Morrisons CEO opens our new garden counselling room!

Our new garden counselling room is now open – thanks to Morrisons and Together for Short Lives!

We were delighted to welcome Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh on Friday to officially open our new garden counselling room, joined by Simone Holdcroft and Stephen Popple, a family who we supported after sadly losing their baby Leo during pregnancy in November 2020.

The garden room, a space for counselling, peer support and sibling groups at Russell House was built thanks to £37,650 of funding from the Morrisons and Together for Short Lives national partnership’s ‘Building a Legacy Together Grant’.

In February 2022 Morrisons launched a 3-year charity partnership with Together for Short Lives, a national charity who support the UK’s 54 children’s hospices. Locally our fundraisers and Morrisons store staff have raised an additional £134,309 so far. The partnership aims to raise £10million across the UK by October 2024 to support families and their children with life-shortening illnesses.

As well as in store fundraising activities, the Building a Legacy Together Grant was created so there would be a lasting legacy of Morrisons’ support, the fund helping with building renovations and outdoor equipment.

The new garden counselling room is a very welcome addition to our facilities here at Forget Me Not. When we were looking at how to extend our offering on counselling for families we wanted something that was part of the hospice, but wasn’t in the hospice. Russell House is a cheerful, welcoming place but it’s not every family that wants to go back inside the main building on a regular basis after the loss of their child. So having this quiet, cosy space in our grounds means we make it easier for families to access the counselling that is so vital in supporting them.

Families like Simone Holdcroft and Stephen Popple who received counselling with us after their bereavement and also when Simone became pregnant again, with their child Ezra Popple who is now 2.

Simone Holdcroft said: “I don’t know what we would have done if it wasn’t for the advice, therapy and support from the team at Forget Me Not. It really did help us keep going after losing Leo. They helped us to focus on the light in our darkest moments.”

One of the most beneficial strategies the counsellor suggested was sitting outside. Hearing the birds tweeting and watching the flowers and trees helped calm our minds. I suppose it helped us to see that no matter how low we felt, the world would keep spinning, the grass keeps growing and birds keep tweeting so we had to keep going too. I think the new space will provide a new level of therapy for the families that access it, one that only the outdoors and nature can.”

Morrisons CEO Rami Baitiéh said: “As part of Morrisons partnership with Together for Short Lives we are proud to be funding improvements to children’s hospices across the country. I am delighted that the Forget Me Not children’s hospice has been assisted with a grant for a counselling room that will improve the support given to families. It was an honour to visit the hospice and see first hand the positive impact this will deliver.”

Together for Short Lives Director of Fundraising, Nick Carroll said: “We are proud to see the fruits of our partnership with Morrisons come to life in such a meaningful way. The counselling room at Forget Me Not was made possible by the Building a Legacy Together Grant, with thanks to Morrisons partnership fundraising. The grant, which was launched last summer, has already had a huge impact on a number of hospices across the country just like Forget Me Not. We know that the counselling room will make a huge difference for the families supported by Forget Me Not.”