Our Programmes
The Good Grief Programme
Four evidence-informed bereavement kits - Littles, Middles, Teens and Adults - developed by Noah's Story Charity and grounded in a simple understanding: love, memory and connection continue after death.
Our approach
The Good Grief Kit Approach
At Noah’s Story Charity, our Good Grief Kits are grounded in the principles of Continuing Bonds Theory - a widely recognised approach to bereavement support which acknowledges that grief is not about “letting go” of someone who has died, but about finding healthy ways to maintain an ongoing connection with them.
Research demonstrates that maintaining meaningful bonds through memories, storytelling, rituals, creative expression and shared family conversations can help children and young people integrate loss into their lives while continuing to grow and develop. Rather than viewing attachment to the person who has died as problematic, contemporary bereavement theory recognises that ongoing connections can provide comfort, identity, belonging and resilience.
Our kits have been designed to provide practical, age-appropriate opportunities for children and families to remember, express feelings, ask questions and create lasting memories. Each kit has been developed to promote emotional wellbeing, strengthen family communication and support healthy adaptation following bereavement.
Continuing bonds
How connection continues
Continuing bonds look different for every person and every family. These are some of the healthy, everyday ways a relationship with someone who has died can carry on.
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Memories
Looking at photographs, recalling shared experiences and returning to special moments keeps the person who has died part of everyday life.
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Storytelling
Sharing stories about the person who has died reinforces that relationships continue through the stories we tell, the feelings we hold and the moments we remember together.
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Remembrance rituals
Marking anniversaries and significant dates, lighting a candle or visiting a grave or memorial creates gentle, repeatable moments of remembrance.
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Creative expression
Art, play and activities like decorating memory stones give feelings somewhere to go - especially for children, who often express grief through play rather than words.
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Family conversations
Talking together about the person who died - openly, and at each person's own pace - strengthens family communication and makes space for questions.
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Keepsakes
Carrying or keeping a special object - a comfort bear, a marble heart, a treasured belonging - offers a discreet, tangible reminder of an enduring connection.
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Meaningful places
Visiting a beach, a favourite walk, a garden or another place associated with special memories keeps connection rooted in the world around us.
The Good Grief Series
Four kits, four stages of life
Each Good Grief Kit has been developed for a stage of life - with stories, keepsakes and remembrance activities families can use at home.
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Good Grief Littles
Supporting connection through stories, comfort objects, memory-making and family remembrance.
Explore -
Good Grief Middles
Supporting emotional literacy, resilience, storytelling and continuing bonds.
Explore -
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Good Grief Adults
Supporting remembrance, self-compassion, resilience and lifelong continuing bonds.
Explore
How kits reach families
Reaching families through GP practices
GPs are often among the first professionals families encounter following a bereavement. Our aim is for Good Grief Kits to be offered through GP practices as an accessible early intervention resource - helping families access supportive conversations and grief-informed activities within their own homes and communities.
In 2027, we will establish our first Good Grief Partner Practice. This Year One pilot will test the kit model, gather service-user feedback, assess impact and develop a programme that can grow into further practices. Between 2028 and 2030 we aim to expand into additional GP practices, engage GP Federations and explore social prescribing opportunities.
Status: Pilot
Where this stands today
Good Grief Kits are not yet available through GP practices. The Year One pilot is our Year One focus for 2027, and expansion to further practices is planned for 2028–2030.
Request a kit
Request a Good Grief Kit
Tell us which kit you are interested in and who it is for, and we will come back to you about how to get one. There is no cost to ask, and you do not need to explain anything you would rather not.
Kits for families and supporters
Buy a kit, or donate one
Each Good Grief Kit costs £22. A kit can support a child or adult you care about, or be donated for Noah's Story Charity to place with a grieving child or adult who needs support. We are developing the option to buy kits directly from this website - until then, donating is the simplest way to help a kit reach a family.
Evidence-informed
The thinking behind the kits
You do not need to know the research to use a Good Grief Kit - but everything inside one has been chosen for a reason.
At the heart of our approach is Continuing Bonds Theory (Klass, Silverman and Nickman, 1996), which challenged the older assumption that healthy grieving means detaching from the person who has died. Instead, it recognises that maintaining an ongoing relationship - through memories, stories, values, rituals and emotional connection - is often a normal, healthy part of adapting to loss.
The kits also draw on other widely respected thinking about grief:
- Worden’s grief framework - a practical way of understanding what grieving asks of us, without treating grief as a fixed sequence of stages.
- Stroebe and Schut’s Dual Process Model - the recognition that people naturally move between facing their loss and taking a break from it, and that both are healthy.
- Neimeyer’s Meaning Reconstruction approach - how people gradually make sense of loss and weave it into their life story.
- Contemporary bereavement guidance from NICE, Child Bereavement UK, Winston’s Wish and Barnardo’s.
Each kit also includes an age-appropriate grief and loss booklet produced by Barnardo’s, so families have trusted guidance they can return to whenever it is needed.
Your light still finds its way to me… to Infinity and Beyond.
This message reflects the heart of the Good Grief Programme: grief is not about "forgetting" those we love, but about discovering ways to carry their light, influence and love with us throughout our lives.
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