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Anne Davies wins award and £30,000 for Jigsaw4u
Published on JUNE 21, 2010
On 16th June 2010, Chief Executive of Jigsaw4u, Anne Davies, was named as Clarins Most Dynamisante Woman of the Year 2010 at an award ceremony in London. Up against eight other finalists, Anne was awarded the prize of £30,000 and will use the money to grow Jigsaw4u nationally.
"To look at Anne Davies, you'd never guess how much she knows about childhood trauma", commented Josephine Fairley, one of the judges. "She's the sort of person you'd want around in a crisis, which is fortunate, because her previous work as a social worker, and now as CEO of children's charity Jigsaw4u, means she's around a lot in other people's crises."
Anne, now 54, learned how to use her own traumatic childhood experiences in the most positive way, to help others. After qualifying as a social worker, she set up one of the first interview suites to help sexually abused children talk about their experiences, and through that work identified an untapped need to support children and young people deal with grief. And so, in 1977, the charity Jigsaw4u was born to help children, young people and their families, who've been touched by grief, loss and all kinds of other trauma, learn coping skills and strategies to enable them to 'put the pieces of their lives back together.
"Around 20,000 children a year lose a parent,' says Anne. "In fact, around six per cent of children under 16 lose their mum or dad. But add to that those who lose a sibling, or a significant aunt or uncle or grandparent, or even a close friend, and it's closer to 100,000."
In a society which doesn't do death very well, where we tend to talk about it in hushed, 'not-in-front-of-the-children' tones, young people are often excluded, and therefore deprived of the chance to say goodbye to a loved one - sometimes not even being allowed to attend the funeral. "Not every child will want to go," concedes Anne. "But they should be given the choice."
"In many cases, children are forced to be 'strong'; mopping the tears of grieving parents. Many are fearful that if they show their true feelings about their loss, it'll stress out their parent. Some are even fearful the remaining parent might die as well," says Anne. But bottling up those feelings just makes for big trouble in life, later on.
What Jigsaw4u gives children, Anne explains, is a safe space in which to acknowledge and express their own feelings - generally in a group setting with other children who've been through similar experiences. "We basically provide them with a "first aid box" of strategies, which they can turn to when feeling overwhelmed by what's happened."
"We encourage children to talk about the person they've lost, and to remember them," says Anne. "When we run grief support groups for whole families, we always make the point that it's so important to talk about the person who's died, to remember them and share those memories."
Children can be referred to Jigsaw4u via a GP, a health visitor, a concerned teacher or even the school secretary. Today the charity is able to help around 4,000 children per year, providing support to young runaways, advocacy for looked after children and young people, participation for disabled children and young people, and home –school projects that support children through a range of losses. "We'd like it to be more," acknowledges Anne, "but we need more resources."
The £30,000 prize will enable Jigsaw4u to set up a national helpline, a point of contact for children who are grieving or experiencing other kinds of trauma. It will help fund a family support officer for the Skelmersdale office in the North West, thereby reaching as many as 1,000 more children who will lose a significant family member through illness, accident, suicide or even murder. And in addition, Jigsaw4u will use some of the money to enhance their website and 'social networking'. "Hopefully, with a better website we'll also attract business sponsors," Anne observed, pragmatically.
Personally, she's delighted by her Dynamisante award for two reasons. "I'm glad it's Clarins because I'm a complete Clarins junkie, but in all seriousness, it's a way to say "thank you" not just to the Jigsaw4u team, but the children themselves, for their courage and bravery."
A fuller interview between Josephine Fairley and Anne Davies was released in You magazine, with the Mail on Sunday, 20 June, and is available to read here.
