Leadership for Big Change
In this blog, Big Change CEO Essie North reflects on 12 years of backing bold changemakers and what we've learned about the kind of leadership the future…
Blog
Supporting Young People Navigate Grief
The Firefly Project, co-founded by Jenna Maudlin, empowers children and young people to help themselves and others through grief. Big Change funded Jenna as a finalist in our Big Education Challenge in 2023 and as a runner up in 2024.
Grief is universal, yet for many, it can feel like something we must endure in isolation. For Mental Health Awareness Week, with its focus on community, we’re asking: what if we didn’t have to grieve alone?
Jenna, co-founder of The Firefly Project, recently sat down with Sam, Asher, and Maisha - three of their young co-designers - and Teigan, a member of their youth team, to reflect on what it would mean to build grief-aware communities together.
With support from Big Change, we’ve spent the start of this year exploring this vision. What we’ve created, in Maisha’s words, is a “unity of understanding” - a space where young people can show up in all their forms of grief and be accepted.
Why grief-aware communities matter
Grief isn’t just about bereavement. It’s about all kinds of loss; relationships, identity, safety, even home. Yet in the absence of grief education, many young people don’t have the language to name what they’re feeling - and the adults around them don’t know how to respond. In a society that often expects us to “stay strong” and “move on,” young people are left to navigate the complex terrain of grief alone. But they shouldn’t have to.
As young people who’ve experienced grief, we see the gaps in support. We know change is possible - and we want to be part of it.
Teigan
“Historically, grief was communal,” Asher reflected. “It belonged to the village. Now, it’s pushed into the bedroom.”
For many young people, grief feels too heavy to carry alone – but there are few spaces that make those conversations feel possible. Teigan explained, “Grief is still such a taboo topic. But in grief-open communities, those conversations become easier to start. Just knowing someone else gets it can change everything.”
Sam put it simply: “Young people deserve access to grief-aware communities as a universal right.”
A co-designed vision for the future
Over the past few months, we’ve co-created a new vision for grief-aware schools and communities - one rooted in lived experience.
“At first, I doubted I had anything to offer,” said Asher. “But I was surprised by how the space allowed me to share. Even in winter, the right environment can help you bloom.”
“It felt rejuvenating to be around people who truly care,” Sam added.
Teigan shared, “As young people who’ve experienced grief, we see the gaps in support. We know change is possible - and we want to be part of it.”
Maisha reflected on the power of co-design: “It wasn’t just one format. It allowed it to be real and raw and creative, which makes it sustainable and able to create long-term change.”
Together, we’ve reimagined how communities can show up for grief. Now, the next step is implementation through events, workshops, training, policy, and services created with young people, not just for them. Our aim is emotionally safe schools, colleges, and youth groups - where grief isn’t taboo but recognised as part of being human.
Join us
If you’re a teacher, youth worker, mental health lead, education provider or community organiser - we invite you to make space for grief.
Thank you to Big Change
In addition to our work directly with young people, Big Change has supported us to deliver workshops to over 350 professionals, meaning more than 10,000 young people now have access to a grief-aware adult. And helped us to work in partnership with Voice 21, to create a resource for their network of over 1,000 schools, helping young people to talk about loss and mental health and amplify their voices through podcasting.
