'I want to help children talk about grief after losing my partner'

When Amy Watson's partner Joe Phipps took his own life, her children struggled to come to terms with his loss.

Two years on, and based on the lessons she learned with her own children, she has created packs for primary schools to use to help children cope with their feelings.

Watson, a 30-year-old mum from Honeybourne, Worcestershire, said explaining her partner's death to her children who were six and 11 at the time, made her realise there was a gap in the support available.

She said she started the Joe Phipps Foundation to encourage children who might be struggling with their mental health to talk about their feelings and start getting support.

"It's not necessarily about children having mental health disorders or mental health illnesses, it's more supporting a child that might be struggling with their emotions and going through emotional dysregulation and not knowing why they're having big feelings," said Watson.

Joe Phipps, 23, a mechanic from Stratford-upon-Avon, died in March 2024, a week after starting a new job in Honeybourne, where he lived with Watson.

Watson said she realised as she tried to explain her partner's death to her children, there was a lack of support for teachers, parents and carers, when it came to helping primary school-age children.

Watson said her eldest son, who was 11 at the time and has autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), struggled with his mental health and emotions after Phipps' death.

She said although the teachers had training and facilities to help such as a sensory room "the general struggle at home and at school was trying to calm him down when he was having a meltdown".

Watson said the packs are not aimed at suggesting a child has anything wrong with them or giving them labels, but more for school staff to use, to help a child cope and understand what they are feeling.

"You don't have to hold that in. You can talk about it and it is good to talk and learn from a very young age that talking about your feelings is how you get things done and how you get the support started," she said.

So far, the foundation has donated 10 kits to all primary schools in Evesham and has begun donating others to primaries in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Joe's home town.

Watson said that she is able to run the non-profit foundation thanks to donations from a loyal band of supporters and local authorities' grants.

"We had funding from Evesham Town Council for the ten primary schools within the Evesham area and we will carry on that way contacting local councils for grants so we can put the kits into schools in that specific area," she said.

Watson, who spent eight years in the palliative care sector, has a counselling qualification and aims to get one in psychotherapy, so she can then offer specialist services alongside the advice and guidance contained in the packs.

"Our goal is to get a kit in every single primary school within Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, which there are 720 primary schools. So we've got a long haul to go," she said.

"We're making 16 more to deliver next week. And once we finish with primary schools, we are currently working on kits that can be used for middle and secondary schools."

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