Mental Health Awareness Week 2024: Moving more for our mental health

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, and the team have been out and about sharing information about Guy’s Gift across several Warwickshire College sites.

Did you manage to catch up with one of the team and find out more about bereavement support?

The theme of the week, this year, is ‘Movement: moving more for your mental health’.   It’s shown that moving more is good for your mental health, so we have been asking the team and some of the children and young people we work with what they find helpful.

We’ve heard from some children and young people that sport helps them to manage some of their feelings and emotions, particularly being active outdoors with friends. Others have told us that looking after their horse and being active when riding helps them feel more comfortable with some of their feelings after someone important has died.

One of our counsellors, Libby Frost, shared that she sometimes provides space to walk and talk during support sessions, and being able to do this has helped some children and young people enormously.

Sophie Peel, Delivery Team Leader (groups and support to support) shared that dance is a great outlet for emotions, and remembers this helping her when she was younger.  On the theme of dancing, Rebecca Hepburn talked about learning TikTok dances which are great for being active (and my goodness are some of them active!) and also often end up being lots of fun too.

The Mental Health Foundation share their tips for moving more for your mental health: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/our-work/public-engagement/mental-health-awareness-week/boost-your-mental-health-moving-more  

Here at Guy’s Gift we’d love to hear from you too, about where you find your moments for movement, and how it works for you.

Whatever you do, we know the positive difference it can have. It sometimes feels hard to start with, but once you get going often it’s a lot of fun - and that simple act of movement is helping you too.

Did you know that volunteering with a charity can reduce your risk of developing age related diseases, keep your brain active, help to reduce blood pressure and even improve your mental health? 

If you would like to find out more about volunteering with Guy's Gift, please email volunteering@guysgift.co.uk.

Hospital Support Packs delivered

On 14th March, we were delighted to see our Bereavement Support Packs delivered to Jackie Hobson and Debbie Sherwell at Warwick Hospital.

A huge thank you to Leamington Spa Rotary for their fundraising last year, and to Anna Lapworth, Mel Ayers and the team at EA Games in Southam for volunteering their time to put the packs together and deliver them to McGregor ward.

Sophie Peel (Delivery Team Leader - Groups and Support to Support) went along too, representing Guy’s Gift. Sophie will be supporting the team at the hospital further, with guidance on using the resources to help bereaved children and families.

Sophie shared that it was clear how passionate the team at the hospital are about the support Guy’s Gift are able to provide, and grateful they are to have resources to hand for when they are needed.

Remember, support with Guy’s Gift can be accessed by any child who has experienced the death of someone important to them. To make a referral, you can call us on 0845 467 3035 or complete the contact form here and one of the team will call you back.

Become a Guy's Gift Volunteer

As James H Doolittle states - “There’s nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.”

Why do people decide to volunteer?
Many of the wonderful Guy’s Gift volunteers join us as they want to “make a difference” or “share their experiences” or even “give back to a charity that supported their family”. All of these reasons demonstrate that these special people have strong and powerful hearts, with a desire to help.

Our volunteers may work directly with families, they promote us as Community Ambassadors, they deliver school and hospital resource packs and even act as trustees of the charity. Every one of them makes a huge impact on the lives of children and young people who have experienced the death of someone special to them.

We are always looking for new volunteers to join our growing team. If you also have a strong and powerful heart, with the desire to help bereaved children and young people in your local area, please do take a look at our volunteer recruitment page. You could join our team and be a fundraiser, walk leader or even group support volunteer. You may have a different voluntary role in mind, if so, do let us know. We are open to suggestions!

In order to join our team of volunteers, we do ask you to attend one of our induction days. The next one is on the 13th April 2024 and will start at 9:30am in Warwick.

If you would like to find out more about our volunteering opportunities and find out how to join our nextinduction day, please email me at volunteering@guysgift.co.uk.

Giving Tuesday 2023

We couldn’t make a post about Giving Tuesday without acknowledging the wonderful support and donations that our local community have made over the last year. We’re always grateful for the support you show Guy’s Gift, and the difference you make to children and families across Coventry and Warwickshire.

Giving Tuesday is a global day of ‘doing good’. It’s a reasonably new tradition which originated in the USA following on from Thanksgiving and Black Friday.  It’s always on Tuesday straight after Thanksgiving.

Giving Tuesday can take on many forms, and it’s an opportunity for you to think about what ‘doing good’ means to you.

In its simplest form, you might consider making a donation to charity. As a small and local charity, you can be assured that if you donate to Guy’s Gift, your donation makes its way directly to the core of what we do – providing support for bereaved children and young people.

Other ways you might decide to show your support could be volunteering your time and/or expertise. We are always looking for volunteers to join our wonderful volunteer team, and if you’d like to find out more about opportunities you can get in touch with us on volunteering@guysgift.co.uk. You can also sign up to our monthly newsletter which keeps you up to date with volunteering opportunities.

Perhaps awareness campaigning is more your thing? Every time you tell a friend about Guy’s Gift, or like/comment/share a post on our social media pages, that means that another family might know about what we can do to support them. Afterall, bereavement support isn’t something which is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. When the unfortunate time comes that a family find they could do with support for their children following the death of someone important, they may not know where to look. Word of mouth is a wonderful way to make sure that families know about what support is available when they need it.

Maybe you’d like to hold a fundraising event for Guy’s Gift. This is a wonderful way to not only fundraise and be able to make valued donations, but also another great way to let people know about us.

We LOVE hearing from you when you’re supporting Guy’s Gift. Big or small, shout about it and let us know!