Enquiries and advice line: 01865 744768 Email us info@seesaw.org.uk

About SeeSaw

Background
Staff
Volunteer Support Workers
Trustees

Background

SeeSaw was first set up in 2000 after the need for support for bereaved children in Oxfordshire was identified by professionals working in Oxfordshire and was shaped by research carried out with bereaved Download our

parents and children. Annual accounts 2010-11

SeeSaw supports children in Oxfordshire when a parent or sibling has died or is dying. Children can be referred to SeeSaw by a parent, legal guardian or carer (unless a child is over 16 year old, in which case they may refer themselves).

SeeSaw’s key aims and objectives

To provide a rapid and flexible support service to children and their families in order to help them achieve a normal grieving process and to face the future with hope
To provide a programme of education and training about childhood bereavement for professionals working with children, especially teachers (SeeSaw employs a specialist Schools and Families Support Worker)
To create literature and resources to help children, their carers and professionals to understand grief

When a child is referred to SeeSaw an initial home visit is made to establish whether and how SeeSaw might best be able to help. As everyone’s experience of bereavement is different, SeeSaw’s support is always tailor-made for that individual child. SeeSaw’s highly skilled support workers will work with the child to find the most appropriate way for that child. The number of sessions needed will vary and will be determined by the support worker and the child together.

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Staff

Rosie Nicol-Harper
Director

I am SeeSaw's Director, having previously been one of SeeSaw's original volunteer support workers. I have worked as a social worker for more than 20 years in various teams such as child protection, fostering and adoption, a palliative care unit and child and adolescent mental health clinics. In 2005 I completed a doctorate at Oxford University.

Being Director of SeeSaw is a great opportunity to use all the things I have learned over the years, in particular, about the amazing ways that families deal with crises. I enjoy being the “public face” of SeeSaw but also love being able to visit families to share what we’ve learned from families in similar situations over the years. It’s a real privilege to head such a strong and committed team of staff and volunteers alongside our Trustees.

Christine Young

Associate Director

I joined SeeSaw in January 2011 in the new role of Associate Director. With a background in counselling, I have worked in a range of settings, including an oncology service, palliative care and private practice. Most recently I was Head of Family Support and Bereavement at a children and young adult’s hospice. Children and families show unbelievable resilience in managing life after a bereavement and I really enjoy the work we do in supporting them through this. I am also very happy to be involved with the training, which SeeSaw offers, whether to professionals or to our own Volunteer Support Workers. The VSWs are amazingly skilled and committed and a fantastic resource .

Kathy Moore
Children and Families Macmillan Support Worker

As the Children and Families Macmillan Support Worker, my role is to support children and families when either a parent or sibling is going to die. I help families realise that they do have the skills necessary to be able to communicate with their own children, to find words to use, and decide when and how to say things at this difficult time.

It is often useful for children to have somebody to talk things through with and I do this by meeting with them individually, often with my dog “Do-Good”. I also support professionals working with children when a parent or sibling is dying.

My post was funded until 2008 by Macmillan Cancer Support.

“Kathy helps me when I’m upset by talking things through with me” 9 year-old girl supported by SeeSaw.

Chris Druce
Schools & Families Support Worker

I can’t count the times have I heard teachers say “I can cope with most situations in school, but the thought of facing a child who is devastated by the loss of someone they love fills me with huge anxiety. I am worried about saying the wrong thing and making the situation worse. I need to know what to say and do that would help them.” So my job is to provide the information, advice training and support that school staff need to enable them to feel confident in their ability to understand and share a child’s bereavement journey.

Chris is a qualified social worker who worked as an education Social Worker before joining SeeSaw in 2001. She also has a qualification in Adult Education training and worked for a while as a bereavement support worker for adults.

“Chris ran two staff training sessions for us. All the staff
who attended found them very helpful and described feeling that
their own skills had been boosted. This, I think, is the sign of high level
training.”
Teacher from a school supported by Chris Druce

Jenny Hyson

Children and Family Support Worker

When talking to bereaved children they often tell me that they would like to meet other children who have been bereaved. In my role as Children and Family Support Worker I am working to organise children’s groups and more family activity days and where children and parents can come together to meet one another and to have fun. Adults also need time to talk to others who know some of what they are feeling and our monthly coffee mornings with crèche help to meet this need.

Talking to children when someone very close to them has died is always very special and it never fails to amaze me just how strong and thoughtful children are.

Dianne Stafford
Administrator and ‘First Voice’

If a parent calls SeeSaw for advice or support I am the person they are likely to speak to first. I give them time to explain their situation and advise them on what SeeSaw can offer.

I am also responsible for the everyday administration of the SeeSaw office, producing the accounts, banking donations, gathering statistics and providing admin support for the team, as well as dealing with requests from professionals requesting information & leaflets.

Jennifer Russell
Grants and Trusts Fundraiser

After graduating I worked for a major NGO, on projects with sponsored children in Lesotho and Botswana. Having also worked in educational publishing in Oxford, and as an advertising copywriter, I very much enjoy using my writing skills to put SeeSaw’s case across effectively to charitable trusts and foundations. I now work on a freelance basis, to fit around my two small sons.

Jane Elliott
Fundraising Co-ordinator

As fundraising coordinator at SeeSaw I am responsible for raising money from individuals, companies, community groups, schools and churches. In addition to raising the essential funds to secure SeeSaw well into the future, I recruit volunteers of all ages to organise and run fundraising events, and also to promote the work of SeeSaw throughout the Oxfordshire community. Before joining SeeSaw, I was the Bereavement Service Administrator at the Sir Michael Sobell House hospice, where I gained firsthand knowledge of SeeSaw’s hugely valuable work with bereaved children and families.

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Volunteer support workers

SeeSaw trains dedicated volunteer support workers to work with children, usually in their own homes. They are the ones who listen to a child’s pain and distress, their fears and their nightmares. They are the ones who give them space and time to talk about what their bereavement means to them. They are the ones who help grieving children find ways to cope in a world where someone they love is missing.

They are carefully vetted at recruitment and then undertake 60 hours of specialised training, with regular supervision sessions and meetings at SeeSaw.

“Our SeeSaw Support Worker was a tower of strength for my children and for me at a very difficult time in our lives. For me she took the pressure off. I felt I could totally rely on her to help my boys through their grief, bringing with her skills that I would not necessarily have myself. I felt that I only had one chance to get my children through their hard times and wanted to get it right and with our support worker’s input I felt totally supported and able to cope.” The mother of two boys helped by SeeSaw

If you are interested in becoming a SeeSaw Volunteer Support Worker please e-mail info@seesaw.org.uk.

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Trustees

Dr Gillian Forrest (Chair) is a Consultant Child Psychiatrist and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Oxford. She has published articles on perinatal death, staff support needs at a children’s hospice and children’s reactions to a diagnosis of maternal breast cancer.

Alun Evans (Treasurer) is a Chartered Accountant. He is a Director of a national company.

Ann Couldrick is a bereavement specialist. Her research and report in 1997 “The Support Needs of Bereaved Children and Young People in Oxfordshire” demonstrated the need for SeeSaw’s service. She was a Macmillan nurse before becoming Senior Nurse at Sir Michael Sobell House Hospice, where she helped establish the Sobell House Bereavement Service. Her booklets “Grief and Bereavement - Understanding Children” and “When your Mum or Dad has Cancer” continue to be used by children’s bereavement services across the country.

Dr Roger Higton is a science teacher at an Oxfordshire school and ICT specialist. He is an experienced educationalist and writer with a deep interest in the pastoral care of school pupils.

Glynis Phillips (Secretary) is a retired NHS Manager who also worked for the Civil Service at a national level mainly with organisations supporting people with disabilities.'

Linda Johnston is an Educational Psychologist within Oxfordshire Education Department and a qualified Family Therapist.

Julia Palejowska is a Chartered Accountant. She is Finance Manager of an Oxford College.

Dr Marilyn Relf is Head of Education at Sir Michael Sobell House, and President of the UK’s Bereavement Research Forum. Together with Ann Couldrick, she pioneered the involvement of volunteers in bereavement care. She is a member of the editorial board of Bereavement Care and is Director of Studies for Working with Bereaved Adults, a post-graduate certificate.

Kay Symons is a consultant and trainer for the educational publishing industry, specialising in strategy, finance and marketing.

Mary Thompson retired from a senior post at Naomi House Hospice, having worked as Head Nurse at Helen House Hospice for many years. Mary also has many years experience in community fundraising.

Jacqueline Worswick was closely involved in the planning and establishment of Helen House, the first hospice for children, which was named after her eldest daughter. She has written and lectured on children’s hospice care, chaired BBC Radio Oxford’s Advisory Council and served on one of the Regional Advisory Councils of the BBC.
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Photo credits
Telephone image courtesy of Chris Campbell