Bereavement charity at 'financial crisis point'

A bereavement counselling charity helping parents, children and young people says it has reached a financial crisis point.

Edward's Trust, which provides bereavement support for the West Midlands area, assisting more than 600 families a year across the region, stated it could not carry on without raising £200,000 over the next six months.

The charity offers support to bereaved parents and young people aged between four to 24, who are bereaved of a close friend or family member.

The Birmingham charity, which was founded in 1989, said it was "the first time in nearly four decades the continuation of our services [are] at risk".

Fundraising manager Emily Humphries added that losing the service would "take away a really vital lifeline from people in the community who really need us".

Tom Little, 26, has been receiving support from Edward's Trust after he lost both of his parents at a young age, and has had to rebuild his life with the help of counselling.

He said he "came in having lost everything".

"I didn't have a family, I had grandparents, but I didn't have a family around me.

"I think Edward's Trust is a really good way of kind of highlighting that you're not alone and there's people here who can support you and help you get back on your feet."

Little is one of 800 clients helped each year across the West Midlands by the charity, which sees 30 people at its site every day.

Six years ago, Phil While and his wife had to make the difficult decision to terminate a pregnancy following a genetic disorder diagnosis.

He said the charity in Edgbaston was "invaluable", adding: "It made such a massive difference to our family, so to my wife, to our eldest child and to myself.

"We all came to Edward's Trust for help at the time."

The trust was founded by Peter and Hilary Dent in 1989 in memory of their son, Edward, who died of cancer when he was seven.

For counselling, individual work may be provided by phone, video call or face to face.

CEO Christine Bodkin said they knew "that the face-to-face [service] was going to always be the thing that people were going to respond to".

Overall, every year its bereavement support reaches more than 3,000 family members.

Services include one-to-one counselling, wellbeing therapies and support groups.

In a donation part of its website, the charity asked people to help it "provide free, specialised services that bring hope and healing".

Meanwhile, charity shops have been facing closures as soaring wage bills, higher energy costs and evolving shopping habits put growing pressure on the high street.

Major charities including the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK have announced plans to shut hundreds of stores, while smaller organisations have warned the financial strain was becoming unsustainable.

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