.

She continued that she would use Shep as the Sparklers mascot and he would form part of every support session and Sparklers group where the children could hold and talk to Shep if they are feeling anxious or worried. She continued that Shep would help in identifying when a young person is feeling sad or worried.

Lesley will be trekking Hadrian’s Wall in September to raise money for Keech and there will be 3 other volunteers from Sparklers also on the trek. The Sparklers children will create a flag to take with them which which will be photographed so the children can feel included in journey and Shep will also be taken along so he can be in photos and share the adventure. There will be a presentation to the children after trek and Shep would also be part of that.