Support for Bereaved Parents and Siblings

We are here to support you following the devastating loss of your child or sibling. We provide an informal, quiet space for you to meet with other bereaved parents and siblings and share your experiences.

Find a support group Donate

At SLOW we know that your grief cannot be fixed, and we do not strive to ‘make things better’.

Instead we give you space and support, so that you may, in your own time, slowly rebuild your life.

In this way, we believe there is hope to be found in connecting with other bereaved parents and siblings, relief in sharing the pain of grief, and company in bearing the unbearable, alongside others who are living with loss.

June 2021 Support Group Update

This month we are running both Zoom and some face to face support groups in school term time.

See below or check out the SLOW calendar for more details.

Being listened to and understood is for bereaved parents a ray of hope amidst a world that has fallen apart.

Member quote

Whether it’s weeks, months or years since your child or sibling died you’ll be welcome here at SLOW.

South London Bereaved Parents Weekly Group

Streatham-based daytime support group every Tuesday via Zoom during term time. Resuming face-to-face groups soon.

Tue 15

Bereaved Parents Weekly Tuesday Zoom Support Group (South London)

15 June at 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

North London Bereaved Parents Weekly Group

Islington-based daytime group every Wednesday via Zoom during term time. Resuming face-to-face groups from 19 May.

Wed 16

Bereaved Parent Weekly Wednesday Support Group (North London)

16 June at 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

North London Bereaved Parents Monthly Group

Islington-based evening support group once a month via Zoom during term time. Resuming face-to-face groups from late July.

Thu 17

Bereaved Parents Monthly Evening Zoom Support Group (North London)

17 June at 6:00 pm

Weekly Bereaved Parents Zoom Group

Daytime support group every Monday via Zoom during term time.

Mon 14

Bereaved Parents Weekly Zoom Support Group

14 June at 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Monthly Bereaved Parents Zoom Group

Evening support group held monthly via Zoom during term time.

Jul 08

Bereaved Parents Monthly Evening Zoom Support Group

8 July at 6:00 pm - 7:15 pm

North London SLOWsibs Quarterly Workshops

Quarterly workshops for bereaved children (aged 6-15 years) who have lost siblings.

Jul 10

SLOWsibs Workshop

10 July at 2:00 pm - 5:30 pm

SLOWsibs 18+ Bereaved Adult Sibling Support

Evening support groups every other month for bereaved adult siblings (aged 18+ years).

Jul 15

SLOWsibs 18+ Support Group

15 July at 7:15 pm - 8:45 pm

Take a look at our calendar to find out when the next support groups and workshops are taking place.

Select one of the highlighted dates and then follow the link below the calendar for more information.

Mon 14

Bereaved Parents Weekly Zoom Support Group

14 June at 11:00 am - 12:30 pm

Get in touch

For further details for all our groups and workshops contact 07532 423 674 or info@slowgroup.co.uk

You can also get in touch via our contact form and connect with us on social media

Recent articles from the SLOW blog

Thank you to our amazing volunteers

Jun 1, 2021

It’s volunteer week and we’d like to thank our many, many special volunteers who help SLOW run in so many valuable ways.

Face-to-face support meetings are (slowly) returning!

Face-to-face support meetings are (slowly) returning!

May 17, 2021

After a year of Zoom meetings some of our groups are returning to face to face. We’ll continue with Zoom meetings for those unable or apprehensive to return in person.

Your views matter! Please join our focus groups

Your views matter! Please join our focus groups

Apr 20, 2021

SLOW wants to hear from our members about their experiences of coming to our bereaved parent support groups and we are looking for volunteers for our focus groups, to be held in May and June 2021.

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It’s volunteer week and it’s been a really cha

It’s volunteer week and it’s been a really challenging year at SLOW with the pandemic and we’d like to take the time to thank our many, many special volunteers who donate their time freely with a passion and commitment for the work we do to support bereaved families:
Susie, Nic and Tim – our Founders and expert bereaved parent facilitators
Liz and Maria – our welcoming Wednesday group volunteers
The wonderful SLOWsibs volunteers – Lisa and Laura
Our new SLOWsibs 18+ volunteer facilitator, the lovely Michael
One of amazing supervisors, Steve
Ben who kindly verified our accounts last year
Millie, Geena and Lizette from Herts University who are working with us to evaluate our support services
We’d also like to thank those who offered to work for free during the pandemic – thank you Clara
And finally, our trustees who worked tirelessly over the last year, Pippa, Tim, Kieran, Andrew, Sara, Fin, Samara and Helen
Thank you! We whole-heartedly appreciate the time and support you have dedicated to SLOW over the last year.
And if you'd like to volunteer for SLOW we'd love to have you on board to help with fundraising, at groups, as trustees.... email Kelly on admin@slowgroup.co.uk if you'd like to help us support bereaved families. #volunteerweek2021 #slowgroup #bereavement #bereavedfamilies #bereavementsupportgroup

We still have spaces available on our June focus g

We still have spaces available on our June focus groups if you'd like to share your views and experiences of SLOW. We'd love to hear from you. See the link for more details and email Kelly at admin@slowgroup.co.uk by Friday 4th June if you'd like to take part. https:// slowgroup.co.uk/slow-focus-groups-2021/

After over a year of Zoom support, some of our gro

After over a year of Zoom support, some of our groups are returning to face-to-face meetings and we’re so looking forward to seeing our bereaved families – both new and old members.
We’ll be starting with our Wednesday North London bereaved parent support group that will return to its first face-to-face meeting on Wednesday 19th May 2021.
We know that some of you are apprehensive about returning in person to groups so going forward SLOW will run a regular Zoom weekly daytime group and a Zoom monthly evening bereaved parents’ group too.
For full details see our website https://slowgroup.co.uk/support-groups-returning-to-face.../
#bereavedparents #bereavedparentssupport #slowgroup

Hello everyone - “How to Carry What Can’t be F

Hello everyone - “How to Carry What Can’t be Fixed” here’s an interesting new book from Megan at Refuge in Grief. @refugeingrief We often talk in the SLOW groups about how we carry our grief, knowing it can’t be fixed. How we are ‘bearing the unbearable’ and how at our support groups we get a chance to put that heavy burden down for a few minutes to take a break and lighten the load with others who understand, before we pick it up again and carry on our way. Many parents follow the blog @refugeingrief and Megan was one of the first people I heard speak on the radio in the small hours , a few months after Naomi died , and her words struck a hopeful chord with her honest and no sugar-coating approach. She also wrote “It's OK That You're Not OK” which is also a great book. “How to Carry What Can't Be Fixed-“ is a journal filled with unique, creative ways to open a dialogue with grief itself. "Being allowed to tell the truth about your grief is an incredibly powerful act," she says, "This journal enables you to tell your whole story, without the need to tack on a happy ending where there isn't one." Grief is a natural response to death and loss-it's not a problem to be fixed. This workbook contains no cliches, timetables, or checklists of stages to get through; it won't help you "move on" or put your loss behind you. Instead, you'll find encouragement, self-care exercises, daily tools, tear-and-share resources to help you educate friends and allies, and prompts to help you honour your pain and heartbreak. Pre order at WHSmith, Amazon, book depository and many others. Kerri @kerrioneill_ says “ if only this had been available when my son died 14 years ago . So glad to see there’s so much more support available ❤️” #grief#griefhealing #bereavedparents#bereavement#childloss#mindfulgrief#deathofachild#babylossawareness

Please join our May focus groups! We want hear f

Please join our May focus groups!

We want hear from our members about their experiences of coming to our bereaved parent support groups, so we are working with Geena Saini and Millie Witcher, two students from the University of Hertfordshire.

Your feedback and views will help us understand how our support helps you, so we can make improvements to how we run our groups as well as plan our next steps as an organisation.

Millie and Geena will be running a number of 90-minute focus groups via Zoom and we want these groups to represent a range of views from long term members, newly joined, monthly or weekly members but also those who don’t attend anymore, all views are welcome and will be anonymised. And, if you’d prefer to share your views privately, they will also be holding a small number of telephone interviews.

If you are interested in taking part in either the focus groups or the interviews, or if you would simply like to know more about the research, please contact Kelly Carter at admin@slowgroup.co.uk by the end of April. She’ll then be able to forward your details onto Millie and Geena who can provide you with further information.

Thank you
#slowsupport #bereavedparents #slowfocusgroup

SLOW is starting support groups for bereaved adult

SLOW is starting support groups for bereaved adult siblings with our first meeting taking place on 1st April @ 7.15pm via Zoom.
All bereaved siblings are warmly welcome.
The groups will be facilitated by our lovely new facilitators, Shushma Jain and Michael Ward, both bereaved siblings themselves.
For more information about the groups see our website https://slowgroup.co.uk/slowsibs-18-support-group/ and contact Shushma at adultsibs@slowgroup.co.uk or on 07506 272 309. Dates of future SLOWsibs 18+ groups are detailed on our website’s event calendar https://slowgroup.co.uk/slow-calendar/
Please do share this post with any bereaved adult siblings that may need SLOW’s support.
#slowsupport #bereavedsiblings #bereavedsiblingsupport

A mother’s love - never ending, infinite, intima

A mother’s love - never ending, infinite, intimate and eternal. For all of us mothers whose children have died, today is another painful stake in the heart. But - we are still mothers , til our dying day. Still mothers to our lost child, still proud and still parenting. Always. 💜💙💔💓💙🤍

Ria remembering her sister Debbie in this beautifu

Ria remembering her sister Debbie in this beautiful bauble ❤️#bereavedsiblings#griefsupport#bereavement #goodgrief

Wonderful work Victor ! Remembering his twin broth

Wonderful work Victor ! Remembering his twin brother Martin, seen together here together as babies in his Xmas bauble ❤️#bereavementsupport #bereavedsiblings#griefsupport

Beautiful work by Casper , remembering Cora and hi

Beautiful work by Casper , remembering Cora and his baby brother . Despite being online Zoom, we had fun and connection through the screen and even had a sing song at the end ❤️🎄#bereavedsiblings#griefsupport#babylossawareness#griefawareness

It’s volunteer week and it’s been a really cha

It’s volunteer week and it’s been a really challenging year at SLOW with the pandemic and we’d like to take the time to thank our many, many special volunteers who donate their time freely with a passion and commitment for the work we do to support bereaved families:
Susie, Nic and Tim – our Founders and expert bereaved parent facilitators
Liz and Maria – our welcoming Wednesday group volunteers
The wonderful SLOWsibs volunteers – Lisa and Laura
Our new SLOWsibs 18+ volunteer facilitator, the lovely Michael
One of amazing supervisors, Steve
Ben who kindly verified our accounts last year
Millie, Geena and Lizette from Herts University who are working with us to evaluate our support services
We’d also like to thank those who offered to work for free during the pandemic – thank you Clara
And finally, our trustees who worked tirelessly over the last year, Pippa, Tim, Kieran, Andrew, Sara, Fin, Samara and Helen
Thank you! We whole-heartedly appreciate the time and support you have dedicated to SLOW over the last year.
And if you'd like to volunteer for SLOW we'd love to have you on board to help with fundraising, at groups, as trustees.... email Kelly on admin@slowgroup.co.uk if you'd like to help us support bereaved families. #volunteerweek2021 #slowgroup #bereavement #bereavedfamilies #bereavementsupportgroup

We still have spaces available on our June focus g

We still have spaces available on our June focus groups if you'd like to share your views and experiences of SLOW. We'd love to hear from you. See the link for more details and email Kelly at admin@slowgroup.co.uk by Friday 4th June if you'd like to take part. https:// slowgroup.co.uk/slow-focus-groups-2021/

After over a year of Zoom support, some of our gro

After over a year of Zoom support, some of our groups are returning to face-to-face meetings and we’re so looking forward to seeing our bereaved families – both new and old members.
We’ll be starting with our Wednesday North London bereaved parent support group that will return to its first face-to-face meeting on Wednesday 19th May 2021.
We know that some of you are apprehensive about returning in person to groups so going forward SLOW will run a regular Zoom weekly daytime group and a Zoom monthly evening bereaved parents’ group too.
For full details see our website https://slowgroup.co.uk/support-groups-returning-to-face.../
#bereavedparents #bereavedparentssupport #slowgroup

Hello everyone - “How to Carry What Can’t be F

Hello everyone - “How to Carry What Can’t be Fixed” here’s an interesting new book from Megan at Refuge in Grief. @refugeingrief We often talk in the SLOW groups about how we carry our grief, knowing it can’t be fixed. How we are ‘bearing the unbearable’ and how at our support groups we get a chance to put that heavy burden down for a few minutes to take a break and lighten the load with others who understand, before we pick it up again and carry on our way. Many parents follow the blog @refugeingrief and Megan was one of the first people I heard speak on the radio in the small hours , a few months after Naomi died , and her words struck a hopeful chord with her honest and no sugar-coating approach. She also wrote “It's OK That You're Not OK” which is also a great book. “How to Carry What Can't Be Fixed-“ is a journal filled with unique, creative ways to open a dialogue with grief itself. "Being allowed to tell the truth about your grief is an incredibly powerful act," she says, "This journal enables you to tell your whole story, without the need to tack on a happy ending where there isn't one." Grief is a natural response to death and loss-it's not a problem to be fixed. This workbook contains no cliches, timetables, or checklists of stages to get through; it won't help you "move on" or put your loss behind you. Instead, you'll find encouragement, self-care exercises, daily tools, tear-and-share resources to help you educate friends and allies, and prompts to help you honour your pain and heartbreak. Pre order at WHSmith, Amazon, book depository and many others. Kerri @kerrioneill_ says “ if only this had been available when my son died 14 years ago . So glad to see there’s so much more support available ❤️” #grief#griefhealing #bereavedparents#bereavement#childloss#mindfulgrief#deathofachild#babylossawareness