Luna's Light CIC

Aim

To help create a generation of children who are better able to talk about loss, death and big feelings - whatever age they are

Thank you for joining our Crowdfunder!

Luna’s Light CIC was born from the devastating experience of founder Philippa Atkins and her daughters, Skye and Luna.

Philippa brought baby Luna home from hospital, where her big sister Skye was able to meet and welcome her. The following day, Luna was gone.

Alongside navigating her own grief, Philippa suddenly faced something no parent expects to have to do: finding the words to explain to a child that the baby sister she had met and loved was no longer there.

That experience eventually became Skye & Luna, a beautifully illustrated children’s book helping families talk about baby loss, death, grief, love and remembrance and this crowdfunder helped us to create and share this wonderful book with those who needed it. 

But it also became the starting point for something much bigger.

Luna’s Light CIC now wants to change the way we think about grief education for children, moving beyond supporting children only once a bereavement has happened and instead helping all children develop an understanding of loss, death and the big feelings that accompany them.

“Of course we want to support children who are grieving,” says Philippa. “But why should that be the first time a child is given the language to talk about death?

“We teach children about their bodies, relationships, emotions and how to keep themselves safe. Yet death is something that will eventually touch every one of our lives, and still we can be incredibly uncomfortable talking to children about it.

“We can’t protect our children from ever experiencing grief. But perhaps we can prepare them better for it.”

Luna’s Light is now developing creative, age-appropriate programmes designed to help children explore emotions, loss and grief in a safe environment.

The aim is not to frighten children or introduce them unnecessarily to adult worries. It is to give them an emotional vocabulary and understanding they can carry with them throughout their lives.

Parents, Grandparents, siblings, friends and pets die, and, however desperately society may wish otherwise, babies and children die too.

For Luna’s Light, acknowledging that reality is not about taking away childhood innocence. It is about giving children the confidence to ask questions, talk about difficult feelings and understand that death and grief are not subjects that need to be hidden away.

The organisation believes grief literacy should form part of children’s emotional education, helping build understanding and emotional resilience before a crisis occurs.

Michelle Graham, Director of Income & Partnerships at Luna’s Light CIC, says:

“We often meet grief with silence because we’re frightened of saying the wrong thing. Children pick up on that silence too.

“What if, instead, we helped children grow up knowing that death is something we are allowed to talk about? That sadness, anger, confusion and even happiness can all exist within grief? That there are words for what they are feeling and people they can talk to?

“We’re not suggesting we can make bereavement easy. We can’t. We want to give children understanding, language and emotional tools before the day comes when they need them.”

Luna’s story began with the loss of a baby and the impact of that loss on her family, including her big sister. But Luna’s Light hopes the legacy created in her name can reach far beyond families already affected by baby loss.

Its ambition is simple but significant:

To help create a generation of children who are better able to talk about loss, death and big feelings - whatever age they are when grief eventually enters their lives.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 1st December 2026 at 11:59pm