INVERCLYDE'S MSP has called on the Scottish Government to do more to support bereaved young people by highlighting the work of a Gourock school pupil at Holyrood.

Stuart McMillan spoke about the efforts of Clydeview Academy pupil Ben Kane during a parliamentary debate on tackling loneliness and social isolation.

He told MSPs how Ben - who was recently named Rotary Young Citizen of the Year - set up a counselling support group for bereaved pupils at the school following the loss of his sibling.

In his speech to Parliament, he noted that more than half of Scottish children experience the loss of a close family member by the age of eight.

 

Mr McMillan said: “We talk about bereavement as a majority experience, but I’m sure that if everyone in the chamber today was asked to picture a bereaved person, we would typically picture someone who was older.

“Rarely do we think of children as being bereaved.

“Being bereaved is difficult at any age, for children and young people who are at a key stage in their development, it can be particularly hard to navigate growing up whilst grieving.”

Ben’s group was set up with the help of Inverclyde’s Mind Mosaic Child and Family Therapies and Ardgowan Hospice.

It is the first of its kind locally, and Ben is now campaigning to see it rolled out not only throughout Inverclyde, but in schools across Scotland.

Mr McMillan told MSPs that he wrote to the minister for children and young people, Natalie Don, about the campaign.

Ms Don’s response is said to have ‘heaped’ praise upon Ben, but lacked detail on the Government’s steps to support grieving young people.

READ MORE: Gourock teenagers named Rotary Young Citizen of the Year

Mr McMillan believes the initiative can help address seven recommendations which were made in the Scottish Government-commissioned National Childhood Bereavement Report in September last year.

He added: “What Ben is already doing at Clydeview Academy in Gourock in conjunction with other services, can actually help feed into that work.

“Not withstanding the positive work already being done by the Scottish Government, I urge the Scottish Government to provide a response to the recommendations of the National Childhood Bereavement co-ordinator final report.

“Schools offering learning and teaching on bereavement, as per the Scottish Government reply, is one thing, but if it were enough Ben Kane wouldn’t have felt the need to establish his own counselling support group for pupils affected by bereavement."