First Response

Practitioner Feedback

Here is what practitioners are saying about First Response to Grief and Loss:

• Declan Kerr
  Chief Executive, Youth Justice Trust, Greater Manchester

  "The work you’ve put in on these materials is fantastic! Where I would like to give praise and acknowledgement with these materials is that you’ve put it into a very simple format. It no longer needs to be on the ‘hard to do’ pile."

  Youth Justice Trust

• Bob Pinner
  Manager, Prince’s Trust, West Midlands

  "If a young person is able to engage with a front line professional it may be the first or even the only opportunity for them to open up about their feelings. I am happy to recommend the First Response to Grief and Loss toolkit to any front line professionals working with young people. It enables the professional to understand the relationship between grief and loss and behaviour, and to act in a manner appropriate to the circumstances."

  The Prince’s Trust

• Sean Coleman
  Head of Programmes & Development, Coventry & Warwickshire YMCA

  "This is a really valuable resource which will greatly aid our residential and community staff in their work with young people."

  Coventry & Warwickshire YMCA

• Helen Czudej
  Operations Manager, Coventry & Warwickshire Connexions

  "First Response to Grief and Loss is an excellent resource to support Connexions Personal Advisers in their work with young people. It provides some good insights into the emotional turmoil that young people are experiencing and practical help for practitioners who are providing a ‘front-line’ service."

  Coventry & Warwickshire Connexions

• Gennie Holmes
  Evaluator/Research Assistant, Coventry Children’s Fund

  "Coventry Children’s Fund recognises that there are significant risks for children and young people who experience grief or loss. These risks can be exacerbated if there is little or no support for them thorough this period. Any quality resource that equips professionals working with children and young people to understand and acknowledge this loss is of great importance. First Response meets this criteria and is welcomed by staff and professionals of all levels working with children and young people within Coventry."

  Coventry Children’s Fund

• Steve Boyle
  Senior Youth Worker, West Midlands

  "An excellent resource that gives a variety of professionals a very easy to understand approach to dealing with the complex and emotive issue of grief and loss. I particularly liked the exploration of the "journey of grief" which is something I will find very useful in my work with young people."

• Sally Ormes
  Teacher, Coventry

  "An excellent resource which is warm, engaging and relevant to the realities experienced in the classroom. I highly recommend it – especially to NQTs (Newly Qualified Teachers)."

• Taro Tandi
  Social Worker

  "I found the resource really empowering. It takes away the fears and anxieties that I might not "do it right" and that only specialists can help young people experiencing loss. The quality of the material is extremely high and easily accessible."

• Josie Llewelyn
  School Nurse, Willenhall Primary Care Centre

  "I have often thought that a resource like this has been needed for use in our schools. Now it has arrived and filled a void which will enable the School Nursing Service and Education to work closely together in supporting children and young people who are experiencing grief and loss. This will help enable our young people to move forward to reach their full potential and not be held back by the sometimes devastating effects of grief and loss."

• Helen Queen
  Community Children’s Nursing Team Leader

  "Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic and innovative pack with us on our away day. The presentation was brilliant and I was thrilled that you were able to cascade the information to the rest of the team who equally all found it extremely interesting and innovative. We are all specialist nurses with differing caseloads but all feel that the information in the pack would be and could be used by all of us in different settings."

• Sally Naish
  Headteacher of Ilmington Primary School, Warwickshire

  "This training DVD and manual is a very useful resource for schools when dealing with any types of loss or grief, from parents’ divorce to bereavement. The DVD is more suited to secondary age staff although the subject matter is relevant to any age; the manual has a very useful flow chart which helps to clarify actions that may need to be taken. It also has practical advice on how to listen and respond and includes access to a website for useful links. An informative guide to help staff become more confident in responding sensitively and appropriately to a distressed young person."