Mental health describes our emotional, psychological and social wellbeing. Everyone has mental health – it affects how you think and feel, and sometimes how you act and cope with things going on in your life.

Looking after the mental wellbeing of families we support is something that is very important to us. We know that when a family receives the news that their child/one of their children has cancer or a life-challenging condition, life as they know it will probably feel like it stops in its tracks, and this of course impacts the mental health of everyone.

Our Family Support Team offers emotional support for the whole family. Services Momentum provides to support the mental health of children include regular check-ins with a Family Support Worker, organising counselling, creative therapies, special experiences, and respite breaks. If the unthinkable happens, and a child dies, we offer specialist bereavement support through our Echoes service.

Talking about the support we offer to bereaved children, Vanessa Riding, from our Echoes team said: “We know that bereaved children sometimes manage their grief by puddle jumping.  Children use an inbuilt safety behaviour to help them manage, what may otherwise be, overwhelming feelings of grief by ‘jumping’ in and out of moments of mourning and sadness, to times when it seems they are almost entirely unaffected by their loss and appear happy in themselves.  However, we also know that bereaved children need to be given the opportunity to share their grief and speak about their loss with age appropriate, clear language and without feeling they must keep their grief hidden from other

Our bereavement service, Echoes, supports the mental health of children in a number of ways including funding creative therapists to provide a safe space for children using either music, art, drama or play.  We also hold sibling events throughout the year for Echoes children and their families to come together, acknowledging their own and each other’s loss.  These events have included a visit to London Zoo, indoor climbing, pumpkin picking and pottery painting. 

Find out more about the support we offer to families here