Rainbows

Why Rainbows? Rainbows is a well-respected national charity having a proven, positive impact on the lives of children, young people and adults grieving a significant and often devastating loss in their lives.

? It is committed to helping children and young adults grieve and grow after suffering a loss.  Some members of the pastoral team have received training from Rainbows so that they can lead sessions in school and offer support to groups of children in their time of need.  This approach is fully in tune with our Catholic, Christian and Josephite ethos and its ‘family spirit’.

When something significant happens in a family, the entire family is affected.  Even though death, divorce or other loss issues appear to be only grown up problems, they have a profound effect on the children who are touched by such experiences.  If a parent passes away or a divorce happens or a painful loss occurs, not only do parents grieve, the children do also.  Children may find it extremely difficult to verbalise their feelings because of their age and inexperience.

The programme is able to offer support if your child has experienced the death of a loved family member, friend or sibling, is part of a single parent family, a step-family, or is struggling through a painful experience allowing opportunities for him/her to share with a special someone.

The way forward for Rainbows at St George’s: Children can be recommended for the programme in a few ways. This could come from parental concerns or teacher’s observations. The Rainbows facilitators will then decide on the groups that will run – the children within each group will be of similar age and, where possible, with similar losses. The way forward for Rainbows at St George’s:

The Rainbows sessions: The group size will be between 4-6 children per group and each group will have 2 facilitators. Everything said in the group is confidential between the group members. Information will only be shared if we feel that a child is at risk and then this will only be with the necessary people. The children will work through a specially designed programme using an age appropriate journal. The Rainbows sessions:

The Rainbows sessions: Each week, the facilitators will meet with the Rainbows Co-ordinator to make sure the sessions are planned and that they are consistent across all groups. These meetings share the same focus as the session they will run with the children that week. Each Rainbows session with the children follows a clear structure – Gathering, Focus, Connecting and Reflection. The Rainbows sessions:

The Rainbows sessions: There will be up to 12 session that are spread across two or even three terms. The very last session will be a Celebrate Me session. Last year this involved all of the children having a special lunch together and then participating in a wonderful and expressive art activity. The Rainbows sessions:

The Rainbows sessions: For a child to be considered for the programme, consent is needed from the parent. The child will also need to know that they are participating in a special group that will help them with their feelings, emotions and understanding of things that have happened. The Rainbows sessions:

The Rainbows sessions, feedback from last year: Children: “Rainbows has helped me when I have been feeling sad” “I love Rainbows as it helps you to know what to do if you’re sad. It inspires you to help someone if they’re sad and to be ready when you come across obstacles in life.” Parents: “Thank you so much to all the staff involved with Rainbows. It has been enormously helpful to *****, both in terms of dealing with the death of his grandmother, and also in general with dealing with difficult circumstances. He thoroughly enjoyed the sessions and looked forward to them each week; I believe he felt very comfortable and ‘safe’ in that environment. Talking about emotions is not something that comes naturally for children and particularly boys and I believe he found it very helpful and calming.” “Rainbows has enabled ***** to make a connection with the father she has no memory of. Before Rainbows, she was uncomfortable with us talking about him. Now, she asks questions about him, and behaves as though he belonged to her as much as to us – which he did. He would be very, very proud of her.” The Rainbows sessions, feedback from last year:

Rainbows and St George’s With the support of the Rainbows programme, we will help our children who are finding it hard to cope with loss through a caring, reassuring, structured and practical approach. Rainbows and St George’s