Local charity Balloons help children and young people overcome the loss of a loved one

Local charity Balloons provide pre and post-bereavement support to children and young people aged 5-25 in Exeter, Mid & East Devon. CEO Sara Bennett tells me about the scope of the work they do and why it’s so important.

Balloons are a charity that you might not have heard much about (with the exclusion of winning an Exeter Life award recently). They don’t make lots of noise about their achievements. They are busy working away behind the scenes in Exeter helping families cope with bereavement. Sara Bennett started with Balloons as their first CEO in April 2015 following job roles in education, the charity sector and the grant-giving sector. Sara says of the work of Balloons;

Bereavement is a huge transition… Children can easily become isolated and vulnerable… I like to think that at Balloons we make sure they don’t have to process their bereavement in a vacuum. We give voice to their loss, honour their pain and help them to find their own resolutions.

Balloons offer a variety of help for Children and young people including; activity days, telephone helpline, family events, training for partners and local agencies, one-to-one support and pre-bereavement support.

This work feels to me to be so important, and I am so lucky to get up and go to work every morning knowing that what I do matters and makes a genuine positive difference.

With just five members of staff, fifty-four volunteers and a dedicated Board of Trustees, fundraising is an ongoing challenge for Balloons. “At the moment we are lucky to be halfway through our 3-year funding from the Big Lottery, this covers half of our costs. The rest of our funding comes from smaller donations from grant-making bodies, plus approximately 35% of our costs come from small donations from local businesses and individuals. We rely on corporate partners and generous people who know what we do and understand the importance of our work.”

When I was at school a good friend of mine lost her mum at the age of fifteen. She was sad, frightened and lonely. As an adult, she tells me that she’s never really come to terms with losing her. I can only imagine the difference Balloons charity would have made for her. This article was originally published in Exeter Life magazine but here’s my interview with Sara in full…

For people that may not have heard of you, what is Balloons Charity and what do you do in Exeter?

Balloons provide pre- and post-bereavement support to children and young people (C&YP) aged 5-25 in Exeter, Mid & East Devon.

Research clearly indicates that the death of a significant loved one is a critical, traumatic moment for C&YP. Unsupported C&YP have poorer health and educational outcomes, are more likely to enter the criminal justice system, have higher teenage pregnancy rates, are more prone to a range of psychological disturbances. Balloons support mitigates against these negative health, educational and social outcomes.

1:1 support – we work with children and young people when they have experienced significant bereavement. Over 50% of our work is after a primary carer death. Our 1:1 support work is bespoke, resulting in a range of positive outcomes – the ability to maintain emotional and social health and to stay positively engaged in family and school life.

Pre-bereavement support – I want to also talk about our pre-bereavement support work. We are one of the few C&YP bereavement support charities that work in the pre-bereavement stage. It is a complex time to support C&YP and their families, hence there are few agencies doing this work. There is strong research evidence to indicate that professional preventive interventions with children of terminally ill parents decreases the likelihood of subsequent pathology after a parent dies. Support interventions such as the ones that Balloons makes make a significant positive difference to anxiety levels and social and educational adjustment of C&YP who are anticipating parental death. Our pre-bereavement support work focuses on the C&YPs perception of the parent’s illness, their reactions to it, the factual life situation at home (present, past, and anticipated future), the child’s feelings toward their parents, and their self-concept.

Activity Days – after 1:1 support many C&YP attend our free of charge Activity Days, participating in activities to enhance wellbeing in a safe environment with others who have had similar bereavement experiences, thus reducing feelings of isolation.

Family Events – these events give families facing a very different future to the one they thought they had the chance to have fun in a supportive community and to undertake activities that are unaffordable due to financial changes in their circumstances.

Telephone helpline – our helpline provides comfort, advice, information and coping ideas for the pre-bereavement and post-bereavement phase.

Training for partners and local agencies – we provide childhood grief training for schools and other professionals and practitioners etc., equipping those agencies with the skills and knowledge to better support grieving C&YP and their families. This means that our work doesn’t just impact on individuals and families, but also enables changes in the communities that C&YP live in.

Tell me a little bit about your story with Balloons and how you came to become CEO?

I started with Balloons as their first CEO in April 2015. I couldn’t have been more excited when I was offered the job. To me – Balloons is the perfect charity, small but beautifully formed, focused as it is on supporting children and young people to thrive in adversity due to bereavement. Before working at Balloons I had job roles in education, higher education, the charity sector and the grant-giving sector. I love that I can call on all of this previous knowledge in my work here at Balloons.

Over time I have come to realise that points of transition are hugely significant for children and young people. Transitions can, of course, be both positive and negative. Bereavement is a huge transition. We will most probably all of us face the death of someone significant in our lives at some point, but to face this as a child can carry huge risks. The adults surrounding the child may be grieving themselves, and less able to provide support. Many people will feel that they don’t know what to say, and so they say nothing. Many will seek to protect the child – that is after all our role as adults – so we don’t want to name or hear or witness their distress. Children can easily become isolated and vulnerable because of this isolation. Children are of course resilient, but not in a vacuum. I like to think that at Balloons we make sure they don’t have to process their bereavement in a vacuum. We give voice to their loss, honour their pain and help them to find their own resolutions.

This work feels to me to be so important, and I am so lucky to get up and go to work every morning knowing that what I do matters and makes a genuine positive difference.  

Approximately how many children do you help each year?

In 2018, Balloons supported 161 C&YP and over 400 families.

How many staff and volunteers do you have?

We have a fantastic staff team of one full-time member of staff (me!) and 4 part-time members of staff, all of whom do an amazing job – Liz Cook, Donna James, Jo Overton-Pitts and Cath Kelly.

Our volunteer Grief Support Workers, who are all fully trained and supported by the staff team, carry out the 1:1 grief support work. At the time of writing, we have 54 volunteers. They are the beating heart of the charity, giving up their time as they do to support grieving children and young people. They are a diverse team and we draw strength from this diversity and learn from each other.

We also have a strong Board of Trustees – local people who give up their time to make sure that the charity is well governed, legally compliant and providing an effective service.

How do you generate revenue to do the work you do?

Fundraising is an ongoing challenge for Balloons. At the moment we are lucky to be halfway through our 3-year funding from the Big Lottery. This covers half of our costs. The rest of our funding comes from smaller donations from grant-making bodies, plus approximately 35% of our costs come from small donations from local businesses and individuals. We rely on corporate partners and generous people who know what we do and understand the importance of our work.

What do you need from the people of Exeter to continue your work and fund the brilliant work you do?

Being part of the local community and serving the local communities in our catchment area makes us who we are as a charity. We have strong partnerships with the 200+ local schools that refer their grieving pupils to us. We have strong partnerships with the local businesses that take time to fundraise for us and make donations to us. We need this to continue and we can’t continue without that support. We are always keen to hear from local businesses that can support us in kind – from donating a box of envelopes for use in the office to taking us as their charity of the year. We would also love to build partnerships with craft suppliers – we use arts and crafts in our creative work with children and we always need felt tips, crayons, notebooks, glitter, sequins, stickers.

An idea we have which we’d love to launch is a ‘Sponsor a Book’ month, where 100 local businesses (or more) each sponsor a book for our library. We use story books in our work, especially with younger children, and are desperate to extend our library to meet demand.

What is your greatest personal achievement within the organisation?

When I took over as CEO, Balloons was already a wonderful local charity with a heart of gold. I didn’t make that happen – it was already there. I think that what I have done in my tenure so far is to ensure that the charity has systems and procedures in place so that the work that we do can be delivered safely and effectively. This might sound a bit dull – but more than anything I want Balloons to thrive and develop, and to continue to be a fit for purpose charity long after I have gone. So it’s about building strong foundations and good networks. It’s about raising our profile and telling our story. It’s about making sure that we are one of the landmark charities in the local area. It’s about having a brand that epitomises trust and compassion, integrity and honesty. I hope that I have at least stated to achieve that.

What would you do with Balloons if you had a massive cash injection?

Once we had finished our conga round the car park, we’d dust ourselves down and start serious planning! It wouldn’t be about huge change; we are confident of what we do and have ‘tested’ our service in many different ways. We take feedback from all our stakeholders; children and young people, primary carers and the schools that refer to us. We know people want our service. So increased funding would be an opportunity for us to provide service quickly to very single child that was referred to us. We would be able to invest further in our staff and volunteer team, through training and CPD. We would be able to purchase all the arts and crafts materials we need for our work with grieving children.  If it was a really large cash injection, we would invest in the future of the charity by buying an office base which allowed us to deliver our services from a fit for purpose environment.

If people want to get involved with the charity/volunteer, what do they need to do and what kind of roles could they take on?

We are always keen to hear from local people who want to get more involved in the charity. We are in the local community, for the local community. The main way that we use volunteers is as Grief Support Workers. Anyone who thinks this type of volunteering appeals should ring the office on 01392 826064 to talk more, and we can answer any questions and send out the information pack. Our current volunteers tell us that they enjoy their volunteering with us and some of them have been loyal to us for many years – so that must count for something! We also use volunteers as Trustees, as all charities do. Any HR specialists out there? Or marketing / PR? We’d love to hear from you! We’re a very friendly bunch! Finally – we adore all the wonderful people who voluntarily fundraise for us – from schools that hold non-uniform days, to businesses that have bake sales, to companies that have staff challenges to raise vital funds – you all make a huge difference to us and the more the merrier!

Feedback from a Father after support from Balloons whilst Mum was dying and after her death:

Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for your support. It has helped my son in so many ways, and in ways that I just couldn’t help him myself. I have learnt so much as well. If any good can come from our bereavement it is through all that we have learnt from our support from Balloons.

Feedback from a child who received Balloons pre-bereavement support:

If any of my friends were unlucky enough to lose Dad like I did – I’d tell them to go to Balloons. In fact, I would take them there myself!

Vital statistics

In 2018, Balloons supported 161 Children and young people and over 400 families.
1 in 29 schoolchildren are bereaved of a parent or sibling – that’s one pupil in every class
111 children are bereaved of a parent every day
The incidence of childhood bereavement in youth offenders is ten times higher (41%) than the national average (4%)

Get involved!

Balloons are always keen to hear from businesses and local people who want to get more involved. There are opportunities to become Grief Support Workers, trustees, marketing and PR. Call 01392 826064 to talk more.

More about Balloons.