King's Lynn woman says support given after her losing daughter was "invaluable"
Sue Ryder - which helped her - is preparing for a surge in demand for their online bereavement support services
A woman from King's Lynn is telling us that the support given to her after she lost her daughter was "invaluable" and something she'll never forget.
Sue Ryder - which helped her - says it's now preparing for a surge in demand for its online bereavement support services, after demand rose by 146% between January 2022 and 2023.
The charity is anticipating that there will be over 273,000 visits to these services this month.
"I had this void, didn't know what to do"
Sarah McNeill lost Laura in August 2021 when she was 25 years old:
"It was quite hard to comprehend what had happened that night and to push through. The following days after Laura's death were quite a whirlwind. You have the funeral to organise and people are asking you a lot of questions that you don't have the answer to.
"When the funeral has happened you realise there's something that you've got to deal with. I had this void, didn't what to do or how to cope with all this because I'm Mum and I didn't know anyone who had lost a child.
"Without that support you're lost"
"You get a lot of people who want to give you advice about how to cope with grief, but then you feel that you can't express yourself.
"So having those counselling sessions allowed me voice how I felt with any interruptions saying 'In time you'll feel better'.
"Without that support you're lost. So for me, it's huge if people can donate and it doesn't matter how small it is. Things like buying a pack of Christmas card go towards helping someone who's lost a relative or a friend.
"We're coming out of Christmas, which is huge for those who have lost people. Christmas and New Year is emotional as they are not at your table or enjoying everything with everyone else. The New Year is coming and you realise you have to carry on living."
Additional research reveals that:
Two thirds (61%) of individuals who have experienced a close bereavement agree that January is one of the most challenging months to grieve, a figure that rises to 71% among those aged 16-24.
When asked why, over half (52%) attribute this difficulty to the sadness of beginning another year without their family member who died, and two fifths (42%) feel lonelier and more isolated compared to other months.
For over a third (31%), the challenge lies in the pressure to have a 'fresh start' or move on, while a third (33%) find it particularly hard to plan and focus on goals when they are missing someone.