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Funding boost will help hospice support bereaved young people
St Nicholas Hospice Care has received £20,000 from West Suffolk Council to help pay for some of the support its bereavement service for children and young people offers across the area.
This funding will go towards the Hospice’s Nicky’s Way programme, which is a specialist open-access service for bereaved children aged 4-18 years, where children can receive one-to-one therapeutic support and peer support through group work.
A prior connection or experience with the hospice is not needed, and the service, which was established in 1999, is the only open-access service of its kind in Suffolk.
Victoria Bowman, St Nicholas Hospice Care’s Trusts and Grants Lead, said: “We are so grateful to West Suffolk Council for deciding that some of their Community Chest funding should go towards our Nicky’s Way service.
“The young people who use our Nicky’s Way service are presenting with more complex issues than before, and we know that more young parents are dying in our care than before.
“Nicky’s Way is a vital service, and this funding will make a real difference to us, and, more importantly, the families that we are helping now and those we will be able to help in the future.”
West Suffolk Council made more than £550,000 worth of Community Chest funding available for 2023-24, which, including St Nicholas Hospice Care, has resulted in 32 community groups, charities and voluntary organisations benefiting from their support.