When: Where: High Chelmer Shopping Centre, Chelmsford Cost: Free to attend
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room.
Death and dying can be tricky subjects to talk about, no matter your age. Our Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Team find many youngsters who have experienced the death of a sibling, parent, grandparent or anyone special to them often feel invisible, trying to process feelings that even adults don’t fully understand.
Art and creative therapy are valuable tools to help children express thoughts and feelings that can be too hard to verbalise. Creative techniques like painting, drawing and poetry open up conversations with children and often evokes memories of their loved one who has died.
This November, during Children’s Grief Awareness Week, Havens Hospices will be hosting an art exhibition in the High Chelmer Shopping Centre. Each beautiful, expressive piece of art that will be displayed has been created during counselling sessions or wellbeing support groups, empowering children to explore the impact of their loss and to process their grief with others in similar situations.
The art displayed will explore the often-confusing feelings and thoughts of young people who have experienced loss and death. It will also explore the feelings of children, supported by Little Havens, who have been diagnosed with a complex condition and grieve the things their incurable diagnosis has taken away from them.