Following all of our camps, we seek feedback from the children and families to ensure we offer the best possible service to bereaved children. Feedback is received back verbally, via questionnaires and often by thank you letters. Below are some examples of what the children and their families have told us about Nelson's Journey ...

What did you like about camp?

“Everything!  Candlelight ceremony helped me to let out my emotions.

What could have been better?

  “Nothing on camp but would like to meet with the children again and leaders.

“To have longer there”

Has Nelson’s Journey helped you?

“A lot!  Just knowing that other children have been through the same situation really helps.”

“Yes it has because meeting other children, talk about feelings, candlelight ceremony, so I can talk to my family better.”

Parents ...

“especially the anger wall as he remembered this the most and described his picture and feelings”.

One 11 year old girl made up a card for Nelson's Journey, in which she wrote:

To Nelson's Journey

Thank you for giving me a wonderful weekend.
Thank you also for helping me to understand things I never knew.

Love and thanks from ........ xxxx

Almost a year after attending camp, a six year old boy still mentions his weekend away on camp. His mother wrote that his memories are:

"The togetherness of the camp, especially the walk and the balloons. He often wears his sweatshirt and is very proud of it."

She felt that his understanding of death and the events surrounding the funeral were affected by his involvement with Nelson's Journey. She wrote:

"It made it more real but also more positive in that he was able to say goodbye."

She concluded:

"I would recommend it to everyone in a similar circumstance".

Another parent whose two boys aged 6 and 11 attended camp wrote that Nelson's Journey enabled her children

"to understand that what they are feeling is normal and that other children are feeling the same emotions"

She stated:

"They enjoyed it and it was an experience which will stay with them for a long time."

A mother whose 6 year old son and 8 year old daughter attended camp wrote that her daughter

"had a t-shirt of her dad's under her pillow, where it stayed since her dad's death. Since coming back from Nelson's Journey she now wears this t-shirt and tells people it was her dad's"

She reported that her son

"seems to go to bed much more easily and is concentrating in class a lot better and is talking more clearly about dad."

On a children's questionnaire, a 9 year old girl wrote in response to a question about what could have been better on camp

"NOTHING!! apart from not being able to stay forever! and more marshmallows."

The same child sent a drawing to Nelson's Journey, on which she wrote

"Thank you for a brilliant weekend at Nelson's Journey. I especially enjoyed the candlelight ceremony, because it helped me cry more."