#25Tuesdays with WAY
Emma supporting a widow’s charity on Instagram!
As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations for WAY (Widowed and Young) there is a 25-week series on Instagram celebrating WAY and its members. WAY is a UK charity that provides a peer-to-peer support network for anyone who has lost a partner before their 51st birthday. WAY provides vital support to the vast number of over 14,000 young widows who have been members over the last 25 years.
In her role as an Ambassador of WAY, Emma has been hosting some of the weekly informal chats taking place live on WAY’s Instagram page. The conversations are grouped into four themes and they take place between various WAY hosts and other members, volunteers and some well known names in grief and widowhood:
Faces behind WAY - presented by Kate
Books and blogs - presented by Sam and Emma
Taboos - presented by Shalini
Widowed & … which covers a variety of topics - presented by Ed, Emma and Shalini
Emma has been delighted to support these events and has taken part in the following conversations:
Introductions: Tuesday 8 March 2022 - Emma and two of the other five presenters, Shalini & Sam introduce themselves and speak a bit about their backgrounds and the forthcoming series.
WAY’s founder Caroline Sarll: Tuesday 15 March 2022 - Emma & WAY Trustee Kate co-hosted a conversation with WAY’s inspirational founder Caroline Sarll who spoke about her inspirational story and why she set up the charity 25 years ago. It was fascinating to hear how the charity was founded in the days before email and the internet.
Volunteer Ian Anstey: Tuesday 5 April 2022 - Emma spoke to Ian Anstey about life as a widowed dad and his story of being a local volunteer for WAY in Somerset and the value of peer support for young solo fathers.
WAY Ambassadors Georgia Elms and Orlanda Bryars: Tuesday 19 April 2022 - Emma talked with two fellow Ambassadors about being widowed while pregnant and some of the injustices facing widowed families that WAY highlights and challenges through their campaign work. Although they were both widowed whilst pregnant, they had unique stories to tell and the conversation illustrated some of different experiences between being widowed when married and unmarried.
Actress and life coach Holly Matthews: Tuesday 24 May 2022 - Emma talked to former Byker Road and Waterloo Road actress and life coach Holly Matthews as part of the “Books and Blogs” part of the series. Holly shared her story of triumph over adversity, drawing on her experiences of growing up in the public eye to meeting her husband and becoming a widow and single mum at the age of 32 years old. Holly has written a book, The Happy Me Project: The No Nonsense Guide to Self Development, which is based on her own struggles to offer hope and confidence to others navigating the ups and downs of life.
Writer & blogger Suzanne Elvidge: Tuesday 31 May 2022 - Emma spoke to WAY member Suzanne about her blog “The Widow’s Handbook” and how writing has helped her to navigate life after her husband’s death. The conversation included discussions about the support she has received from both the WAY Wocs (widowed without children) and the LGBT+ Facebook sub-groups and includes advice for those who use writing to help them through their grief.
Nikki Scott, Founder of the charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers: Tuesday 9th August 2022 - Emma spoke to the inspirational fellow military widow Nikki Scott who founded the charity Scotty’s Little Soldiers after her husband Lee was killed in Afghanistan. The charity supports bereaved children from military families. Emma is one of Nikki’s biggest fans, having two girls who are supported by the charity which means that Emma has seen the huge benefit and life changing difference that the charity makes to children who have had a parent die whilst working in the military. Emma has set up a Military Sub-Group of WAY and is passionate about the two charities supporting each other and people finding the organisations that work for them. It’s a great chat and was a wonderful way for Emma to end her involvement with this series.
If you haven’t already watched the WAY Instagram series, you can catch up on Emma’s episodes and all the other inspirational conversations on the WAY Instagram page here.
One of the biggest take-aways from acting as host for all these Instagram Lives has been the reminder that every grief experience is unique. The relationship you have with the person who has died is special and totally individual, hence the emotions you feel when they are no longer with you is different for each of us. Talking to all these inspirational guests has reminded Emma that there is no “right” way to grieve and no time frame for our bereavement. Tomorrow is promised to no-one and opening up about death and dying has reminded Emma of the importance of growing around our grief and doing the best we can to make the most of each moment we have.