Winstons Wish

Who we are

Our vision is that every bereaved child has access to support as and when they need it. Our mission is to ensure the resilience of bereaved children by providing high quality services that meet their needs.

Every day, more than 100 children are bereaved of a parent in the UK. Their life is turned upside down and many will struggle to cope with such an enormous loss. Grief can be so destructive for a child's future. Winston's Wish exists to ensure that despite what has happened, a child can move forward with hope, courage an strength in the future. Since 1992, we have built a wealth of knowledge and experience in understanding the impact of bereavement at a young age. We believe that children need support to make sense of death, so that they can rebuild their lives and look forward to a hopeful future.

We offer practical and therapeutic face to face support in individual and group settings, and via our national Helpline, website and extensive range of publications. Studies have shown that unsupported grief in childhood can have significant short and long term negative consequences - it can have a deep and lasting effect on a child's emotional wellbeing, often resulting in anger, depression, sleeping difficulties, relationship problems, mental health and offending issues. Everyone who supports us - our partners, donors and volunteers - are passionate about ensuring that together, we can help more bereaved children each and every year.