Charity (no. 1185499)

Ripples of Compassion

"Providing Support for Bereaved Parents and Children with Cancer"

Who We Help, Why We Help & the Difference It Makes

Our 2 year old daughter Ripley was diagnosed with high risk Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in January 2017. Throughout her treatment we were supported by countless healthcare professionals and charities all doing their best to make things as easy as possible for us as a family. Unfortunately Ripley passed away as a result of her Leukaemia in October 2017. 


We were lucky that Ripley remained her usual energetic and cheeky self until the very end. She had a positive impact on the lives of everyone she met and was a kind and empathetic little girl who didn’t like to see anyone else sad or in pain. We fundraised for the many charities that supported us in this time so that they can continue their great work supporting other families and have now set up own our charity Ripples Of Compassion in Ripley's Memory. 


Ripley would want to ease the sadness and pain of those around her wherever she could and in her memory we hope to do the same, supporting parents that have experience the death of a child, as well as children with cancer and their families, to make sure that no one is alone during these difficult experiences.

Our Services Are

Free Donation Appreciated

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What We Do

Bereavement Therapy

What We Offer

We understand there is no time limit on grief, particularly when it relates to the death of a child. Our aim at Ripples of Compassion is to provide free bereavement therapy and counselling for you for as long as it is needed.

How you get on with your therapist or counsellor is incredibly important. We use independent practitioners so we have a variety of professionals with a range of skills and expertise so we can help find the best match for you. If you do not feel the first person you meet with is the right fit for you we support you to find another professional until you feel comfortable. One of our peer supporters will support you through this whole process so you won’t be alone in trying to get the help you need.

Everyone grieves in different ways and the death of a child can put incredible strain on your relationships. We can provide support for you by yourself or jointly with your partner depending on what is right for you. If you are not sure we are happy to discuss this with you once we have received your referral. 

 
Who We Help

We do not exclude any bereaved parents from our therapy services. However due to the limited number of spaces we have to prioritise the referrals we receive. We use the following criteria to prioritise our referrals:

Parents that have already exhausted all other therapy provisions available to them

Parents of oncology children

Parents for whom the death of the child is more recent

Parents of children under 18

If we are unable to support you through our therapy services you are still able to access our other bereavement support services. We can keep you on our waiting list and notify you as and when we have spaces become available and/or we can work with you to find alternative support where this is available.


How To Access

As we use independent therapy practitioners to support us in achieving our aims, we ask that all referrals to us are completed by a health care professional and the parents GP is aware of the referral.

Referrals can be completed by a health care professional through our secure online referral form, here

We are aware that some NHS systems may restrict access to the online form. If this is the case they are able to download our referral form and send it to us securely at [email protected]

[email protected]Any questions about the service or how to refer please contact us at [email protected] and we would be happy to discuss in more detail with you.


Well-being Walks

The aim of our well-being walks is to allow parents that have experienced the death of a child to have space and time to look after themselves and their well-being.


The walks will generally be in areas of natural beauty such as woods, parks and country estates in/around Bristol. The walks will take place in a different location in and around Bristol on the second Sunday of each month starting promptly at 11am.


The details for each walk will be posted in advance on our Facebook page.


There is no set length or format for the walks and will depend on the parents that are there on the day.
Any parents that have experienced the death of a child are able to attend. However, our well-being walks are exclusively for adults and we ask that you do not bring your children with you.


This is to allow parents that have experienced the death of an only child or all their children to attend without having to worry about potential triggers. It also allows parents that still have living children time and space to prioritise their own needs.


If you would like to bring something to remember your child with you on the walk you are welcome to do so, but there is no expectation to bring anything other than yourself and sensible walking shoes.
The dates of our 2020 well-being walks are:

  • Sunday 9th February
  • Sunday 8th March
  • Sunday 12th April
  • Sunday 10th May
  • Sunday 14th June
  • Sunday 12th July
  • Sunday 9th August
  • Sunday 13th September
  • Sunday 11th October
  • Sunday 8th November
  • Sunday 13th December

Our first walk on 9th February will take place at Oldbury Court and Snuff Mills Locations for other walks will be confirmed nearer the time on Facebook.


If you have any questions about our well-being walks please contact us at [email protected]


Keepsakes

When a child dies it is important for the family to have ways in which they can remember the child. Keepsakes and memorials can be an important way in which the family can do this but there is often a cost associated with it. At Ripples of Compassion we believe that all bereaved parents should be able to have a keepsake or memorial item for their child and so provide a variety of these free of charge (or at reduced cost) for bereaved parents.

If you are unsure what type of keepsake you would like or need some support or inspiration to make a decision then please contact us and we would be happy to help. We have a number of businesses that support us that we can share examples. 

We would ask where possible that you send us a supporting letter from a health, social care or education professional with your request. If you are unable to do this, please contact us to discuss.


To request a keepsake please complete our new request form and return it to us at [email protected]


Self-Care Boxes

What are they?

It is important to take time out to look after yourself, particularly when your grief is more prominent or around significant dates. We have put together self-care boxes to support you with this.

Our self-care boxes include lots of ideas and resources for activities that help you to look after yourself and have some ‘me time’.

 

How to get one?

We limit the self-care boxes to one free box per family each year to allow us to help as many families as possible. Where possible we like to provide these at times where you may need a little extra TLC, for examples, significant dates such as your child’s birthday, anniversary of their death, anniversary of diagnosis etc.

To request a self-care box e-mail us at [email protected] with “self-care box” in the heading. Let us know your name, address, name of your child that has died and any significant dates where it would be helpful for you to receive a self-care box.

Alternatively at the beginning of each month we post on our Facebook page asking you to share any significant events or anniversaries that are coming up in the next month. We believe that no parent should be alone in their grief and we want to remember your child with you. We also use this post to contact these parents to ask if they would like to receive a self-care box and request the information needed to send this out to them.

 

Can I buy a self-care box for myself or as a gift for bereaved parents I know?

Yes. Our self-care boxes cost £35 plus p&p to make. If you would like to purchase one of our self-care boxes we ask for a donation to the charity to cover our costs. Please contact us at [email protected] to provide details of who the box is for (including the name of both the parents and the child that has died), when the box is needed for and an address to send it to. 


Bereavement Library

We are currently working hard behind the scenes to put in place a new bereavement library resource for parents that will allow them to access a range of bereavement resources free of charge.

For updates on this service please follow us on Facebook

In the meantime please see our list from other bereaved parents of books they have found helpful in our leaflet

Connect with Ripples of Compassion today to find out more

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Volunteer

We are always looking for volunteers to help us at our fundraising events. Follow us on Facebook to find out when our next events or send us a message to let us know you would be interested and we can arrange to talk with you.

We are looking for additional trustees to support our charity as we expand. So if oyu have experience of supporting charities or have specific expertise in fundraising or marketing we would love to hear from you. We ask for a minimum commitment of 4 trustee meetings a year (3 of which can be done via skype) and regular contact to maintain the regular operations of the charity.

If you have skills that you can use to support the bereaved parents that we work with we would love to hear from you. Some examples might be a trained bereavement therapist, beauty therapist, massage therapist but there are many other skills that might be beneficial too. If you aren't sure drop us a message and we would love to have a chat.


Fundraise

We rely on the generosity of the donations we receive to be able to provide support for the families we work with so welcome any fundraising ideas you might have.

If you would like to fundraise for us take a look at this list of ideas for inspiration. No idea is too big or too small! We are happy to work with you and help you in your fundraising efforts, so please feel free to contact us to discuss your ideas.


Donate Money

Regular or one off donations are incredibly helpful for us to be able to continue to provide the support for the families we work with.  If everyone just gave a little it would make a huge difference.

£10 could provide an amazon voucher in a self-care box for a bereaved parent.

£35 could provide a whole self-care box for a bereaved parent to help them remember their child and take time to look after themselves.

£50 could provide parents with support from a trained therapist or counsellor

£150 could give a family a special keepsake or memorial to remember their children 

We accept donations through bank transfer, PayPal or Just Giving. Details can be found on our website: www.ripplesofcompassio.com/donate


Donate Gifts/Services

We provide resources for bereaved families and would welcome donations of items that we can use to support us directly with this. Examples of items that we need can be found on our amazon wish lists {self care boxes} {bereavement books}. You can either order through the list and send directly to us or add them to your weekly shop and arrange delivery to one of our volunteers.

We regularly hold fundraising events and require prizes for raffles and auctions. We would be very grateful for any items that you could donate to support this. For example, gift sets, expertise (time) or vouchers.

If you have a business that you think may support the children and families we help and would be interested in giving a regular gift donation we would also love to hear from you [email protected]


Lottery

Join up for our weekly lottery for your chance to win £25,000. Tickets are just £1 and can be bought Here.


Shop

Raise free donations by shopping online with The Giving Machine. Sign up and support now! Shop with over 2,000 stores The giving machine will then donate to Ripples of Compassion for free. Major retailers include: Ebay, Book People, Amazon, John Lewis, Buy a Gift, Lastminute.com 

Business Support

If you are a small business then there are many ways that you could support us. See some examples on our website

In particular at the moment we are looking for businesses that would be willing to home our collection boxes to support our fundraising efforts.



Connect with Ripples of Compassion today to find out more

Get in touch

Connect with Ripples of Compassion today to find out more

Get in touch

Additional Info

Give Blood

Without the amazing people that regularly give blood Ripley would not have made it past her first weekend in hospital or the many months following during her treatment. 
Find out if you can give blood and your nearest donation centre and sign up today to help other children like Ripley!


Bone Marrow Donation

As part of her treatment Ripley underwent a Stem Cell Transplant in April 2017. She had no siblings so we sought an unrelated match from the bone marrow registry.
Whilst for Ripley this was not enough to cure her Leukaemia for others with a good enough match it might be and we want as many people as possible to join the Bone Marrow Registry.
For us her transplant gave us 6 more happy months and memories with our beautiful daughter.
You can join the Bone Marrow Register through:

NHS Blood and Transplant Service (if you are between 17 - 40 years old)

Anthony Nolan (if you are between 16 - 30 years old)

DKMS (if you are between 17 - 55 years old)

Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry (if you are between 17 - 30 years old)

Please note that you only need to join one UK registry as your matching information is shared anonymously and held as a central register.


Donate Your Umbilical Cord

We were unable to find a 9/10 or 10/10 match for Ripley’s transplant from a living donor and so she received her transplant from a donated umbilical cord. The picture is Ripley receiving her stem cells on Day 0 of her treatment.

Umbilical cord donation is not something that is routinely done in the UK and often they are just thrown away.

To find out more about donating your umbilical cord after birth please visit the NHS Blood and Transplant Service website and speak with your midwife to include it on your birth plan.

Connect with Ripples of Compassion today to find out more

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