New leader Chris Walker aims to expand Families in Grief charity in North Devon

The recently-appointed chief executive of a bereavement charity has pledged to increase the organisation’s presence in North Devon and Torridge, and expand its pool of volunteers.

Chris Walker took over Families in Grief (FiG) in February, having previously worked for a charity supporting people who have been harmed by the effects of gambling. 

He said: “Our core message at the moment is very strongly that we want to engage and support young people, families, children who have experienced grief.”

One in 29 children and young people across the UK will experience a significant bereavement before the age of 16 - which equates to one child in each average class, and demand for FiG’s services is increasing all the time. 

Chris added: “We're at a point where we know that the work we do holds real strong impact. In the last year we've supported almost 200 families to process and come to terms with their own grief. And going forward, we want to continue that work. Over this year, we also do want to have a larger presence within the local community, using our volunteers and our staff to raise awareness to support our fundraising, but also so that more people know who we are.”

Families in Grief was founded in 2000 and currently has a staff of seven, mostly part-time. FiG’s aim is to ensure that all bereaved families in North Devon and Torridge receive the support they need, when they need it, free of charge and tailored to meet the developing needs of the young people and adults in their families. The charity delivers a blend of one-to-one support, drop-in sessions, group sessions and outdoor activities facilitated by FiG staff and volunteers.

Receiving support at the right time is, says Chris, extremely important: “People experience different emotions at different times, so there is not a one-size-fits-all process to support someone through that journey.  People can feel certain things and move on to a different place where they feel far more settled with emotional well-being. Then there can either be a very clear triggering aspect or even sometimes an unclear reason why a lot of those emotions come back to the surface.

“For us, we cannot just offer one thing which will be the solution for everybody. What we want to have is a range of resources so that people can learn more about their grief. They can explore and understand their grief or their loved ones' grief.

“Then we offer a mixture of one-to-one, group and family days so that we can explore grief through different lenses depending on what people maybe want from us. It's a completely personalised process. People often say that they don't move on from grief, they learn to live with grief.

“For now, the message would be that we offer one-to-one support in schools predominantly, then a selection of outdoor, art and family group activities to bring people together.”

To achieve this, FiG is keen to attract more volunteers. The charity currently has around 20, but is keen to increase this. 

“One of the key things that we'll be looking for is people to support us at the groups,  the art workshops or the outdoor activities,” said Chris. “These are often really busy environments. The more volunteers as well as staff that we have there, the more we can interact with everybody there and have those conversations when they emerge around grief.

“We typically also want to have a stronger pool of people who will support us with our fundraising and our community engagement. We would like to get to a point where there are effectively fundraising groups that are working fairly independently. 

“I've referenced them as something like a PTA school, which will have a remit to go and champion the charity on our behalf.”

Fundraising and engagement events this year will include Barney to Beach, a fun-run from Barnstaple to Braunton which was held for the first time last year and saw more than 300 people run or walk the eight-mile route. 

FiG is also the beneficiary of this year’s Bideford Bike Night, which is held on at Bideford Quay monthly through to September.

Since joining FiG, Chris has been overwhelmed by the welcome he has received. 

He said: “Everyone around here is genuinely so friendly, wants the best, and has a real pride for their local area that shines through not only in the work they do, but also how they talk about the region. It's great.”

He recognised the challenges which charities in rural areas such as North Devon and Torridge can face: “It can be a challenge to connect with people at the right time in the right way, so that they're fully clear about what we can offer and how we can support, while being a small team. Because that takes constant different routes of trying to communicate. So we are looking at how we can do more on our social media.

“We're launching more newsletters that we're going to be wanting people to sign up for, so we can share what we're doing. But that's one of the challenges — staying at the forefront of people's minds so that we can be there to offer support but also then engage with people who may want to fundraise for us. 

“I think another one of the challenges is for us to have a secure income stream so that we can employ staff, put things in place long term and be in a position to be able to guarantee the support that we can offer for communities.”

If you are interested in volunteering for FiG, the charity is holding an event at the Castle Centre in Barnstaple on Wednesday, May 28, starting at 2pm. Please contact by email

 info@familiesingrief.org