Attending Slide Away

We hope that attending a Slide Away support session will allow you the chance to share your story, and feel listened to and understood. We hope it will help you find coping strategies and hold on to your memories. We also hope it gives you the chance to meet with other bereaved young people, grieve but also have fun.

Before attending a group Slide Away session, you will meet a member of the Slide Away team.  This will give you the chance to talk about anything you are worried about and ask any questions you may have. If you are attending a Memory Day, this meeting is likely to be a virtual meeting. If you are attending a Workshop you will be visited in school by the Slide Away team member. Our aim is to make you feel comfortable and ready to attend a Slide Away group session as this will help you get the most out of your time with Slide Away.

When you join a group session, we usually play a quick game to help you find out a little bit more about each other. You may feel a little bit nervous initially, but we all help each other to feel comfortable. All the other young people are there because someone they know died too, so they may be feeling the same as you.

There are usually about eight to ten children or young people of a similar age at a support session and, often, they will have come from different schools. However, although it is unlikely that you will know each other, everyone understands why you are there and will be sensitive to how you are feeling.

There will also be adults there who are part of the Slide Away team and you will probably have met one of them before the session takes place. 

We hold separate sessions for secondary school pupils, so you will be with young people of a similar age to yourself. The activities that secondary-aged young people do at these sessions, the things we talk about and the way we do them are specially designed for young people of your age.

You won’t be forced to do anything that you don’t feel ready to do. An adult can explain to you why the activity may help you, and they will offer to start it with you, but if you decide you can’t do it, that’s okay.

You need only do and say what you feel comfortable with in our support sessions. You may find that as you get to know the others you feel more ready to talk, but there will be absolutely no pressure from anyone, at any time, to do or say anything you are not comfortable with.

You can wear any clothes that you feel comfortable in to a Slide Away session. Make sure you don't mind them getting a bit messy!

Some members of the Slide Away team have had someone very close and special die. Most will have had someone in their life die. All of the adults are kind and caring, and they are good listeners if you want to talk.