A grant from Milton Keynes Community Foundation, ensuring the continuation of their vital Art Psychotherapy service for children and young people for another year.
Launched in 2021, the service provides free, specialist art psychotherapy sessions for children and young people who have a connection to the Hospice — whether they are facing bereavement or are navigating the challenges of a loved one’s life-limiting illness. Without any NHS funding, the programme relies solely on grants to operate and earlier this year was at serious risk of closure.
The grant will ensure the hospice can continue offering this lifeline to families who need it most. Art psychotherapy provides children and young people with a safe space where they can use art as a means of expression to communicate emotions and process events when words may be too difficult or painful.
Through creative expression, participants can begin to make sense of the loss of a loved one and, over time, feel better able to cope and more confident in sharing their thoughts and feelings with friends and family.
Despite this welcome cash injection, the long-term future of the service remains uncertain, with demand for sessions often exceeding capacity and the hospice requiring further funding to secure the programme for future years.
To find out more about the hospice’s therapeutic and wellbeing work, visit
www.willen-hospice.org.uk/therapeutic-and-wellbeing-services
