A ten-year-old girl has shared how losing her father when she was just five years old made her feel “suicidal” and hugely impacted on her mental health.

Amy, of Waltham Abbey has been accessing bereavement support from St Clare Hospice’s Echo Project since March.

The primary school pupil lost her father very suddenly when he died in his sleep five years ago.

Amy started seeing the Hospice’s Adult, Child and Family Therapist, Sara Nicholson, on a 1-2-1 basis when the UK went into its first lockdown.

When Amy returned to school after the second lockdown she was faced with some “big emotions”.

“I felt a bit suicidal sometimes,” Amy recalls.

She added: “I just didn’t know how to control all of my emotions at once. So I let it off with some really big emotions.”

Amy’s therapist suggested she should join the Hospice’s Children’s Therapeutic Bereavement Groups- run by trained bereavement counsellors.

She shared: “If I hadn’t had these sessions and meetings I would have still been in one of those situations where you feel like you can’t do anything to make yourself feel better so it’s really changed my life really.”

Amy hopes that by sharing her experience she will be helping other children to access the support they need to help them cope.