News

Jersey Hospice Care’s community bereavement service is working with Kairos Arts to provide therapeutic art workshops for children and young people to help them explore their feelings around grief and loss. The bereavement service provides specialist counselling to children and young people who may need support when a parent, sibling, grandparent or friend has died – whether the person died at Hospice or not.

Thanks to this collaboration, we can now extend our services and make full use of our therapy rooms, which include a dedicated space for children to explore their emotions through art.

Mary Le Hegarat, Lead Counsellor at Jersey Hospice Care, said: “Working collaboratively with Kairos Arts has enabled us to achieve a common goal, in allowing children and young people to use art to express their thoughts and feelings with trained art practitioners in a safe and welcoming environment, here at Hospice. With the Kairos Arts practitioners, we are able to offer 1-1 support longer term, giving children the space they need to slowly adjust to a life without that person. We’re delighted to already be seeing the benefits of this extended service with the young people currently under our care.”

One primary school age child who has used the service said: “I enjoy my art sessions and always look forward to going there. If you’re angry or sad, then art can help, and talking together calms me down and lets me think about what will help.”

Helen Barrett, a Therapeutic Art Practitioner from Kairos Arts, said: "Therapeutic art offers a child or teenager the opportunity to explore feelings using lots of different art mediums in a safe space. A non-verbal way of expressing and processing emotions can be really helpful for children and young people who may not have the words or be able to articulate what they’re going through."

Children and young people can be referred for therapeutic art sessions through our usual referral forms, which you can find here. The age range is from five to 18 years old.