Sandy Bear

Children’s Bereavement Charity

Who We Are and What We Do

Sandy Bear believe that no child should suffer bereavement alone. Our 1:1 and peer-group support ensures children and young people are able to understand death, to fully express grief; and manage loss in a positive way which builds resilience and better equips them for life in future. Our approach means they know they are not alone, and others are going through similar experiences.

Our focus is on supporting children and young people who are preparing for or have been bereaved through the loss of a close family member, or other special people in their life. However, we also support parents, carers and guardians in dealing with their own grief and ways to support their children at an extremely vulnerable time.

We also deliver training which offers professionals and teams experience and skills in managing bereavement across a variety of settings. This includes School nurses, emergency service workers, health and social care staff, education and youth teams. Training is bespoke to attendees.

Where We Work

Sandy Bear works across Wales, although we are limited in some areas dependent upon funding to the charity.

Nationally we offer a telephone and email support service for parents, carers and professionals where we offer practical and emotional support, and signpost to local provision that might be available.

Where we have funding, we offer a full support service for children and young people. Please see the relevant county page for details of what’s available in your area, or click the blue areas on the map below:

Where we work…

Click the blue areas for more information.

Pembrokeshire

We offer our full support services across Pembrokeshire with most work occurring at Sandy Bear HQ in Milford Haven.

Here we offer:

1:1 and Peer group support
Parent support groups
Information, Advice and Guidance telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within Pembrokeshire that are interested in working with our beneficiaries, administration, PR and fundraising. See our volunteering page for more information.

Carmarthenshire

We offer our full support services across Carmarthenshire and work out of various locations depending upon where the referrals are based and accessibility.

Here we offer:

1:1 and Peer group support
Parent support groups
Information, Advice and Guidance telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within Carmarthenshire that are interested in working with our beneficiaries, PR and fundraising

Ceredigion

We offer our full support services across Ceredigion and work out of various locations depending upon where the referrals are based and accessibility.

Here we offer:

1:1 and Peer group support
Parent support groups
Information, Advice and Guidance telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within Ceredigion that are interested in working with our beneficiaries, PR and fundraising.

Powys

Sadly, we don’t have enough funding to implement our full support across Powys just yet. Though we are always happy to chat by phone or email and to see who might be best to sign post to, or which resources we know of that might support you.

Here we offer:

Information, Advice and Guidance by telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within Powys who have an interest in support us through PR and fundraising.

Gwynedd

Sadly, we don’t have enough funding to implement our full support across Gwynedd just yet. Though we are always happy to chat by phone or email and to see who might be best to sign post to, or which resources we know of that might support you.

Here we offer:

Information, Advice and Guidance by telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within Gwynedd who have an interest in support us through PR and fundraising.

Anglesey

Sadly, we don’t have enough funding to implement our full support across Anglesey just yet. Though we are always happy to chat by phone or email and to see who might be best to sign post to, or which resources we know of that might support you.

Here we offer:

Information, Advice and Guidance by telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within Anglesey who have an interest in support us through PR and fundraising.

North-east Wales

Sadly, we don’t have enough funding to implement our full support across North-east Wales just yet. Though we are always happy to chat by phone or email and to see who might be best to sign post to, or which resources we know of that might support you.

Here we offer:

Information, Advice and Guidance by telephone and email support

We are also looking out for volunteers based within North-east Wales who have an interest in support us through PR and fundraising.

South-east Wales

We can offer some limited face to face support across Swansea and will shortly have capacity within Torfaen and Monmouth thanks to the generosity of funders and supporters.

Sandy Bear help elsewhere across South-east Wales is limited to telephone and online support, guidance and signposting for the time being (Though we are working hard to try and implement our work fully where there is most need).

Map image courtesy User:Marnanel, after en:User:Morwen, CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/, via Wikimedia Commons

How We Can Help

Children and Young People

1:1, family and peer support groups allow different approaches appropriate to individuals needs.

We use a variety of resources and ways to engage with young people at any age to help them understand their feelings and ways to cope; developing self-confidence and resilience.

More Info

Parents, Guardians & Carers

1:1 conversations and parent support groups ensure that parents and carers are able to have those difficult conversations with their children about the death of their special person.

More Info

Professionals and Training

We offer general advice to professionals working with, or that come into contact with children and young people faced with bereavement.

Additionally we are able to support individuals and teams with off the shelf and bespoke training to support specific needs.

More Info

Refer a Child or Young Person for Support

If you would like to refer a Child / Young Person age 0-25 for support, please use one of the options below.

We have two referral forms, the first one ‘Bereavement Referral Form’ is to help a Child / Young Person following a bereavement. The second form ‘Anticipatory Grief Referral Form’ is to help a Child / Young Person who is facing a bereavement. More Information>

Referral form: Please use this form to support a Child / Young Person that has been bereaved

Anticipatory Grief Referral form: Please use this form to support a Child / Young Person that is facing a bereavement.

Referral Form

Has the Child / Young Person experienced a bereavement?

Referral Form

Anticipatory Referral Form

Please use this form to refer a Young Person for support prior to a bereavement

Anticipatory Form

How Can You Help Sandy Bear?

There are several ways you can help Sandy Bear to continue to provide much-needed support to our bereaved children and young people:

Donations

The easiest and quickest way to support Sandy Bear is to simply donate some money. Whatever you can afford, any donations are much appreciated and help the charity to provide services.

Donate

Fundraising

At Sandy Bear, we know that fundraising is a fantastic way to support bereaved children and their families – so we’ve made it even easier for you with our Fundraising Pack!

Sandy Bear Shop

We have a selection of Sandy Bear branded gifts and clothing in our online shop. Any profits we make directly support the charity, so why not see what we have to offer?

Shop

Legacies

Sandy Bear has partnered with Farewill, the UK’s top-rated will-writing service, to make it easier for supporters to leave a meaningful legacy by including a gift to Sandy Bear in their wills.