Schoolgirl shares her feelings book to help other bereaved children

Schoolgirl Sadie Williams found great comfort in writing down her thoughts and feelings when her grandad died. It helped her to cope with her grief and now she wants to help other young people under the care of Saint Francis Hospice who may be bereaved or facing the loss of a loved one. As part of Children’s Grief Awareness Week, (17-23^rd November) Sadie shares how she came up with the idea of creating the My Feelings book.

When I was six, my grandad Terry was sadly diagnosed with lung cancer. It was a very difficult time for us as a family as this meant that he was regularly in and out of hospital. But thankfully, we had the support of Saint Francis Hospice, both throughout his illness and after. Unfortunately, after his 10-month battle with cancer, my grandad lost his fight and passed away. This was a very upsetting time as my grandad and I were very close.

To help me get through this difficult period of time, my mum encouraged me to write my feelings down in a notebook. Sometimes I would draw things too. I found this helped me to actually get my feelings down on paper, rather than bottle them up inside.

Sharing my book with other children

This is how I came up with the idea of a feelings book. I thought that as it had helped me so much, this simple but effective idea could help other young people who had lost loved ones.

So, at the age of eight, I wrote a letter to Tes Smith, the Director of Care at Saint Francis Hospice, to tell her about my idea. I was amazed to receive a reply inviting me to meet with her to discuss the possibility of making my idea a reality. After several meetings, a prototype was made, which eventually led to the production the book.

I’m now 15 years old and I sincerely hope my book helps other young people as much as writing things down really helped me.