Appeal to Power Up Alfie’s Squad as Liverpool organisation grows

Liverpool CIC Alfie’s Squad has moved into new offices in the city’s Baltic Creative – and it’s appealing for local businesses to support the move as it expands to keep up with demand.

Alfie’s Squad was set up by Alfie Fitzsimmons in 2018 when he was only nine years old after he lost his dad to suicide the year before, and it offers support and activities to provide a lifeline for children and families whose loved ones have taken their own life.

Allison Furlong, Alfie’s mum who runs the CIC, says:

“We are now supporting more than 40 families who are coming to Alfie’s Squad and because the charity has grown so much, I couldn’t continue to run it from home.

“We have moved into new offices in the Baltic Creative in Jamaica Street from where we’ll run everything and hold the regular support group meetings on a Thursday evening.

“We are appealing for local businesses to help Power Up Alfie’s Squad and fund us by sponsoring our rent for a month for £1,000.

“For that we will put an article about them on our website and promote them through our social media channels.

“We’ll display branding throughout our office space and meeting room, and offer out any other promotional goods they have like pens and things. We’ll shout out about them.”

Allison explains:

“Funding applications can take time (sometimes up to six months). Support for the rent will mean any other money can continue to go to the work of the charity as we try to keep up with the demand.

“In the first 16 months we went from six children to 50.

“We took a massive leap at the end of last year by moving to this amazing studio space, as well as employing an experienced operations manager to help me cope with the phenomenal growth we have seen over the past 12 months. 

“We are hoping that local businesses or organisations will support us through the next 12 months while we wait for funding to come through to help us expand across the UK.”

Alfie’s Squad’s commitment to supporting children who have been bereaved by suicide has seen it creating a fun and supportive environment where they can make friends and develop a sense of belonging and strengthen their self-worth. 

It aims to help not only those children navigate their grief, but their parents and guardians too, and to raise awareness of suicide bereavement support with the message that there is help for those who have been affected by it, like Alfie who’s 16 in February.

“It shows kids that there are other children like them, that they’re not alone – and that it hasn’t happened to them because they’re horrible people like a lot of them think,” says Allison.

“Alfie felt so alone and he lost friends after it happened to him, and now he’s a shining light for all the other kids who come to us.

“They can relate to him and see he is doing well – and know that they will be okay too.

“The space at the Baltic Creative is perfect.  We’ve been in over Christmas to make it really nice, homely and welcoming.

“We will hold our weekly support groups here and, as well as still going out to schools and businesses to promote the benefits of peer support, we are also planning to run clubs on a Saturday to help other young people who feel socially isolated.

“We’ll have a LEGO club, a crochet club, a book club, so people who feel alone can come and meet others with shared interests. They don’t have to have suffered a loss through suicide, it will be for anyone who feels isolated. They can come along, chill, and meet friends.”

Allison adds:

“Our focus this year is peer support, so children know that whatever they’re going through, whatever they face, support is there.”

Meanwhile they will continue to help, and signpost to other professional organisations, all those who have lost a parent, a sibling, or someone else close due to suicide.

“Recent Winston’s Wish figures show that 9,000 children are losing a parent to suicide every year, and there is a risk that they too will take their own lives as they get older.

“We believe that’s because of social isolation, the guilt they feel, the shame, and the loss of self-worth they suffer.

“John Moores University is carrying out a research study on us to show how Alfie’s Squad reduced social isolation in children bereaved by suicide. We have also had feedback from parents who say school attendance has gone up, challenging behaviour has gone down, and children begin to socialise again or ask for counselling.

“We are here. And I’m glad to say we can offer the support that Alfie wanted when he was younger. We would really appreciate help from businesses who can Power Up Alfie’s Squad so we can continue to offer and grow that much-needed support.”

To contact Allison, email her at info@alfiessquad.org

Find out more about Alfie’s Squad here.

Find all the latest Liverpool news here.