Baby loss charity launches £60,000 campaign to fund sibling’s play therapy
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 17 February 2025
UPDATED: 18 February 2025
Nottingham baby loss charity Forever Stars has launched details of its 2025 fundraising campaign that aims to raise £60,000 to finance life-changing play therapy sessions for children dealing with the loss of a baby sibling.
The new ‘Talking Through Tears’ campaign is focussed on supporting brothers and sisters with life-changing healing specialist play therapy sessions, that are tailored for individual children to help them understand and manage their emotions following the family’s loss of a baby either by stillbirth or miscarriage.
The campaign is inspired by the personal experiences of Forever Stars’ co-founders Richard and Michelle Daniels and the impact the loss of their daughter Emily had on her brother Finlay, who was aged four when his sister was stillborn in December 2013.
“Our worlds shattered that day,” says Richard. “But while Michelle and I were trying to deal with our loss and grief, we could see that Finlay was struggling too, angry and lost in a world of questions, confusion and sadness that he was really too young to articulate.”
“We wanted to help Finlay understand his feelings and process the loss of his baby sister, but there was no specialised support available for siblings like him,” says Michelle. “As Forever Stars enters its second decade of fundraising and support for baby loss communities across the region, this year seems the right time for something to specifically support other brothers and sisters who are struggling like Finlay did. Because when we discovered play therapy for him, it provided the kind of support Finlay needed, and healing we couldn’t find for him anywhere else.”
Play serves as a universal language for children, allowing them to express feelings that might be too complex or painful to put into words. Studies* show that when children engage in play, they recreate scenarios and emotions related to their trauma, enabling them to explore and make sense of their experiences in a safe environment. This process can lead to emotional relief and greater self-awareness.
Richard says:
“For many siblings, just like for Finlay, losing a sibling in this awful way might be their first encounter with death, which makes it so difficult for them to process their emotions. Children often lack the language skills to articulate their feelings, leading to confusion, frustration and anger, while seeing their parents in distress can add to the child’s anxiety and sadness, compounding their sense of loss. Without timely intervention, unresolved grief can impact a child’s education, social development, and overall well-being.
“Thankfully we discovered play therapy for Finlay, and our experience of it proved it to be invaluable in supporting him in a safe environment. Through imaginative play, children learn to navigate their emotions, leading to healthier coping strategies in real-life situations. For Finlay, play therapy genuinely helped him to understand his feelings and emotions, process the loss of his baby sister and the effect this was having on his Mummy and Daddy.”
Lizzie Miller, a Nottingham-based Certified Play Therapist registered with the professional body Play Therapy UK (PTUK), is working with Forever Stars on its Talking Through Tears campaign. She explains:
“Losing a child is one of the most devastating and traumatic experiences a family can endure. For parents, siblings, and loved ones, navigating the emotional aftermath of such a loss is incredibly complex. While parents cope with their grief, they may well have access to support, but siblings - especially young children – don’t have the same level of appropriate, easily accessible care or counselling, even though they often struggle to understand their emotions or express what they are feeling.
“Play therapy provides the safe, supportive environment children need to explore and process their grief in ways that feel natural and comfortable to them. Play therapy makes available a host of tools and resources, many of which are centred in familiar creative play using clay, art, sand, puppets and role play, for example. Whilst every play therapy session draws on the same toolbox of resources, each is child-led, meaning that each child is able to access the resources they want, and in ways they want. Because of this, play therapy is proven to help children understand their often muddled feelings and upsetting events that they haven’t had the chance to sort out properly. Rather than having to explain what is troubling them, as adult therapy usually expects, children use play to communicate at their own level and at their own pace, without feeling interrogated or threatened.
“Play therapy also benefits parents, because when they know their child is being given the support they need to help them process their own loss, then this is one less worry and stress for them at such a heartbreaking, difficult time,” she adds.
This year’s Talking Through Tears fundraising campaign will help around 75 children, as Richard explains:
“Typically, each child requires 15 one-hour sessions to fully benefit from play therapy. Led by specially trained therapists, these sessions are adapted to each child’s individual needs. The therapist uses play-based methods to help children understand and manage their emotions, develop healthy coping mechanisms, and regain a sense of stability.
“With each session costing an average £55, the total cost of this is around £800 per child. Our campaign’s £60,000 fundraising target will mean we can support 75 grieving children by giving them access to play therapy, and help them cope both in the short and long term with the unexpected loss of their baby sibling.”
Find out more about the ‘Talking Through Tears’ campaign go to https://www.foreverstars.org/talking-through-the-tears/
For anyone wishing to make a donation or fundraise this year, visit the campaign’s JustGiving page @ https://www.justgiving.com/forever-stars or email Forever Stars: enquiries@foreverstars.org.
Since it began in 2014, Forever Stars has fundraised £787,000, including £50,000 in 2024, donated to Queen’s Medical Centre Nottingham to pay for a makeover of its Ward A23 and adjoining garden.
Forever Stars is a charity dedicated to supporting families living in Nottingham and the wider East Midlands who have suffered a stillbirth or infant loss. Its mission is to promote and protect the health of parents affected by stillbirth or other perinatal or neonatal death of their child or children, and in particular, to relieve suffering and emotional distress amongst such parents. A dedicated team of volunteers runs the charity, and fundraises and campaigns to improve the bereavement care for parents, families and their loved ones. Forever Stars was officially given charity status by the Charity Commission in England (reg no. 1156990) on 9 May 2014. Forever Stars is a member of the Baby Loss Awareness Alliance. For more information, visit the charity’s website - https://www.foreverstars.org/
*Source: https://www.bapt.info/play-therapy/what-is-play-therapy/
Image: Left to right: Richard Daniels (Founder, Forever Stars), Laura Barnett (Trustee, Forever Stars), Lizzie Miller (Certified Play Therapist), Dan Barnett (Trustee, Forever Stars).
