Healing trauma through play – how L&Q supports the vital work of bereavement charity

A charity supported by L&Q to help children process the loss of a loved one through puppetry has been praised by a mother of seven who lost her husband.

ellenor, a hospice care provider, ran a puppetry workshop in collaboration with Strangeface Theatre Company to help participants express their feelings through play.

Leann Williams, from Gravesend, came to the charity for support after her husband Peter died just ten days after being diagnosed with an advanced form of liver cancer.

Her youngest child attended the puppetry workshop, which was run by play therapist Jolanta Martis and made possible thanks to an £8,000 grant from housing association L&Q.

Leann said her daughter Molly, who was seven at the time, found the loss the hardest and found it difficult to talk about her father. But after Molly attended the workshop and made a puppet of him, Leann noticed an improvement.

Leann said:

“For those few precious moments after the session, she was my little girl – she was Molly. After her father’s death, it was like a light had gone off inside her, but for those few seconds, it was flickering.

“She was thinking about the story, what she was going to say, what she was going to do – how he was going to talk. She was already bringing him to life, which I think helped her because she was remembering things that Daddy had done. She found his mug and some shortbread biscuits, as well as a Toblerone – because that’s Daddy’s favourite chocolate. She wanted her puppet to have the things Daddy liked.”

Molly also attended a block of play therapy sessions, while Leann’s older children took part in ellenor’s GEMS (Grief: Every Memory is Special) groups.

The groups run for four days every year and help children share their emotions and make friends through team-building activities such as boxing training and forest survival skills.

Play Therapist Jolanta Martis, said:

“It can be very hard for children who have lost a loved one, and it can be incredibly difficult at school.  When they come to our workshops and GEMS days, they know that everyone else has experienced loss and they can freely talk to each other. It helps them to know that other people are grieving and they are not alone.

“With the puppet workshop, they didn’t need to speak in the first person and they could work out their emotions through the puppet. You can see that they are processing things in a symbolic way.”

ellenor provides all-encompassing hospice care for adults in Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley, and children living in North Kent and Bexley.

Matt Corbett, Director of the L&Q Foundation, said:

“All of the work that ellenor does is incredible, and the work that they are doing with bereaved children is no exception. We are proud to have been able to support this amazing project.”

The L&Q Foundation offers Place Makers grants of up to £10,000 to help organisations deliver projects related to the cost of living crisis that benefit L&Q residents and local communities.

For more information, please email lqgroup@rocketsciencelab.co.uk.

To find out more about ellenor’s services, please visit the ellenor website.