What We Do

What does HopeSpace do?

HopeSpace is a free, one-to-one listening service. We meet with children and young people aged 4-17 years who are experiencing loss from bereavement and help them to process their grief.

Get in Touch

How does HopeSpace work?

Parent/Guardian contacts us to refer their child through this website, by phone, email, Instagram or Facebook.

We talk to you about the service, and if appropriate, book you in for an appointment.

If you are not eligible for the service, we will give you information on alternative service.

In the first session, we meet the parent/guardian without the child.

We explore the opportunities to help the child/young person.

The trained volunteer normally meets the child/young person for one-to-one sessions (each lasting about 45 minutes). On average, children attend six sessions during which the volunteer encourages them to talk about their grief and help them to identify their emotions around these feelings.

The child must always be accompanied to HopeSpace by a parent/guardian who waits in a separate room.

Children are given the opportunity to allow their parent(s)/guardian(s) to participate at the end of each session.

Children’s expression of emotions is facilitated in ways appropriate to their development stage and wishes through creative play, talking and listening.

The child/young person’s emotions around their loss are acknowledged and validated which helps them to come to terms with their new reality and the changes in their life.

We invite the child/young person back for a follow up session 3-4 months after their final session.

Please note:

We advise parents/guardians to allow three months to elapse before they contact us. This is to allow time for a child/young person to begin to come to terms with their loss and new circumstances.

We recommend to families who are bereaved through suicide to contact Pieta.

Pieta provides free counselling to children, adolescents, and individuals who have been bereaved by suicide

Our Approach & Philosophy

The Dual Process Model of Grief

Our approach to grief is based on a holistic model called The Dual Process Model of Grief, (DPM) which was introduced in the 1990s by Margaret Stroebe and Henk Schut.

As a grief model it identifies the value of focussing both on engaging in a healthy grieving process and doing other activities when the loss becomes too much to bear. Focussing on moving between these two is called “oscillation.”

The two processes that make up the dual process theory are loss-oriented stressors and restoration-oriented stressors.

In HopeSpace, we encourage the child to talk about their grief and help them to identify their emotions around these feelings. This is called loss orientation. We do this in a child-centred and child-focused way, using art, crafts, storytelling, age appropriate games, and listening activities.

As we acknowledge and validate their emotions around their loss, we enable the child to develop a new identity and accept the new reality and changes in their life. This is called restoration orientation. The task is to help the child negotiate meaningful life without the deceased.

(Courtesy of Cruse Bereavement Support)

The Dual Process Model of Grief - Individual Level

Tonkin’s Model of Grief

Growing around Grief is a model created by grief counsellor Lois Tonkin.

This view of grief does not tell someone that their grief will go away in time. You will never be ‘over it.’ It acknowledges that there will be some days where you feel grief as strongly as you did when the person first died.

But there will also be days when you are able to move on with other parts of your life. Sometimes people feel guilty about this, as if it is disloyal to the person who has died.

The ‘growing around grief’ model shows how we can still grieve the loss of our loved one while carrying on with our own lives. It shows that we can grow a new life which includes the loss.

(Courtesy of Cruse Bereavement Support)

Tonkin’s Model of Grief - Growing with grief

How HopeSpace works for parents

1. Get in touch

Call us on 091 342566 or email support@hopespace.ie to find out more about HopeSpace
2. Book a chat

Schedule a confidential chat with a member of our HopeSpace team
3. Let's talk

Join us in our Centre to discuss how we can help