Support & guidance
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Helpline

Out-of-hours support

We provide confidential support, information and guidance to individuals, families and professionals throughout the UK. Our support team is available to respond to calls, live chat, email, or text and WhatsApp from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays). Please note, any messages received outside of our working hours will be responded to as soon as possible on our next working day.

Speak with a bereavement specialist (between 8am and 8pm, Monday to Friday):

By phone – call 0800 02 888 40

By text or WhatsApp – 07418 341 800

By email – [email protected] or use our contact form

By live chat – click the yellow ‘chat with us’ button

Contact these organisations for out of hours support

Organisation	Phone	Opening hours
Samaritans	Call: 116 123	Usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
CALM Suicide support	Call: 0800 58 58 58	Usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Childline	Call: 0800 1111	Usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Cruse Bereavement Support	Call: 0808 808 1677	Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays, open until 8pm.
Cruse Scotland Bereavement support	Call: 0808 802 6161	Monday to Friday, open until 8pm.
Hopeline UK Suicide support	Call: 0800 068 4141 Text: 078600 39967 Email: [email protected]	9am to midnight every day including weekends and bank holidays.
National Suicide Prevention Helpline	Call: 0800 689 5652	Open 6pm to midnight, 365 days a year.
Sands Baby loss support	Call: 0808 164 3332 Email: [email protected]	Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm and Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 6pm to 9pm.
SHOUT Text messaging support service	Text: 85258	Usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Compassionate Friends Support for bereaved parents and families	Call: 0345 123 23 04 Email: [email protected]	Usually open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Latest

What helps you when someone is unkind or jokes - Junior Youth Ambassadors
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Bereavement specialists share ways to support a child or young person when someone important to them has a serious illness.
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Download our PSHE lessons on loss and bereavement

Download our free PSHE lessons and resources for schools on loss and bereavement for Key Stages 1-4. These have been developed by teachers and bereavement support workers.

What helps you when someone is unkind or jokes - Junior Youth Ambassadors
How can I support a child or young person when someone important to them has a serious illness?

Bereavement specialists share ways to support a child or young person when someone important to them has a serious illness.
What I wish my friends knew about grief - Junior Youth Ambassadors
Download our PSHE lessons on loss and bereavement

Download our free PSHE lessons and resources for schools on loss and bereavement for Key Stages 1-4. These have been developed by teachers and bereavement support workers.
Free online bereavement training for schools

Free online training modules | 20 minutes | Access immediately
PSHE lessons on loss and bereavement

We offer free PSHE lessons for schools on loss and bereavement for Key Stages 1-4. These have been developed by teachers and bereavement support workers.
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Ask Me: Education

Bereavement plans and resources to help students feel seen, understood and supported in education.

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Children and young people grieve just as much as adults but they can show it in different ways. Find out how you can help them and more about child grieving.
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Guidance on children's understanding of death at different ages and stages of development.
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Guidance on explaining to a child that someone has died.
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Guidance for teachers and parents on talking to children about death and dying,
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The death of a grandparent is often a child or young person’s first encounter with the death of someone important. Parents have a great deal to manage when their own parent or carer dies.
Child Bereavement UK training

Child Bereavement UK designs and delivers training for professionals in health and social care, education, the emergency services and the voluntary and corporate sectors, equipping them to provide the best possible care to bereaved families.
Contact us

Contact details for our Helpline, departments and services.
Adults bereaved as children

How being bereaved as a child can affect your life as an adult and where you can find support.
When your baby dies

When a baby lives only a short time or dies before birth due to miscarriage, SUDIC, stillbirth or a painful decision to end the pregnancy, people may assume that the loss is not important. This is simply not the case.