The power of the Child Death Helpline

The power of the Child Death Helpline, talking to someone who gets it.

For Helplines Awareness Day, the Child Death Helpline has written this guest blog post about the power of their helpline.

On the Child Death Helpline, all our call handlers are volunteers with lived experience. It’s the main thing we ask from people who want to join our team.

Everyone will agree that losing a child, no matter what age, is devastating, but if one didn’t experience it themselves, they can’t really understand.

When bereaved parents call the helpline, they know that the volunteer on the other end of the line actually knows how it feels and what they are going through. They’ve been there themselves. There will be no judgment, no ‘You should be over it by now’ advice, no avoidance of speaking about their lost child.

There will be listening, understanding, and acknowledgement. Callers will be given the safe space and time to say what they need to say. They will be able to freely talk about their child as much as they need, without feeling they are upsetting the other side.

Bereaved parents and families usually want to talk and remember their child, but sometimes it feels uncomfortable to do so with friends who don’t understand and didn’t experience the loss of a child. That can make them feel lonely and isolated.

Thanks to the Child Death Helpline, they will be encouraged to talk about their child without feeling uncomfortable. And it’s not just parents that can get support, it could be neighbours, teachers, emergency services, professionals who have been involved with a child in any capacity. It could even be someone who was triggered by something they heard on the news.

Our volunteers are not there to make it better. They can’t. It is impossible to make someone who lost a child feel better, but they are there to listen, to understand and to support. This is the power of the Child Death Helpline, talking to someone who gets it.