The Winston’s Wish website is an extensive resource for bereaved young people and the adults supporting them. The dedicated young person’s section provides information about illnesses, causes of death and explanations for the difficult feelings they are likely to be experiencing. The online community offers young people the opportunity to interact with other people in a similar situation through chat forums and podcasts. The “Ask” section of our website encourages young people to anonymously ask questions relating to bereavement, which they may find difficult to ask a parent, carer or teacher. At the click of a button, our website provides comprehensive and in-depth advice for parents, carers, professionals and indeed anyone supporting a bereaved child or young person. Why is this project needed? Every 22 minutes a child in Britain is bereaved of a parent. This equates to over 24,000 newly bereaved children each year, not counting those bereaved of a sibling, friend or other family member. These children will be dealing with a powerful range of confusing and conflicting emotions, which will often leave them feeling angry and isolated with low self-esteem. Experience and research has shown that these children need appropriate support to help them cope with the many changes and upheaval experienced as a result of the death of an important person in their lives. One of the real challenges for a child bereavement service is to engage children, young people and the adults supporting them by finding a variety of communications that will work for all ages. Our website is one form of communication that appeals to all audiences and, with 100% of children having access to the internet through school, it is extremely accessible. What impact does the project make? The website provides young people and the adults supporting them with a central point to access information, receive support from their peers and indeed realise that they are not alone. All of this can be achieved immediately and without anybody else ever knowing, as it is completely anonymous. This is especially important for young people who can often feel reluctant and diffident about seeking help: “Actually, I don’t like to admit it, but I felt a bit better afterwards.” For adults, the site brings the relief of knowing that there is help available and that they do not have to tackle the child’s grief and all of the associated behavioural issues on their own. This in turn benefits the child as the site helps adults to be better equipped to support the child through their journey of grief. “To know that you are there and that the resources are available to me as the surviving parent is a great comfort.” The website provides a central point for people to order publications and resources to needed to support a bereaved child or young person. Who are the beneficiaries? In 2008 the Winston’s Wish website received over 380,500 visits. This equates to an average of 10,000 unique visitors every month, including more than 1,000 monthly visitors to our interactive young people’s site. Project Costs It costs Winston’s Wish £51,500 every year to provide this invaluable resource. This figure includes the cost of staff time to prepare and upload new information and podcasts, the time of qualified practitioners responding to emails generated from the website, hosting costs and external technical support. Also included is the cost of a senior practitioner to manage the content of the young person’s section e.g. monitoring the messages posted on the discussion board to ensure they are appropriate and to responding to the needs of those posting them.