As the school year draws to a close we would like to thank all our young supporters (and the teachers who supported them) for all they have done to raise funds for the Hospice.
It’s an absolute pleasure to work with so many young people in lots of different ways. We have formed partnerships with many schools across the area and welcome them in to see and feel hospice care. It’s an informal, yet educational way, to encourage social awareness of death and dying amongst children and young people which opens up conversations about a topic which will affect every one of us at some time and encourages questions to dispel fears.
We are committed to developing and maintaining strong links with the community by offering free Childhood Bereavement services to all primary and secondary schools in Forth Valley & North Lanarkshire. Our aim is to support the schools to have a prepared response for supporting bereaved children and to help them develop a bereavement policy. We have facilitated courses with a number of schools, but we are extremely keen to reach every school, as we believe it is essential that communities should be prepared and ready to support those among them who are bereaved.
Retired education professional, Jim Lawson, devotes his time to talking and educating primary and secondary pupils on fundraising and volunteering and hospice care. We support pupils taking part in Young Enterprise initiatives and Jim recently spoke to many young audiences during Careers Week and the responses from the children were inspiring: As one primary pupil wrote in a thank-you to us “I never thought about volunteering but you made it sound interesting. I also thought you were really funny. Maybe I’ll volunteer to help out at Strathcarron when I’m retired. “
As the schools commence their summer holiday break we wish happy sunny times for all the young people we come in contact with and remember, parents and grandparent, it’s only six weeks!